Only one week after the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report claiming the Department of Transportation has no authority to freeze certain electric vehicle charger funds, the White House has sent a memo stating the opposite.
In a report issued May 22, the GAO stated the USDOT’s deferral of these $5.4 billion in funds meant for building EV charging stations, issued under the Biden-era National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, violated a provision of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, a federal law that regulates the president’s ability to withhold funds approved by Congress.
The White House Office of Management and Budget sent a memo to USDOT on June 3 instructing the department to disregard the GAO’s opinion on the NEVI funds, according to a June 4 report from Politico.
The OMB and USDOT did not respond to separate requests from Equipment World for a copy of the memo.
Politico quoted Mark Paoletta, OMB’s general counsel, in the memo as saying the GAO’s opinion was “wrong and legally indefensible” and that the USDOT does not need to “take any action to adjust the recording of its NEVI program obligations, nor change its practices with respect to obligating funds for any of its [Federal Highway Administration] programs in response to GAO’s incorrect opinion.”
The GAO, which serves as a bipartisan investigative arm of Congress, gave the following rationale in its May 22 report for why the funds could not legally be deferred:
“Under the ICA, a section referred to as the fourth disclaimer prohibits withholding from obligation or expenditure funds appropriated for programs where there is a mandate to spend therefor. We conclude that the NEVI Formula Program is covered by the fourth disclaimer. Therefore, DOT is not authorized to withhold these funds from expenditure and DOT must continue to carry out the statutory requirements of the program.”
The GAO did point out USDOT can find other ways to rescind the funds, though they must be approved by Congress. The GAO does not have the legal ability to enforce its findings, and the USDOT is not required to immediately unfreeze the NEVI funds.
The GAO’s full report can be read here.
Rescinding policies and programs that support EVs was an immediate goal for President Donald Trump’s administration.
The “Unleashing American Energy” executive order, signed by Trump January 20 under the premise of “terminating the green new deal," paused the disbursement of some funds from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and $2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The order specifically stated that it applied to “including but not limited to funds for electric vehicle charging stations made available through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Discretionary Grant Program.”
