Latest news with #LPO
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What we know about claims Biden's Department of Energy handed out $93B in loans in its final months
In May 2025, U.S. Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright repeatedly claimed that the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden lent or committed $93 billion to companies through the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office (LPO) in the final 76 days of the administration. It was unclear where Wright got this figure. According to our investigation, the LPO lent or committed anywhere from $68 billion to $77 billion between Nov. 5, 2024, and Jan. 20, 2025. According to the LPO awarded up to 27 loans during this period — around half the 53 the office said it announced during the Biden-Harris administration. Wright also claimed that, before Election Day in November 2024, the LPO had awarded loans worth $43 billion. We did not independently confirm this figure, though the LPO said on its website that it had "financed" a $43.9 billion portfolio by September 2024. This could be the number Wright was referring to. In late May 2025, claims (archived) circulated online that the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden gave out $93 billion in loans to businesses during its last 76 days. One X user wrote: This will make your blood boil. Yesterday the Dept of Energy Secretary Chris Wright testified that in the 76-day period between the day Trump was elected and the day Biden left office, Biden's Dept of Energy handed out $93 BILLION in taxpayer dollars in the form of loans—including to businesses and individuals who had no clear business plan or concept. For the record, this $93 billion—handed out in a mere 76 days—is over twice as much as the Dept of energy has handed out in the PREVIOUS FIFTEEN YEARS. Absolutely appalling. The claim also appeared on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived), Reddit (archived) and TikTok (archived). Snopes users searched our site for information about the claim. The claim circulated after U.S. Secretary of Energy Christopher Wright testified (archived) at the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21, 2025. However, we found no evidence the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office (LPO) — which is the office claims are referring to — approved loans worth exactly $93 billion between Nov. 5, 2024 and Jan. 20, 2025. The office awards or guarantees loans to companies to advance clean energy, advanced transportation and Tribal energy projects in the United States. According to the LPO's public press releases, the office announced loan guarantees or conditional commitments worth around $68 billion during this period. According to an open data source of federal spending information, new loans issued by the LPO during that period totaled around $77 billion. On Jan. 17, 2025, the LPO said in its 2024 year-in-review that it had announced "53 deals totaling approximately $107.57 billion" during the entire Biden-Harris administration from January 2021 to January 2025. Though none of these figures corresponded exactly to Wright's claim, according to the LPO awarded 27 of the 53 loans on or after Nov. 5, 2024, indicating a flurry of activity in the administration's final months. We reached out to the Department of Energy to ask how it evidenced Wright's statement. We also reached out to Biden administration Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and Jigar Shah, who was at the time the head of the LPO, to ask if they could confirm the figure. We await replies to our queries. Wright first made the claim during an interview (archived) with Blaze Media's Glenn Beck. Wright has since repeated the claim in an appearance on Fox Business (archived) and while testifying at the Senate Appropriations Committee on May 21, 2025. Wright said during the May 21 hearing while speaking about the LPO (time code 37:43, our emphasis): Christopher Wright: The Loan Programs Office is a key tool. We do need to make sure we have funding available in the Loan Programs Office because, used judiciously, it's a way to leverage private capital to make things happen fast. If your equity investors behind that debt are the six hyperscalers in the United States, they're great credit, the American taxpayers are going to be paid back. Alternatively, in the last administration — the Loan Programs Office in its 15-year history lent $43 billion — Sen. Katie Britt: Wow. CW: — In the 76 days since Election Day to Inauguration Day of the new President, the previous administration lent or committed $93 billion — two and a half times the 15-year total — KB: You're kidding, tell me, tell me that time frame again? CW: — 76 days from Election Day when the B — Biden lost the presidential election to President Trump's inauguration, in 76 days — KB: That is absolute insanity. CW: — they lent or committed $93 billion. So, there is a reason I'm moving slow and I'm doing evaluations of projects, yes, there's a very big reason. