Trump administration admits it canceled hundreds of research grants linked to blue states
WASHINGTON, DC: Trump administration lawyers acknowledged in a court filing that 284 Department of Energy research grants were selected for cancellation solely because they were tied to blue states.
The admission immediately drew attention because it contrasts with previous public statements from administration officials denying politics played any role in the grant decisions. The filing is now at the center of a lawsuit brought by University of California researchers challenging the cancellations.
Court filing details grant selection
According to the NBC News report on Saturday, July 25, the administration's filing stated that 624 financial assistance awards across the Department of Energy had been marked either "termination" or "cancel."
Jeff Novak, the department's principal deputy general counsel, wrote that the Office of Management and Budget identified 284 grants for termination in October 2025.
According to Novak, with one exception, "the 284 terminated grants had a recipient location and/or at least one place of performance in a state that awarded its electoral votes to Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and has two Democratic-caucusing Senators."
He also wrote that the remaining 340 grants initially proposed for termination ultimately were not canceled.
"All such grants had a recipient location and/or at least one place of performance in a state that awarded its electoral votes to President Trump in the 2024 election or has at least one Republican-caucusing Senator," Novak stated.
The filing went further, saying the October cancellations were not "based on any programmatic, statutory, cost-reduction, or performance-based factor."
Instead, Novak wrote, "DOE accepts that the inclusion of grants in the October notice tranche was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient's state, i.e., whether the recipient's location and/or place of performance was in a Blue State or a non-Blue State."
Energy Department disputes political interpretation
Despite those statements, the Department of Energy rejected the suggestion that grant decisions were politically motivated, the report said.
"That is a misrepresentation of the court filing and of Mr. Novak's words," Energy Department press secretary Ben Dietderich said in a statement. "None of the termination decisions were based on political considerations. Secretary Wright has explained this numerous times in briefings on Capitol Hill."
Energy Secretary Chris Wright had made a similar argument during a June appearance before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
"No decisions were made on politics. I keep hearing that charge. It's bulls---t. We're going to say it a million times," Wright told lawmakers.
Filing arrives amid broader grant debate
The court filing comes as the Office of Management and Budget has proposed a rule that would give political appointees expanded authority over roughly $1 trillion in annual federal grants, said the report.
The proposal said grant applications should be screened to ensure they do not "promote anti-American values" and would allow political appointees to terminate grants they determine are "no longer in the Federal Government's interest."
The Department of Energy cancellations are one of several funding actions undertaken during Trump's second term.
The administration has also canceled grants that included references to diversity, equity and inclusion and frozen research funding at universities such as Harvard over allegations of antisemitism.
Trump has additionally threatened to withhold federal funding from states that resisted his immigration policies or maintained so-called sanctuary cities, the report stated.
