First on FOX: House oversight chair James Comer has accused former President Joe Biden of expanding his investigation into former President Joe Biden’s EPA, awarding $20 billion in grants to political allies.
Comer, R-Ky. urged eight non-governmental organisations that received the grant to provide the committee with all information related to the grant, their staff and pay.
The $20 billion was announced among two initiatives launched under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which aimed to provide grants to nonprofits, community development banks and other groups for projects focused on underprivileged communities. EPA administrator Lee Zeldin moved to close the program earlier this month, but that decision has now been postponed in court.
“The Biden EPA has tried to dodge surveillance by attacking financial institutions and suspicious transactions, pushing left and right environmental agendas to cover up corrupt self-dealing deals that reward political peers,” Comer said in a statement. “The radical environmental groups benefiting from Biden’s Green New Deal should be responsible for misuse of taxpayer-funded grants and provide information for investigation.”
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Oversight Chair James Kommer expanded his probe to Biden-era NGO grants from the EPA. (AP Photo/j. Scott Apple White)
Republicans claim that $20 billion is “parked at external financial institutions” to avoid surveillance. As part of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) program, eight groups have been awarded funds from the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund and the $6 billion Clean Community Investment Accelerator.
Eight letters came out: Climate United, Green Capital Coalition, Power Forward Communities, Opportunity Finance Network, Impleusiv, Justice Climate Fund, Appalachian Community Capital, and Native CDFI Network.
The funding included a $2 billion grant to the power forward community, a group linked to Georgia’s governor candidate Stacey Abrams, which aims to “reduce climate impacts.”
Zeldin told Fox News that in 2023 Power Forward Communities had only $100 in revenue, but was granted $2 billion in 2024 by the Biden-era EPA.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin will be attending a meeting with President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Latte at the White House’s oval office on March 13, 2025 (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
“One page of the grant agreement tells us that there are 21 days to distribute all $2 billion. On page 7 of the grant agreement, we give 90 days to complete the training called “How to develop a budget.” I don’t think an entity that needs training on how to develop a budget should receive $2 billion to quickly distribute, rather than actually distributing money before receiving that training,” he continued.
Zeldin also said the EPA has discovered a $5 billion “conflict of interest” potential payment to the former director of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund under Biden.
“All this money was put forward,” Zeldin said. “It was ‘$20 billion here.’ And it went to their friend on the left. ”
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The EPA’s representative inspector is currently investigating the GGRF for financial mismanagement, conflicts of interest and failed monitoring.
The oversight committee began an investigation in February and requested a briefing from Zeldin earlier this month. The FBI is also investigating possible criminal violations.
Fox News Digital contacted eight companies to comment on Comer’s letters, but they did not receive a response before publication.
Landon Mion of Fox News contributed to this report.
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