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana repeated the claim to Wright later in that same hearing (starting around time code 1:38:25). While we could not document loan or commitment announcements from the LPO between Nov. 5, 2024 and Jan. 20, 2025 totaling exactly $93 billion, our investigation did find that the office announced a flurry of new activity during this period. During that period the office announced loan guarantees or conditional commitments to 23 new companies totaling $68,836,640,000, according to the LPO's own press releases. The largest was a $15 billion loan guarantee to Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E)'s Project Polaris, a portfolio of projects to expand hydropower in the company's service area. A loan guarantee is a promise by a third party (not the borrower or lender) to repay a loan if the borrower is not able. According to between Nov. 5, 2024, and Jan. 20, 2025, the Department of Energy awarded 27 loans with a combined face value (the amount either lent directly or guaranteed) of $77,150,255,215. This number was likely higher because the LPO might not have publicly announced all the loans or guarantees it made on its website. Though the higher loan total from was in the ballpark of Wright's $93 billion — about $16 billion short — neither figure matched exactly. We await a reply from the LPO about the discrepancy between publicly available data and Wright's statement. According to the Biden-era LPO itself, the office announced "53 deals totaling approximately $107.57 billion" during the Biden-Harris administration. According to the office made 27 of these commitments in its last three months. Therefore, while it was not possible to exactly match Wright's $93 billion figure, data shows the Biden administration did commit to around half the loans or guarantees made through the LPO in its last three months. Then-Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm declared the office "open for business" in 2021, after it, according to reports citing Granholm, had been dormant during the first Trump administration. Outlets like Politico, Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported in late 2024 that companies were rushing to finalize loan deals with the LPO amid uncertainty about what then President-elect Donald Trump would do with the office once in power. Alongside his claim about $93 billion in loans given out in the final months of the Biden administration, Wright also claimed that this was "two and a half times the 15-year total" of $43 billion that the office had lent previously. The LPO did likely lend or commit more than $43 billion during its last three months — as listed above, our estimates range up to around $77 billion during this period. The office's website said in May 2025 that by September 2024 the LPO had financed "a $43.9 billion portfolio of innovative clean energy projects and advanced technology vehicle manufacturing facilities across the United States." This could be the figure Wright was referring to, though it would account for 19 years of the LPO's lifetime, not 15, as Wright had said. President George W. Bush founded the office in 2005, so a 15-year lifetime would only count up to 2020. It was unclear whether "financed" on the LPO's website meant obligated or disbursed — and equally unclear whether Wright was referring to either or both of these terms when he said the LPO "lent" $43 billion. The LPO's own annual portfolio status report for fiscal year 2023 (Page 10) showed that the office has consistently obligated more than it has disbursed. For example, in FY23, the office had obligated nearly $40 billion in its lifetime, but disbursed nearly $35 billion. By the end of March 2025, the LPO said on its website it had disbursed $47.3 billion in loans. Ultimately, while it was uncertain where Wright got his figures from, it was clear that the Biden administration finalized a large number of the loans and commitments it made through the LPO after Election Day in November 2024, and that the value of these loans and commitments likely exceeded the office's previous lifetime cumulative total. It remains uncertain what will happen to the $46.95 billion worth of active conditional commitments the LPO made under the Biden-Harris administration as Wright and the Trump Department of Energy turn their attention to the office. Wright said during the May 21 Senate appropriations hearing (time code 01:40:26): "Senator, the one complication in there too is, mixed in there, are good companies doing good things honestly with credible plans." Wright agreed that he was trying to "sort the wheat from the chaff." "That's our job and we're doing it," Wright said. Accelerating Portfolio Growth. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office, An Overview of DOE's Loan Programs Office. U.S. Department of Energy, June 2021, Brady, Jeff. "After Solyndra Loss, U.S. Energy Loan Program Turning A Profit." NPR, 13 Nov. 2014. NPR, Chu, Amanda. "Joe Biden Rushes to Issue Cleantech Loans in Bid to Secure Legacy." Financial Times, 26 Dec. 2024, Daly, Matthew. "AP Interview: DOE Reviving Loan Program, Granholm Says." AP News, 4 Mar. 2021, "December 2024 Monthly Application Activity Report." Accessed 28 May 2025. "DOE Announces $15 Billion Loan Guarantee to Pacific Gas & Electric Company to Expand Hydropower Generation, Battery Energy Storage, and Transmission." 17 Jan. 2025, DOE Loan Programs Office: 2023 Updates, Overview and Key Insights | Insights | Holland & Knight. Accessed 28 May 2025. Energy for America's Future. Accessed 28 May 2025. Forbes Breaking News. "Energy Secretary Chris Wright Testifies Before The Senate Appropriations Committee." YouTube, Accessed 28 May 2025. Friedman, Lisa. "Billions in Clean Energy Loans Go Unused as Coronavirus Ravages Economy." New York Times, 30 Apr. 2025, @glennbeck. "Trump's Energy Dept. Just Discovered Biden Rushed out $93 BILLION in Green Energy Loans in the 3 Months before Trump." X, 8 May 2025, "LPO Year in Review 2024." 21 Jan. 2025, Natter, Ari, and David R. Baker. "With Trump Looming, Biden's Green Bank Moves to Close Billions in Deals." Bloomberg, 13 Dec. 2024. "November 2024 Monthly Application Activity Report." Accessed 28 May 2025. "October 2024 Monthly Application Activity Report." Accessed 28 May 2025. @SecGranholm. "The @Energy Department's Loan Programs Office Is Back in Business! ." X, 3 Mar. 2021, @SecretaryWright. "The Biden Administration Pushed out $93 BILLION in Green Energy Loans in the 3 Months before @POTUS Came into Office." X, 10 May 2025, Storrow, Benjamin, et al. "Biden Inks Billion-Dollar Climate Deals to Foil Trump Rollbacks." POLITICO, 20 Nov. 2025, Accessed 28 May 2025.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House Republicans nuke incentives for clean energy — except nuclear
