There is currently over $20 billion in congressionally approved federal funding being withheld from critical clean energy and manufacturing programs. These frozen funds are jeopardizing an estimated 291,133 jobs, $22.9 billion in labor income, and an alarming $65.9 billion in total U.S. economic output. The sustained impoundment of these funds not only undermines progress in advancing energy technologies, but it also costs the U.S. economy millions of dollars daily as investments made today will purchase more materials and hire more workers than the same investment down the road.
To date, the illegal freezing of funds at the Department of Energy (DOE) alone has cost the U.S economy $550 million, 640,503 lost workdays, and $197 million in lost income for workers. The irreversible cost for each day the federal funding freeze continues can be tracked in real-time using the Live Funding Freeze Ticker—developed by Greenline Insights in partnership with the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES).
On January 20th, 2025, the Trump Administration issued an executive order halting the disbursement of all federal grants and loans across numerous federal agencies. This action, aimed at reducing federal spending and redirecting resources to the new administration’s priorities, was accompanied by mass layoffs to the federal workforce. Funding provided by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) as well as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 were all frozen, prompting legal action from a swell of concerned companies and organizations.
Three months after the initial announcement, federal judge Mary McElroy ordered the Trump administration to reinstate these funds. Following thorough investigation, on May 22, 2025, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ruled that the Trump administration’s blockage of funding violated the Impoundment Control Act. Days later, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced the termination of 24 awards totaling $3.7 billion from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstration (OCED). These would have supported clean energy and manufacturing projects across the country that will keep energy costs down and strengthen the long-term competitive position of U.S. manufacturing.
While the continued freeze of these funds represents real and wasteful economic losses, project cancellations carry an even higher cost for companies that have already invested billions in projects the federal government has legally contracted to undertake.
Zooming in on the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED)
The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), established in 2021 through the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, manages the deployment of several large-scale clean energy technologies including clean hydrogen, carbon management, advanced nuclear reactors, and long-duration energy storage. OCED was created to centralize and leverage project management experience across the DOE to enhance project outcomes, through close collaboration with private companies. Unfortunately, this program is also under attack; a recent executive order proposes to cut the program’s 250 person staff down to 35 full-time employees. This would leave little support to manage OCED’s project portfolio, effectively undermining $20 billion in congressionally approved awards, impacting hundreds of clean energy and industrial manufacturing initiatives that have made investments based on legal contracts with the federal government, as well as communities positioned to benefit from the jobs and local tax revenue the projects would generate.
The consequences of eliminating OCED’s operations will be felt nationwide across the clean hydrogen, long-duration energy storage, carbon management, distributed energy, and industrial manufacturing sectors. Among the 35 states with projects at high risk of termination, California, Iowa, and Pennsylvania face the largest potential losses, with $3.2 billion, $1.1 billion, and $1 billion respectively in total economic output at stake. States that host several major projects like Texas’ HyVelocity Hub are generating thousands of jobs—45,000 in Texas alone. A loss of federal funding for DOE projects puts 156,352 jobs on the line nationwide. Industries crucial to advancing America’s global competitiveness, such as the construction of new power and manufacturing facilities, face losing $6.3 billion in total economic output, not even accounting for the millions of dollars in potential private investment.
The cumulative and irreversible economic costs of federal program freezes pose serious threats to domestic manufacturing, job opportunities, and clean energy technology development. The scale of damage caused by cuts to OCED’s project portfolio alone demonstrates that continued withholding of funds by the Administration will worsen the long-term prospects for secure and affordable energy supply in America undermining our economic future.
The Live Funding Freeze Ticker represents a conservative estimate, as it doesn’t account for private sector investment being sidelined by the freeze. What’s worse is that we’re getting nothing in return for that delay—literally lighting $10 million dollars on fire for every day of delay, while freezing America’s manufacturing renaissance with consequences that will reverberate through communities nationwide for decades to come.
