U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich and Patty Murray, joined by 37 colleagues, sent a letter on July 30 to Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought demanding the Trump administration restore funding for 223 energy projects canceled in October 2025. The administration has admitted that these grants were canceled because they were located in states that did not vote for President Trump in the 2024 election.
The letter follows an admission from the administration that the decision to cancel energy project grants was “based solely” on politics. In their message, Heinrich, Murray, and their colleagues wrote, “It is an attack on the rule of law and the basic democratic principle that the federal government serves the entire country—not merely those who support the President.”
All Democratic Senators from states with canceled grants signed onto this effort. The signatories include Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer as well as Senators Adam Schiff, Ben Ray Luján, Tammy Duckworth, Alex Padilla, John Hickenlooper, Maria Cantwell, Richard Blumenthal, Ron Wyden, Richard Durbin, Ruben Gallego, Brian Schatz, Chris Van Hollen, Catherine Cortez Masto, Peter Welch, Jacky Rosen, Mazie K. Hirono, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Edward J. Markey, Chris Coons, Bernie Sanders (Independent), Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeanne Shaheen, Kirsten Gillibrand, among others.
In their letter to Wright and Vought, they said: “Now that court documents have confirmed what we knew to be true… we write to demand that you restore previously awarded funding that the Trump Administration has weaponized in an attempt to punish perceived political enemies.” They continued: “Once an administration begins punishing Americans for how they vote… no state… can trust that the federal government will apply the law fairly.”
The senators also criticized rising energy prices during this period. Their letter stated: “At a time when energy prices are skyrocketing… The American people deserve to have a government that works for them—not one that is willing to push energy prices even higher and put the country’s energy security at grave risk.”
Heinrich and Murray had previously led a similar call in October 2025 when Congress-approved project grants were initially terminated.