Under the Biden administration, Oregon’s rural and economically strained counties witnessed a twofold increase in clean energy and other related investments between 2010 and 2024, based on a study examining federal expenditures on energy, environmental, and infrastructure schemes across the nation. Well, this may appear a gain for these communities, but it raises questions about government spending efficiency and the real economic impact.
Surprisingly, tribes in Oregon saw their federal funding multiplied by twenty in 2024 compared to 2010. A clear display of the Biden-era’s skewed allocation of funds, favoring certain demographic groups over others. The question remains, is this equity or potentially harmful favoritism?
A program, a brainchild of the Biden-era, mandated the allocation of 40% of federal funds pertaining to climate, housing, clean energy and clean water to projects in historically underserved communities. Unsurprisingly, a large slice of these funds ended up supporting Oregon’s rural locales and tribes. While some may claim this was a substantial infusion of resources, others point out it was seemingly arbitrary, favoring partisan objectives rather than reasoned policy.
The Biden administration policy, despite the fanfare, didn’t last. In July, as the Republicans passed the federal tax and spending cut megabill, these investments were either downsized or eliminated totally. An action that may be seen as a necessary correction given the misallocation of resources previously.
Between 2010 and 2024, federal agencies disbursed approximately $2.24 trillion to various sectors including state and local governments, tribes, private companies, nonprofits, individuals and higher education institutions for energy and environmental infrastructure projects. Alarmingly, the proportion of these funds that reached rural and financially challenged counties soared more than threefold in the last decade.
This uptick can be traced back to the Biden-sponsored Justice40 Initiative, which haphazardly redirected 40% of fresh federal climate and clean energy expenditures to underserved communities. This resulted not only in historic spending on clean energy, infrastructure, and environmental projects but also a historic burden on American taxpayers.
In March, the Justice40 Initiative came to an abrupt halt. Suddenly, over a billion dollars’ worth of grants related to environmental justice were scrubbed off the agenda. Many see this not as a loss, but a course correction by the bureaucracy. It underlined the hasty and perhaps misplaced enthusiasm of the Biden administration in pushing certain initiatives.
Delving deeper, about 30 federal grant initiatives, which accounted for half of all federal energy and environmental budget for Oregon in 2024, faced cuts or were resized. To reiterate, these funds had previously doubled from the 2010 levels. Such fluctuations in funding raise serious concerns about the consistency of federal strategy and the potential misuse of taxpayers’ money.
Under the previous disbursement policy, federal recognition to Oregon’s tribes saw an alarming increase from a modest $14.45 million in 2010 to a staggering $324 million by 2024. Conversations surround whether such a massive upsurge in budget allocation was focused on genuine need or influenced by political biases.
Between 2010 and 2024, over $30 billion from the federal purse were funneled towards Oregon’s energy and environmental initiatives, and controversially, 20% of these funds (~$6 billion) were directed towards the rural or economically marginalized counties in the state. This raises the question again, was it a strategic move or favoritism?
Sherman, Gilliam, Wallowa, Benton, and Baker counties were the main beneficiaries of this federal largesse per capita. While some may argue these counties need extra assistance, the wisdom of concentrating resources to specific counties instead of ensuring an even and strategic distribution of funding nationwide has been questioned.
Researchers also turned their focus to the flow of funds based on the partisan lines of each of the state’s congressional districts. Findings highlight a mild partisan favoritism, with the Democrat-led areas receiving slightly more capital.
In 2024, about 57% of energy and environmental infrastructure funding landed in the lap of Democrat-driven districts, compared to 43% that seeped into the Republican ones. This uneven distribution insinuates a politicized agenda of the dispersal of government funds under a supposedly unbiased Biden administration.
Even the grant that underwrote the research work, including provision of technical support to applicants for federal energy, infrastructural and environmental grants in Oregon, was among those cut. This could be seen as the Republicans hitting the pause button, questioning the unchecked allocation of resources under the Biden administration.
In a nutshell, Oregon witnessed an influx of federal spending over a decade, with a record-setting slump in the aftermath of the Republicans’ mega bill in July. Whether this was a reactive measure or a correction of poorly executed public policy executions by the Biden administration remains a debatable question.
Regardless of whether the source of these fluctuating funds is political bias or policy revision, the overriding truth is clear; the approach of the Biden administration to federal funding raises serious doubts about its accountability, efficiency and fairness, leaving room for more prudent and homogenized public investment strategies.
The post Biden’s Misguided Favouritism: Oregon’s Influx of Federal Spending appeared first on Real News Now.
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