Eight nonprofits caught in a legal crossfire over $20 billion in Biden-era climate grants are racing toward a funding cliff.
The groups have been shut out of their accounts at Citibank since Feb. 18 because of a still-unexplained freeze imposed amid criticism from President Donald Trump’s administration.
On Tuesday, the standoff enters a new phase — groups will no longer have grant money to make investments or basic needs such as payroll and rent.
It’s the latest fallout from the Trump administration’s effort to claw back tens of billions of dollars from former President Joe Biden’s massive climate and clean energy agenda, including money that agencies had already legally contracted and even placed in bank accounts for recipients to spend. A senior federal prosecutor resigned last week after saying Justice Department officials had pressured her to launch a criminal investigation into the $20 billion in Environmental Protection Agency climate grants, despite a lack of evidence of wrongdoing.
