WASHINGTON — Biden administration officials are working around the clock to hand out billions in grants and take other steps to try to preserve at least some of the outgoing president’s legacy before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.
“Let’s make every day count,” President Joe Biden told the nation last week after Vice President Kamala Harris. he admitted defeat Trump in the presidential race.
Trump has pledged to freeze unspent funds Biden’s climate and health care law and stop the development of clean energy the projects
“There’s only one administration at a time,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters at a news conference Thursday. “It is true now, and it will be true even after January 20th. Our responsibility is to use the funds that Congress has. authorized for us and that we are responsible for allocating and paying for the last three years.”
But Trump will control more than the purse strings in January. His administration may also propose new regulations to undo what the Biden administration did through the rulemaking process.
Here are some of the moves the Biden administration is taking now:
Biden administration officials hope projects funded under the $1 trillion infrastructure law and $375 billion climate law will last beyond Biden’s term and are working to keep money for the landmark measures flowing.
On Friday, Buttigieg announced more than $3.4 billion in grants for projects designed to improve passenger rail service, support US ports, reduce highway deaths and support domestic manufacturing of sustainable transportation materials.
“We are investing in better transportation systems that touch every corner of the country and the workers who will manufacture the materials and build the projects,” he said. “Communities will see safer commutes, cleaner air and stronger supply chains that we all count on.”
Announcements of major environmental aid and project approvals have accelerated in recent months as White House officials describe Biden’s four-year term as a “sprint nearing completion.”
The Environmental Protection Agency recently established a deadline to phase out lead pipes nationwide and announced nearly $3 billion to help fill local water systems. Also, the agency announced that for the first time oil and gas companies will have to pay a federal fee if they leak dangerous methane above some level.
The Department of Energy, meanwhile, announced a $544 million loan to a Michigan company to expand manufacturing of high-quality silicon carbide wafers for electric vehicles. The loan is one of 28 deals under a $37 billion clean energy loan program revived and expanded by Biden.
“There is a new urgency to do everything. We’re seeing explosions of money going out the door,” said Sierra Club legislative director Melinda Pierce. Biden and his allies “want to finish the job they started.”
Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters this week that Biden “wants to spend the authority that Congress has assigned and authorized before he leaves office. So we’re going to work very hard to make that happen.”
The Biden administration would have to take $7.1 billion in weapons — $4.3 billion from the 2024 supplement and $2.8 billion in savings still on hold as the Pentagon recalculates the value of the systems it ships — from Pentagon stockpiles to spend it all. Those funds forced before Trump was sworn in.
Additionally, another $2.2 billion is available to place weapons systems under long-term contracts. However, recent aid packages have been much smaller, around $200 million to $300 million each.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the funds are already obligated, which should make it difficult to get them back because the incoming administration would have to back out.
Another priority of the White House is to achieve Confirmation of as many federal judges as possible in the Senate Before Trump’s inauguration on January 20th.
The Senate voted 51-44 this week to confirm former U.S. District Attorney April Perry as a judge for the U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois. More than a dozen pending judicial nominees They have moved on from the Senate Judiciary Committee; eight judicial appointments are awaiting committee votes and six are awaiting committee hearings.
Trump has urged Republicans to oppose efforts to confirm judicial nominees. “No judges should be accepted at this time because Democrats want to shake their Judges while Republicans fight Leadership,” X wrote on social media on November 10, before congressional Republicans chose their new leaders.
The Department of Education has been rushing to complete a new federal rule that will cancel student loans for people with financial difficulties. The proposal — one of the few Biden student loan plans that hasn’t been halted by federal courts — is subject to a public comment period that ends Dec. 2.
After that, the department would have a narrow window to finalize and begin implementing the rule, a process that would typically take months. Like Biden’s other efforts, it will almost certainly face a legal challenge.
Additionally, the Biden administration has the option of canceling student loans for people who were already promised relief because their universities misled them, said Aaron Ament, an Obama administration Education Department official and president of the National Student Legal Defense Network.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona could decide that case and others instead of leaving it up to the Trump administration, which is expected to be much friendlier to for-profit colleges. “It’s not mental,” Ament said. “There are many cases that have been sitting at Cardona’s table. It’s hard to imagine that they would remain untouched.”
Trump hasn’t said yet what would he do in student loan forgiveness. However, he and Republicans have criticized Biden’s efforts.
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Associated Press writers Tara Copp and Dan Merica contributed to this report.
