POTATUS and his minions have been on a spending tear as the days count down to them vacating offices and reserved parking spaces.
On a world stage, there have been promises of whatever it takes to 'rebuild Syria' and big fat checks handed to Africa for dealing with 'environmental disasters,' which, fortunately, never happen here so we have money to spare.
"Today, I'm announcing over $1 billion in new humanitarian support for Africans displaced from homes by historic droughts and food insecurity." - Joe Biden 12/3/24
— Epstein's Sheet. 🧻 (@meantweeting1) December 4, 2024
MEANWHILE in North Carolina... pic.twitter.com/YODxsyhxk6
And Washington''s favorite international charity has had a terrific and lucrative post-election run. Sweater Boy got word that a pretty hefty loan was being canceled...
...The Biden administration told Congress it plans to cancel $4.65 billion in debt owed by Ukraine, approximately half of an economic loan offered earlier this year.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller confirmed the plans in a briefing on Wednesday. "So we have taken the step that was outlined in the law to cancel those loans, provide that economic assistance to Ukraine," he said.
...which was shortly followed by an unending parade of announcements that hundreds of millions of dollars would be flowing his way in cash...
🚨BREAKING: White House just announced $50B loan to Ukraine.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) December 10, 2024
pic.twitter.com/IhnFmQp1da
...and materials.
🚨#BREAKING: The US Department of Defence has announced a $500 MILLION worth of tax payers money in military aid package to Ukraine, including ammunition, anti-armour systems, unmanned aerial systems, and various vehicles.
— The Saviour (@stairwayto3dom) December 13, 2024
Follow @global_scope24 (source) pic.twitter.com/Vt5U206X3O
It's only money.
Everybody in the world needs it, and POTATUS has it.
Or he has a checkbook that still has checks in it. And, by God, he's writing them.
If you'll remember, gentle readers, it was only a couple of weeks ago that I was moaning and groaning in these very pages about the Biden administration's unseemly haste to blow through Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) *spits* funds that were unspent and moldering in a bank account somewhere.
It turns out there was quite a bit of cashola that hadn't even been allocated to any particular, well-vetted Green scheme, less mind-wired to the bank account of some enterprising renewable start-up owner.
Progressives in Congress, positively panicked at the thought that one last dime would be left in the kitty for the Trump administration to dump back into the treasury, were screaming, 'Buy, Mortimer! BUY!!" Buy anything and everything, no matter what - in order to spend it all.
...There are billions still sitting unspent in the oversized, loosely defined coffers reserved for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). What isn't already on its way out the door is being urged for immediate dispersion by progressives and Democrats.
They want every last blue cent gone before Trump takes over and are making no bones about it.
Biden Administration Goes on ‘Dangerous and Destructive’ Climate Spending Spree Ahead of Trump Inauguration
As the clock ticks down toward President-elect Trump’s inauguration on January 20, Congressional Democrats are urging President Biden to “move expeditiously” to disburse billions of unspent dollars for climate funding authorized in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
By the 5th of December, they had already blown through $100B - that's a "B" - and were on the hunt for more holes to stash it in.
That wasn't mere cynical opposition conjecture on our part, either. Project Veritas busted a smarmy EPA puke, admitting that was the plan - keep it out of Trump's hands and protect the funds as much as possible from claw-backs.
BREAKING: @EPA Advisor Admits ‘Insurance Policy’ Against Trump is Funneling Billions to Climate Organizations, “We’re Throwing Gold Bars off the Titanic”
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) December 3, 2024
“It was an insurance policy against Trump winning.”
“Get the money out as fast as possible before they [Trump… pic.twitter.com/eaAihuNvAh
Makes you mad, and gnash your teeth while turning the air over your head blue. In reality, there's not much that can be done other than harsh language and chanting 'SOLYNDRA' like a Harikrisha.
Or so I thought, as most did.
Gosh darn, if they weren't so enthusiastic throwing the big bucks around, they've got the attention of many folks who'd normally not be watching as closely, occupied as they are with other things.
These easy-going types are fired up, starting to scrutinize paperwork and connections and using Washington warning words like 'reckless.'
The Biden administration is in a hurry to finalize more than a dozen green energy loans worth more than $25 billion before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in mid-January—a frantic effort that lawmakers and industry officials are warning could lead to fraud and abuse of taxpayer money.
Through the Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office, the administration is working to finalize a total of 16 pending loans worth a total of $25.1 billion, a Washington Free Beacon analysis found. Those loans figure to be in serious jeopardy—Trump repeatedly vowed to "terminate" green energy spending on the campaign trail—and, in recent weeks, Biden officials have picked up the pace finalizing pending commitments.
Over the last two months, the Loan Programs Office closed on seven loans worth $5.9 billion, including two that were closed after the election. Those two loans went to EV battery component plants in Michigan and New York. By comparison, the office closed on five loans worth $6.5 billion during the prior 27 months.
And, God almighty, is it a buttload of money we're talking about here.
...But Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 reactivated the office, giving it hundreds of billions of dollars in additional lending power, a massive increase that quickly made it a centerpiece of the Biden administration's broader climate agenda. In addition to the $25.1 billion in pending loans, the office is sitting on loan applications requesting a total of $303.5 billion, a number larger than the gross domestic product of nearly 30 states.
