Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced that the Trump administration was planning to cancel nearly $8 billion in funding for climate-related projects in 16 Democratic-leaning states.
“Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled,” Vought posted Wednesday on X, the first day of an ongoing government shutdown.
Vought said the states targeted include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. All 16 voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
The Department of Energy wrote in a press release Wednesday night that it had identified 321 awards for 223 projects that it planned to cancel, “from the Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Grid Deployment (GDO), Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and Fossil Energy (FE).”
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No more details about the projects were given.
In a statement to NOTUS, Minnesota’s Department of Commerce said it did not know which grant or grants Vought’s comments were in reference to.
A senior OMB official referred NOTUS to DOE for further details, saying in a statement: “The Green New Scam funding that is being cancelled is windmills/bird grave yards, unreliable like wind and solar, EV chargers. Things that are boondoggles or safety risks.”
Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left's climate agenda is being cancelled. More info to come from @ENERGY.
— Russ Vought (@russvought) October 1, 2025
The projects are in the following states: CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA
Colorado’s Energy Office said it also was not sure what funding Vought’s statement referred to.
“Cancel culture shouldn’t apply to the federal government and the only scam would be the government picking winners and losers,” according to a statement. “There’s also national security consequences — we cannot lose to China! Let free market capitalism decide the future of energy in our country, not bureaucrats far away in Washington.”
A spokesperson for Maryland Governor Wes Moore told NOTUS “We too are trying to ascertain what he is talking about, so if you get a response from OMB on what they are referring to, that would be helpful.”
New Mexico also has not received notice of program cuts, according to a state official.
DOE did not respond to a request for comment.
Vought’s post came hours after he threatened to withhold $18 billion in federal funding for New York infrastructure projects, citing “unconstitutional DEI principles.” NOTUS reported Wednesday that Vought touted this funding freeze on a call with House Republicans.
During the call, Vought said the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children will run out of funds over the next few weeks unless the government reopens.
Vought has touted his shutdown-inspired mass layoff plans for weeks. On Wednesday’s call with Republicans, Vought said reductions in force will be “consequential” and start in “one to two days.”
Some layoffs have already started. NOTUS reported that hours after government funding lapsed Wednesday morning, the Patent and Trademark Office began firing personnel.
“Well, sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said of the layoffs Wednesday. “If the Democrats did not vote to shut down the government, we would not be standing up here talking about layoffs today.”
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