Trump illegally withheld $2 billion in EV funds, GAO rules

On Feb. 6, 2025, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a memo canceling all National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program guidance and suspending approval of state EV charging plans, freezing $2.75 billion of the $3.27 billion available. States had already awarded over $510 million in contracts for charging infrastructure when the freeze took effect.

The May 22, 2025 GAO Decision B-337137 concluded the Department of Transportation violated the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 by freezing NEVI funds without the President sending Congress a formal deferral or rescission message. Under the Act, presidents must get Congressional approval within 45 legislative days to withhold appropriated funds—Trump sent no such message.

The $5 billion NEVI Formula Program was created by the Nov. 15, 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to fund 500,000 EV chargers by 2030 across all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The program uses an 80% federal cost share and aims to build at least 33,000 charging ports along designated Alternative Fuel Corridors.

A coalition of 19 attorneys general—led by Washington, California, Michigan, and New York—sued the Trump administration in federal court. On Jun. 25, 2025, U.S. District Judge Tana Lin granted a preliminary injunction unfreezing over $1 billion for 13 states, ruling the freeze likely violated both the Impoundment Control Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.

OMB Director Russ Vought publicly dismissed the GAO ruling on May 23, 2025, calling GAO a 'quasi-legislative independent entity' that 'shouldn't exist.' OMB instructed DOT to disregard the GAO opinion, claiming executive branch agencies must follow only Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinions—escalating the constitutional standoff.

Congressional Budget Committee Ranking Members Brendan Boyle (D-PA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) requested the GAO investigation and condemned the freeze. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) compared the NEVI impoundment to Nixon's 1973 EPA fund freezes that led to the Impoundment Control Act's passage in 1974.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's lawsuit noted that Michigan was owed $29 million of the frozen funds and had already obligated millions for charging station construction and autoworker retraining. The freeze threatened layoffs in communities relying on green infrastructure jobs and delayed factory retooling grants tied to decarbonization goals.

GAO launched 39 separate investigations into potential Trump administration violations of the Impoundment Control Act across multiple agencies in 2025. The NEVI freeze marked the second confirmed violation after GAO's Jan. 2020 finding that OMB illegally withheld $214 million in Ukraine security assistance—an action that became an article of impeachment.