{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.bluntrochester.senate.gov/news/press-releases/news-senators-blunt-rochester-coons-join-colleagues-in-demanding-trump-administration-restore-funding-for-energy-projects-that-were-illegally-canceled-and-politically-targeted/", "NEWS: Senators Blunt Rochester, Coons Join Colleagues in Demanding Trump Administration Restore Funding for Energy Projects That Were Illegally Canceled and Politically Targeted", "2026-07-30", "2026", "2026-07", "Democrat", "Senate", "DE", "Lisa Blunt Rochester", "B001303", "www.bluntrochester.senate.gov", "bluntrochester", "https://www.bluntrochester.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "The letter follows an admission from the Trump administration that the decision to cancel energy project grants in states that did not vote for Trump was \u201cbased solely\u201d on politics\n\n\u201cIt is an attack on the rule of law and the basic democratic principle that the federal government serves the entire country\u2014not merely those who support the President.\u201d\n\nWashington, DC \u2013 U.S. Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester and Chris Coons (both D-Del) joined Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Vice Chair of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, and 35 of their Democratic colleagues in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought demanding that the Trump administration restore funding for the 223 energy projects canceled in October 2025. The Trump administration has since admitted to illegally canceling energy grants because those projects were in states that did not vote for President Trump in the 2024 election.\n\nAlongside Heinrich, Murray, Coons, and Blunt Rochester, a Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, this letter was signed by U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D-N.M.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawai\u2018i), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Mazie K. Hirono (D- Hawai\u2018i), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Michael Bennett (D-Colo.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Angus King (I-M.E.). All 36 Democratic Senators from states with canceled grants and funding signed the letter.\n\n\u201cNow 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,\u201d the Senators began.\n\n\u201cOnce an administration begins punishing Americans for how they vote, the threat extends far beyond these projects: no state, community, business, or worker can trust that the federal government will apply the law fairly,\u201d the Senators continued. \u201cThis is not only an attack on jobs, affordable energy, and America\u2019s economic competitiveness. It is an attack on the rule of law and the basic democratic principle that the federal government serves the entire country\u2014not merely those who support the President.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt a time when energy prices are skyrocketing, the administration is hell-bent on political retribution instead of working to bring down costs for millions of Americans. The American people deserve to have a government that works for them\u2014not one that is willing to push energy prices even higher and put the country\u2019s energy security at grave risk,\u201d the Senators concluded. \u201cFor the good of our country, the rule of law, and the American people, we demand that you change course and restore the previously awarded funding.\u201d\n\nCoons and Blunt Rochester previously sent a letter in October 2025 when project grants were initially canceled despite having been approved and appropriated by Congress, demanding the restoration of these funds.\n\nRead the full text of the letter here and below:", 1, "2026-07-31T07:49:23Z", "2026-07-31T07:50:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.bluntrochester.senate.gov/news/press-releases/news-senators-blunt-rochester-coons-join-colleagues-in-demanding-trump-administration-restore-funding-for-energy-projects-that-were-illegally-canceled-and-politically-targeted/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.192823052406311, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}