The White House’s Shocking Federal Funding Freeze

Current conditions: A major incident was declared in parts of England after Storm Herminia brought severe flooding • A 3.8-magnituted earthquake was recorded off the coast of Maine • It’s warmer than average across central and eastern states, but colder than average in the Southwest.

THE TOP FIVE

1. White House orders pause to federal grants and loans

The Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget issued a two-page memo temporarily suspending all federal grants and loans. “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” wrote the OMB’s acting director Matthew J. Vaeth. The pause will allow agencies to review grant and loan programs and make sure they align with President Trump’s many executive orders, which have sought to sharply curtail climate initiatives and clean energy spending, among other programs. Some experts say the order is too vague to be legal. Still, it triggered panic and confusion across many state and local governments and programs. “It will mean missed payrolls and rent payments and everything in between,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Chaos for everything from universities to non-profit charities, state disaster assistance, local law enforcement, aid to the elderly, and food for those in need.” The pause goes into effect at 5 p.m. today.

2. Scott Bessent confirmed as Treasury secretary

The Senate yesterday confirmed hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary. As Heatmap’s Matthew Zeitlin has explained, Bessent has long advised Trump on the economy and has a “3-3-3” plan for the economy that involves cutting deficits in half to 3% of gross domestic product, ratcheting up GDP to 3%, and boosting oil production by three million barrels a day, a goal that Continental Resources chief executive and informal Trump advisor Harold Hamm has cast doubt on due to geologic constraints. Bessent has also suggested to the Financial Times that the Inflation Reduction Act could be one area where cuts to the federal budget could be found, telling the paper that it was “the Doomsday machine for the deficit.” He is reportedly aiming to introduce new universal tariffs on imports, starting at 2.5% and gradually rising to as high as 20%.

3. Citigroup: Energy transition is irreversible

President Trump’s policy agenda cannot stop the global energy transition, analysts from Citigroup wrote in a note, according to Bloomberg. “Clean energy is cheaper, more widely available, and more efficient,” the note said. “For advocates of clean energy transition, the power of economics will prevail.” The analysts weren’t particularly concerned about the U.S. exodus from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (which Citigroup itself has left), saying this “neither impedes progress nor dilutes efforts” to decarbonize investing.

4. Study warns of 2.3 million excess heat-related deaths in European cities by end of century

Climate change-related deaths in European cities could rise by 50% by 2099 if little is done in the way of mitigation and adaptation, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Medicine. In this scenario, some 2.3 million people in urban areas across the continent are projected to die climate-related deaths by the end of the century. “With no adaptation to heat, the increase in heat-related deaths consistently exceeds any decrease in cold-related deaths,” the authors wrote. The number of deaths could be reduced by at least two-thirds if warming peaks at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, or at least remains below 3 degrees Celsius. The world has already warmed by 1.3 degrees Celsius. According to the Climate Action Tracker, current policies have us on a path toward roughly 2.7 degrees of warming by 2100. A separate study out today found that ocean-surface temperatures are warming more than four times faster now than they did in the late 1980s.

Projected increases (purple) and decreases (green) in excess deaths due to temperature in a warming Europe. Nature

5. Los Angeles grapples with toxic wildfire debris

As Los Angeles starts down the long path to recovery after its devastating wildfires, a debate is growing over what to do with all the debris leftover from the blazes. Some people are considering hiring private firms to clean up their properties, but that could cost some $170,000, the Los Angeles Times reported. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is offering to clear away the debris for free, and the Environmental Protection Agency is also working on the cleanup, but officials warned locals at a town hall meeting Sunday that the process could take up to 18 months. That timeline was met with outrage. The EPA plans to send the debris to some L.A. County’s foothill communities to be processed for disposal, but residents there aren’t happy about the idea of being dumped with toxic wildfire waste. “The potential risks associated with hazardous materials, particularly lithium electric vehicle batteries, which are highly flammable and pose environmental contamination risks, are a matter of significant concern,” said L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis in a statement. “The removal of these materials should not come at the cost of creating a toxic environment for communities already disproportionately impacted by pollution.”

THE KICKER

“Blithely insisting that incredibly complex problems will be solved easily and quickly is a specialty of tech barons. And if AI itself finds the solution to our energy problems? Even better.”

–Paul Waldman writing for Heatmap on solving climate change (or not) with AI