Overall, the Loan Programs Office has announced loans worth a total of $37.6 billion for 29 green energy projects since 2022. Officials have been able to close on just 12 of those loans.
Some of the loans for companies they were diligently working to shove through have ties to people *checks notes* in the Loans Programs Office...whut?
Or Chines party officials.
...The Department of Energy is also reviewing conditional loan commitments worth a combined $9 billion to the following companies: EV battery company Redwood Materials, hydrogen power company Plug Power, green ammonia producer Wabash Valley Resources, green jet fuel company Gevo Net-Zero 1, South Korean solar panel maker Hanwha QCells, and battery maker KORE Power.
The Free Beacon reported in January that Loan Programs Office director Jigar Shah held a financial stake in Plug Power through his green investment firm before joining the Biden administration, raising conflict-of-interest concerns.
Oh, I'm sure everything's on the up-and-up...pffft.
Yesterday, the Department of Energy's Inspector General sent a letter to the Under Secretary of Energy for Infrastructure that basically laid a whuppin' on the whole spend-a-palooza.
KNOCK IT OFF WITH THE HANDOUTS
The Federal Government prohibits conflicts of interest to safeguard the taxpayers against selfdealing, collusion, and fraud by Government officials and Government contractors. In the private sector, each party has a “baked in” economic incentive to watch, track, and account for its own dollars. That economic incentive does not exist in the public sector, where Federal dollars are more likely to be treated as “monopoly money.” For this reason, implementing and overseeing robust conflict of interest protections is a critical role for Federal officials.
The Department of Energy Loan Programs Office (LPO) is administering more than $385 billion in new loan authority without ensuring a regulatory and contractually compliant and effective system to manage organizational conflicts of interest. 0F 1 This poses a significant risk of fraud, waste, and abuse. Congress issued this unprecedented volume of loan authority in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act, and related legislation. 2 The projects funded with this authority, which involve innovations in clean energy, advanced transportation, and tribal energy are inherently risky in part because these projects may have struggled to secure funding from traditional sources such as commercial banks and private equity investors.
That was the introduction. The body of the missive lays out exactly how the DoE loan office is purposefully ignoring the existing safeguards and protocols meant to protect the public from fraudulent use of their tax dollars as they engage in this frantic handout session.
For example, the top of Page 5 in the first section discusses how the LPO [Loan Program Office] doesn't 'track contractors who may be serving both the LPO and borrowers':
...Ultimately, because the LPO is not collecting information about and tracking all parties involved in loan administration, it does not currently know whether prospective borrowers have strategically hired the same third-party experts or affiliates that the LPO has retained to assist with loan processing and due diligence. This presents a risk to the taxpayer and disregards FAR 9.504 obligations.
That is simply astonishing. There is zero due diligence from the very beginning of the loan process.
Try that at your local community bank. Good luck.
The OIG insisted that the LPO suspend processing these loans until they went back and ascertained there were established procedures in place to identify and resolve conflicts of interest, established central tracking mechanisms, and that reviews were performed of the primary contractor's 'Plan' to ensure everything was being implemented as required, as time was of the essence to get this right.
In an attachment, the DoE politely pushed back on those requests because time was running short (Get the distinction?). IOW, get bent, dudes.
The OIG's response is an epic bureaucratic spanking. I mean, Auditor's Comments (pg 8) 1 through 3 are pretty damn good themselves (this line especially -I could have written it.)...
... This lack of actual Departmental oversight likely explains the LPO’s view that it is operating a “robust” conflicts program reporting exactly zero conflicts in 15 years.
...but on pgs 9 and 10, items 4 and 5?
FEEL THE BURN
...4. Failure to Address Conflicts Related to Archetype and Its Subcontractors
The Department has failed to comment upon the conflicts of interest that may arise involving Archetype and its subcontractors, which are retained by and paid by the LPO. These entities are not paid by prospective borrowers. Rather, these entities are paid by the LPO with tax dollars. The Department did not dispute—and could not reasonably dispute—that FAR directly applies to these contracts. Our interim finding presented major concerns with these parties, yet the LPO’s comments failed to address these entities. The LPO narrowly focused its comments on thirdparty experts but failed entirely to address its deficient management of conflicts of interest related to the remainder of its contracts and subcontracts.
5. Corrective Actions
As for the OIG suggested corrective actions, the Department objects to the OIG’s request that the LPO pause its activities pending the LPO establishing an actual oversight plan for the management of conflicts of interest. The OIG, however, reiterates that the basic controls for overseeing the identification of related parties and analyzing possible conflicts of interest should have been in place before a single loan application was approved.
As for management’s responses to the OIG’s Corrective Actions 2, 3 and 4, we appreciate that management intends to take these actions but also note that time is of the essence.
It is a snark-filled voice of moral authority beauty of a smackdown.
I am wondering, as it is an official calling on the carpet of a blatant disregard of regulations, is it actionable for those who carry on after receiving it?
The incoming administration will have no issue pursuing claims if that is so.
I would be delighted to find out that legal culpability may put the chill in a few global-warming hearts and cause some hesitation before they sign a loan document.
Maybe they won't sign it at all.
The party on the Green could well be over.
