Trump Administration Proposes Rescinding $4.3 Billion from Department of Energy Loan Program

The Trump Administration recently submitted its proposed spending cuts to Congress, firmly setting its sights on the Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. The administration proposes eliminating the remaining $4.3 billion in unused funding from the $25 billion Obama-era initiative. The rationale behind these cuts is that the program has not made any loans since 2011, and only five total within the last decade.

The ATVM program was created in 2009, and has been credited with helping give Tesla a helping hand. Former VP for Regulatory Affairs at Tesla James Chen explained, “With the credit market completely locked up, there was no place to get support. The ATVM loan program was a really good place for us [Tesla].” In January 2010, Tesla received a ten-year $465 million loan to build its Model S, which hit the streets in 2012.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy supported these proposed cuts, stating in an op-ed in the Washington Examiner that “cutting wasteful spending should not be a partisan exercise.” However, not all are in favor of the proposed spending cuts, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) saying in a statement, “ [the proposal will] appease the most conservative special interests and [make the GOP] feel better about blowing up the deficit to give the wealthiest few and biggest corporations huge tax breaks.”

For more information on President Trump’s rescission package, visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/white-house-announces-rescission-package/