At least some climate law grantees have been able to access funds since Friday afternoon after a pause of more than a week.
But EPA’s Office of Budget and Planning also issued a memo Friday announcing plans to “temporarily” pause accounts for some of the same programs to conduct a compliance review. Recipients are waiting to see how that will affect their grants.
The unfreezing of funds and the compliance review are the latest wrinkles in a two-week drama over Inflation Reduction Act and infrastructure law grants that are already contracted to government agencies and nonprofits all over the country. President Donald Trump enacted a wide-ranging freeze on federal aid last month, and his administration continued to withhold some funds even after two federal courts ordered it to lift the freeze.
On Jan. 28, most EPA grant recipients lost access to funds from both laws. Then, early last week, most participants in the agency’s infrastructure law programs regained access to funding — with the exception of a program that helps school districts procure clean school buses.
