President Trump's EPA chief, Lee Zeldin, has pledged to reclaim $20 billion in taxpayer funding that was "tossed off the Titanic" by the Biden administration at the 11th hour.
In a video on X, Zeldin accused the Biden administration of a hidden scheme to funnel billions to a private bank before President Trump's inauguration.
“Shockingly, roughly 20 billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution by the Biden EPA,” Zeldin said. “This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history, and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight.”
President Biden's climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, allocated $20 billion for a program called the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, also known as Biden's "Green Bank."
In December, a hidden camera recording made by Project Veritas showed a Biden EPA official boasting about a scramble to distribute climate spending, which the person compared to tossing "gold bars" off the Titanic.
"An extremely disturbing video circulated two months ago featuring a Biden EPA political appointee talking about how they were tossing gold bars off the Titanic, rushing to get billions of your tax dollars out the door before Inauguration Day,” Zeldin said.
🚨The Biden EPA tossed $20 billion of “gold bars off the Titanic”.
BIG UPDATE! We found the gold bars and they are now being recovered for you, the hardworking American taxpayer.
Here are more of the details: pic.twitter.com/DM4C0TQcpj
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) February 13, 2025
Zeldin alleged the funding was "parked" at a private bank so that it could be spent by left-wing nonprofits with minimal oversight.
The criticism from Zeldin isn't necessarily new - Republicans have repeatedly blasted Biden's green bank as a slush fund for left-wing special interests.
Zeldin noted that just eight organizations are in control of the $20 billion, with nearly $7 billion going to a single organization, the Climate United Fund.
"How do these organizations decide how to allocate funding? How much money have they given out so far and to whom? Are there any former Biden EPA staffers who are now working at these entities?" Zeldin asked.
Zeldin said he will terminate the EPA's contract with the bank, and he said the EPA is in contact with the Inspector General and the Justice Department.
"Let me make one thing abundantly clear: At this point, there is zero reason to suspect any wrongdoing by the bank,” Zeldin said.
Zeldin's push is part of a wider Trump administration effort to end taxpayer-funded largesse towards left-wing projects and non-governmental organizations (NGO).
“The days of irresponsibly shoveling boatloads of cash to far-left activist groups in the name of environmental justice and climate equity are over,” Zeldin said. "The American public deserves a more transparent and accountable government than what transpired these past four years.”
