The Biden Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office rushed to approve more than $90 billion in green energy loans in the period between President Trump’s election and his inauguration.
According to U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, the Biden administration issued more loans within 76 days than it had issued in the previous fifteen years.
“To put that in context, over 15 years, it had put out about $43 billion,” Wright told Breitbart News.
“Then we had an election on November 5 last year, right? And President Trump won that election. After that election day and until President Trump’s inauguration, $90 billion — over twice what was done in 15 years — was done in 76 days.”
Additionally, over half of the loans, totaling $49 billion, were issued within two days before Trump’s inauguration. Speaking to Fox News in May, Wright questioned why the Biden administration had to wait until it lost the election to disburse the funds.
“Like if those were great ideas that were a benefit to the [American taxpayers], why didn’t they do it in the two and a half years after the Inflation Reduction Act was passed?” He asked. “Why did they wait until they lost the election?”
Wright also noted that they changed the terms and conditions of the loans so that the new administration could not undo the damage.
“They changed the terms and loan covenants,” he continued. “They basically tried to set bombs to make it hard for us to unwind the mess they created.”
While the energy loans were intended to support innovative technologies, the Energy Secretary claims they became increasingly politicized. Subsequently, they were issued without considering the viability of the alleged climate solutions.
“The government in general has not been a great picker of winners and losers because they don’t look at businesses. Governments look at politics.”
During the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Kennedy questioned the due diligence done to issue $93 billion in loans within 76 days.
“How do you vet, and do due diligence on a loan in 76 days, one loan, much less, 93 billion dollars?” Sen. Kennedy asked.
“That’s just not a responsible way to treat American taxpayers’ money, and to move our energy system forward,” Wright told Fox News in May.
At the same time, businesses and consumers nationwide faced the increasing burden of new emission-reduction regulations, while funds intended for climate innovation were awarded based on political considerations.
For example, households in California would spend somewhere between $17,398 and $20,182 to transition to alternative energy solutions, according to the Pacific Research Institute (PRI).
According to Wright, all successful emission-reduction initiatives were driven by market forces, not government incentives.
“All decarbonization was driven by market forces, not by government programs and incentives,” he said in June. “They actually had a relatively small role; the much bigger impact of government subsidies and involvement in our energy sector is to drive our energy prices up.”
Meanwhile, the energy loans were likely another slush fund for left-wing politicians and their climate activists buddies promoting the Green New Deal. Although fixing the mess was not easy, Wright says his department has a strong team working to reverse the damage done under the Biden administration.
Democrats are the downfall of America along with communist unions.