White House Clarifies Executive Order Pausing IRA Disbursements

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The Office of Management and Budget said the order only applied to some programs under the Inflation Reduction Act.

The White House Office of Management and Budget released a memo this week clarifying what authorized allocations can potentially be rescinded from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law under a Jan. 20 executive order issued by President Donald Trump.

The Jan. 21 memo from Acting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Matthew Vaeth essentially claws back some rescission ambitions to pull the plug on billions of appropriations.
Vaeth’s memo specifically refers to two sections within the 3,456-word Unleashing American Energy executive actions package Trump issued after his inauguration that includes a sweeping array of executive orders, actions, directives, and policy guidance geared to make the United States “the leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals.”

The package’s Terminating the Green New Deal section vaguely mandates that “all agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through” the IRA and BIL.

But Veath’s memo explains that the disbursement pause specifically relates only to electric vehicle (EV) programs and calls for defunding authorized IRA and BIL allocations using funds for EV charging stations made available through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program.

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Trump’s executive order seeks to enable “a level regulatory playing field for consumer choice in vehicles” and terminate, where appropriate, state emissions waivers that function to limit sales of gasoline-powered automobiles.

Additionally, it looks to eliminate “unfair subsidies and other ill-conceived government-imposed market distortions that favor EVs over other technologies and effectively mandate their purchase by individuals, private businesses, and government entities alike by rendering other types of vehicles unaffordable.”

Otherwise, the memo states that to implement Trump’s executive actions, agencies must ensure IRA and BIL allocations do not contravene an over-riding goal “to protect the United States’ economic and national security and military preparedness by ensuring that an abundant supply of reliable energy is readily accessible in every state and territory of the nation.”

“Agency heads may disburse funds as they deem necessary after consulting with the Office of Management and Budget,” Vaeth writes.

The Trump administration and congressional Republicans want to tighten tax credits, claw back loans and grants, and revise unfinalized rules under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to chip away at the IRA, which Trump labeled “the green new scam” while campaigning.

The IRA alone authorizes 10 years of sustained tax credits, low-interest loans, and grant programs that by some estimates could top $1 trillion.

Original News Source Link – Epoch Times

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