This analysis and news roundup comes from the Canary Media Weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it every Friday. The House voted almost entirely along party lines on Thursday to approve a big budget bill that would send many of the Inflation Reduction Act's clean energy provisions to an early grave. Now the Senate will take a shot at drafting its own version. Two major losses in the House bill are the production and investment tax credits for clean power projects known as 45Y and 48E, which would be phased out much more quickly than under the IRA. Clean power projects would have to start construction within 60 days of the bill being signed into law to be eligible for the incentives, and start service by the end of 2028. Another provision means bad news for rooftop solar, as it eliminates incentives for installations that companies build on homeowners' roofs for free or at a low price and then lease back to them. Nuclear power, on the other hand, made out a little better. Advanced nuclear facilities would only have to start construction by the end of 2028 to access 45Y and 48E tax credits. Several more clean energy incentives face straight-up termination, including tax credits homeowners can use to install electric appliances and make energy-efficient home improvements. The bill would also end tax credits for buyers of EVs, and then punish all EV owners with a $250 annual fee, based on the reasoning that they are getting an unfair deal because they don't pay gas taxes — even though that math doesn't add up. Study after study has shown that repealing the IRA's clean energy credits would raise energy bills, derail the clean manufacturing boom, and cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. Just two months ago, 21 House Republicans signed a letter warning an IRA repeal would bring negative economic consequences. But all of them ultimately voted for the so-called big, beautiful bill. More federal clean energy funding is in jeopardy Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced a push last week to roll back what he called 'wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars,' and former DOE officials told Latitude Media that Loan Programs Office funding could be the first to go. The LPO allocated more than $107 billion to ambitious clean energy projects under former President Joe Biden, but many of those loans didn't make it past conditional status, making them easier for Wright to revoke. LPO uncertainty has already led some conditional recipients to back away from their loans. Battery-component manufacturer Aspen Aerogels ended negotiations in February to finalize its loan to build a Georgia factory, saying it would expand production in China and Mexico instead. That's the exact kind of thing LPO funding was intended to discourage, said Jigar Shah, who headed the LPO under Biden. 'Based on the early actions of this administration, we can expect to see more and more American factories cancelled or closed, leaving our communities with more broken promises,' Shah said in a statement. 'We are on track to again cede our manufacturing industry to China.' The ups and downs of Empire Wind Empire Wind, an offshore project planned for the coastal waters of New York, is maybe, probably, most likely happening. The offshore wind industry has faced stormy seas since President Donald Trump took office in January and halted new leases, permits, and loans for wind farms, pausing at least seven offshore projects that were in the permitting phase. But Equinor's Empire Wind already had its federal authorizations in hand and quietly began construction in early April. Two weeks later, the Trump administration issued a stop-work order and later cited a mysterious report that alleged the project's approval was based on 'flawed science.' Things changed again Monday when the Trump administration lifted the stop-work order, letting Empire Wind construction restart. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum suggested that a compromise with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to revive a canceled gas pipeline secured the wind project's resumption, but Hochul's staff said there was no such deal. Overwhelmed by all the back and forth? Canary Media's Clare Fieseler breaks down everything from Trump's Day 1 order to Empire Wind's reinstatement in a handy timeline. Rural clean energy wins: Canary Media is partnering with four other newsrooms on a series about how clean energy is creating new job opportunities in rural areas. Kari Lydersen's reporting spotlights how partnerships between educational institutions and employers are training students to work in EV manufacturing, solar installation, and other clean energy jobs in Decatur, Illinois, opening up new career paths after decades of factory closures. Backdoor emissions repeal: The U.S. Senate sidesteps its nonpartisan parliamentarian and votes to overturn three California waivers that let the