Energy Department Says Nearly $8 Billion in Grants Was Cut Solely Because States Voted for Harris

In a July 15, 2026 court filing in a class action over canceled clean-energy awards, an Energy Department lawyer wrote that 284 terminated grants were not cut for "any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction or performance-based factor." All 284, the filing states, had a recipient location or place of performance "in a state that awarded its electoral votes to Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and has two Democratic-caucusing senators," and inclusion in the October cancellation tranche "was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient's state." The department flagged roughly 600 grants; OMB, led by Russell Vought, terminated 284 worth nearly $8 billion, leaving hundreds of similarly flagged projects in states Trump carried untouched.

Congress enacts grant programs with statutory criteria, and agencies are expected to administer awards on those terms. A filing conceding that the sole sorting criterion was a state's presidential vote places the terminations inside the separation-of-powers dispute over impoundment — and gives plaintiffs an admission rather than an inference.

The filing was first reported by The New York Times on July 24. Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Jamie Raskin condemned it; Raskin called for the funds to be released. The case remains pending.