state set stricter vehicle emissions standards than the federal government for cars and heavy-duty trucks, prompting California to promise a lawsuit. (NPR, The Hill) Small nuclear, big steps: The Tennessee Valley Authority is the first utility in the nation to submit a construction application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a small modular nuclear reactor. (Chattanooga Times Free Press) Just pretend it didn't happen: President Trump is routinely ordering federal agencies to stop enforcing rules he doesn't like, including pipeline safety regulations and appliance efficiency standards. (Washington Post) Steel's polluting consequences: The U.S. has seven steel plants that still use coal-fired blast furnaces, and all of them are located in cities that rank among the top 25 for worst air pollution in the nation. (Canary Media) Tesla's woes continue: Chinese EV giant BYD sold more vehicles in Europe than Tesla across an entire month, a first and of particular note given the higher tariff rate the cars face compared to Elon Musk's company. (CNBC)
Newsweek
22-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Trump Nuclear Power Update as New Order May Bring Back Cold War-Era Act
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A Cold War-era statute could soon return to the forefront of American energy policy, as President Donald Trump prepares to sign a series of executive orders—possibly as soon as Friday—designed to jumpstart the domestic nuclear energy industry. Four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the forthcoming orders aim to simplify the regulatory process for approving new nuclear reactors and to strengthen nuclear fuel supply chains amid mounting concerns over U.S. dependence on foreign suppliers. Facing the first significant increase in U.S. power demand in two decades—driven largely by the explosion of artificial intelligence technologies and the data centers powering them—Trump declared a national energy emergency on his first day back in office. Energy Secretary Chris Wright has likened the effort to a "Manhattan Project 2," invoking the scale and urgency of the U.S. government's World War II-era nuclear weapons program. Cooling tower one and two are seen at the nuclear reactor facility at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Friday, May 31, 2024, in Waynesboro, Ga. Inset: President Donald Trump attends a Make America... Cooling tower one and two are seen at the nuclear reactor facility at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Friday, May 31, 2024, in Waynesboro, Ga. Inset: President Donald Trump attends a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission Event in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Washington. More Associated Press A draft summary of the executive orders reviewed by Reuters indicates Trump will invoke the Defense Production Act, originally enacted during the Cold War, to declare a national emergency over reliance on Russia and China for enriched uranium, nuclear fuel processing, and components for advanced reactors. The orders also direct key federal agencies to identify lands and facilities suitable for nuclear energy development, while streamlining the permitting and construction process. In addition, the Energy and Defense Departments are instructed to accelerate deployment strategies, while the Energy Department is encouraged to use loan guarantees and direct financing to support reactor construction. Although Trump's first administration utilized the Loan Programs Office (LPO) for a major nuclear project in Georgia, the office now oversees hundreds of billions of dollars in funding—thanks to legislation passed during former President Joe Biden's tenure. However, the LPO has since suffered major staff reductions under Trump's second term. The exact language of the nuclear power executive order is still under review and subject to change. Representatives from leading energy stakeholders—including the Nuclear Energy Institute and Constellation, the utility with the largest U.S. nuclear fleet—have reportedly been invited to a signing ceremony scheduled for Friday afternoon. Neither organization responded to Reuters for requests for comment. Despite the United States' legacy as the first nation to develop nuclear power and its continued lead in installed capacity, the industry's fastest growth is currently occurring in China. Nuclear energy remains politically unique, appealing to Democrats for its low carbon emissions and to Republicans for its reliability compared to intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar. However, the long-standing issue of radioactive waste disposal remains unresolved, with no permanent U.S. repository currently in place.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US plans to cancel 7 conditional commitments for green projects
The US Department of Energy plans to cancel seven major loans and loan guarantees that had been conditionally approved under the Biden administration. The list, shared with Semafor by a former DOE official close to the process, includes three projects that were still scheduled for completion by their sponsors, including a transmission project by a New Jersey utility, a loan program for low-income homeowners to install rooftop solar panels by Sunnova, and a factory to produce low-carbon ammonia by Monolith Nebraska. All three companies did not immediately return requests for comment. The other four projects were already previously cancelled by their companies because of other various headwinds: Battery factories for Redwood Materials, Aspen Aerogels, and KORE Power, and a plastics recycling facility by International Recycling Group. Altogether, the seven cancellations amount to $8.45 billion. A DOE spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The DOE's Loan Programs Office has long been a political lightning rod, a $400 billion war chest for cutting-edge clean tech projects that need help crossing from concept to commercialization. It has produced such notable successes as Tesla, and notable failures as Solyndra. And it was clear since President Donald Trump won re-election that the roughly $41 billion in conditional commitments left dangling when Biden left office were at grave risk. In that context, $8.45 billion isn't as deep of a cut as one might have expected, especially since most of the projects were already dead. But it's revealing that the administration would let these projects — most of which are in sectors where the US is already far behind China — fall by the wayside, rather than take steps to prop them up. The expectation of unsteady support for clean energy under Trump and the Republican-led Congress was very likely a contributing factor to these companies' project cancellations to begin with: That most of these projects are linked to either EVs or solar puts DOE policy roughly in line with House Republicans, who have turned particularly harshly against tax credits for those industries. But at the same time, the policies are in tension: Congress is working to significantly raise the domestic content requirements for EVs and clean tech to qualify for tax credits; now, LPO is making it harder for those requirements to be met. At least one of the newly-cancelled projects was already on life support: The Wall Street Journal reported in September that Monolith was running out of cash and struggling to meet the minimum production requirements for its loan. So it's possible that some of the cancellations were really just the result of bad books. The DOE is also reviewing whether to cut other clean tech programs outside LPO. One of these is a steel factory in Ohio that originally planned to use federal funding to switch from coal to hydrogen, but now is considering 'readily available and more economical fossil fuels' to 'better align with the administration's energy priorities,' Heatmap reported.
Politico
12-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
Congress whacks an energy program — and splits the GOP
Presented by A Department of Energy program beloved by the tech right might become the latest victim of the Trump administration's war on 'woke.' As part of the House Energy & Commerce Committee's reconciliation budget text released late Sunday night, the majority of the hundreds of billions of dollars authorized for the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office would be rescinded. The LPO was pumping hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, of dollars into speculative and future-tech projects under the administration of President Joe Biden, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. While many of the projects were part of a liberal-friendly clean energy push, the LPO also funded bipartisan or even somewhat GOP-coded projects like the restarting of the Palisades nuclear plant in Covert, Michigan. Its potential gutting prompted immediate anguish from one conservative wonk, who compared the Republican-controlled Congress to an environmental group: 'Who needs the NRDC to wreck nuclear when we have House Energy and Commerce?', wrote Emmet Penney, a pro-nuclear energy scholar at the right-leaning Foundation for American Innovation, on X. In one sense it's obvious why the LPO would be an easy target for Washington Republicans. The office, created in 2005, went largely inactive for a decade starting in 2011 after Republicans made a massive national story out of its investment in the failed solar panel firm Solyndra, which defaulted on a $535 million LPO loan. When Congress revived it and boosted its lending authority to more than $400 billion, the money went largely to fund Biden's clean-energy goals. Given President Donald Trump's longtime derision of clean energy and his desire to boost American oil, gas and coal, it's no surprise LPO would be on the chopping block. DOGE has already cut 60 percent of the LPO's staff. But politically it's not as simple as that. In the current energy-hungry tech environment, this is actually an issue that splits Republicans. A growing coalition on the right and center-right has been vocal in its support for the program — saying it's exactly the kind of risk-taking venture the U.S. government should be involved in if it really wants to usher in the shiny, sci-fi future promised by prominent figures on the right like Elon Musk. Penney, as part of a think tank joint-venture 'Techno-Industrial Policy Playbook' published last week, wrote a proposal for 'Advancing Nuclear with the Loan Programs Office' which argued that 'If America wants to win, it needs to invest in radically expanding its nuclear fleet.' He lays out a conservative-friendly case that the LPO could revitalize American energy by re-opening currently shuttered nuclear plants, as well as revitalizing the heartland by converting coal plants to nuclear and creating a pipeline to commercialize prototype nuclear systems. (Earlier this year Secretary of Energy Chris Wright played up his approval of the second and third disbursements from the LPO to Michigan's Palisades plant, launched under the Biden administration last year.) This is more than just a policy disagreement over who, how, and where new sources of power should be funded — it's one about whether Republicans should take a stronger policy hand in directing the American state and economy. 'We have the nationalist developmental side [of the GOP], then we have the free marketers, and these people don't really know how to get along,' Penney told DFD. 'The institutional path dependency is towards the more traditional GOP stance, and we're now watching that play out with the politics of the LPO.' In large part, this debate is over the role of government support in tech innovation — a policy very much under fire right now, but arguably the bedrock of the whole economy we live in. The internet, the moon landing, atomic energy — and the industries built on top of them — were all the product of government investment. For a while during the Biden administration it seemed like Washington had found fresh bipartisan enthusiasm for such projects, most notably in the form of the CHIPS and Science Act, which authorized massive subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing and domestic research (although Congressional spending often fell short, especially in the case of the research component). But the all-out war waged by Trump, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Elon Musk's DOGE on non-defense spending has caught that bill and an endless list of similar federal programs in its crosshairs, with Trump even calling in his address to a joint session of Congress in March to end CHIPS and Science. That's left voices on the right like Penney's — and their unexpected allies on the left and center, like The American Prospect's Ryan Cooper, who called the LPO one of the 'hidden gems of American government' in lamenting its planned elimination — largely out in the cold. Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), one of CHIPS and Science's key architects, petitioned the Trump administration in February to save American research funding, and last week re-introduced a bipartisan 2021 bill that would restore much of it, but has failed to gain much traction. 'It feels like we're at a time of reprisal,' Penney said, making a case that the Trump administration's aggressive cost-cutting could threaten future innovation. 'This really hurts nuclear, but I also think that it might even threaten the bipartisan consensus … the base of Democratic support for nuclear is premised on faith in the federal government, and when you deteriorate that faith, it will poison the water on Democratic support for nuclear.' It's unclear what the LPO's ultimate fate might be — the Trump administration's own draft budget left it largely untouched, while Trump issued an executive order on Friday directing a quadrupling of the U.S.' nuclear power capacity, something that seems unlikely without the LPO given the extent to which it allows government to take on much of the inherent risk in investing in nuclear. So far, however, the burgeoning tech right has hoped Trump's alliance with prominent tech figures, stated commitment to revitalizing American industry, and thirst to dominate China would win out over his revanchist obsession with tearing down the modern administrative state. But if the steamroller approach the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Congress have taken to experimental programs like the LPO is any indicator, they might find themselves in the same boat as other parts of his coalition like pro-Palestinian activists, strict pro-life Catholics, and even right-leaning immigrants, burned on key issues after lending Trump their political capital. an ai moratorium? Congress finally has a big idea for AI regulations: It wants to stop states from issuing any at all, for a decade. Last night, Republicans added a surprise piece of language to the budget reconciliation bill that would put a 10-year moratorium on state and local AI laws. POLITICO's Mohar Chatterjee and Anthony Adragna reported for Pro subscribers on how the move by the House Energy & Commerce Committee would re-set the terms of AI regulation for the rest of the country. It's far from clear whether this is politically viable, or even legal. But it comes as tech giants are pushing Washington in the same direction. POLITICO's Brendan Bordelon and Chase DiFeliciantonio reported today on a campaign by companies including OpenAI, Meta, Google, IBM and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz to convince Congress to pass AI rules before the states — in particular California — do the same. California lawmakers responded to the latest moves in Congress with harsh criticism. Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener called it 'illegal and bad,' telling POLITICO's Sacramento tech reporter Tyler Katzenberger, 'This latest power play to try to broadly ban states from protecting the public — it's a gold rush,' adding, 'We need to say no.' an eu envoy The EU's tech chief Henna Virkkunen will visit the U.S. this week. POLITICO's Pieter Haeck reported for Pro subscribers on the visit, which will come as the Trump administration seems to be escalating its trade war with the European Union. A representative told Pieter that Virkkunen's agenda is 'still being finalized.' Last Thursday Virkkunen said she spoke with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about 'compliance' with the European Union's Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. The EU stuck Meta with a €200 million fine in April for violating the DMA. post of the day THE FUTURE IN 5 LINKS Stay in touch with the whole team: Mohar Chatterjee (mchatterjee@ Steve Heuser (sheuser@ Nate Robson (nrobson@ and Daniella Cheslow (dcheslow@
