A group at risk of losing federal funding under President Donald Trump said it has lost funding that the Biden administration originally denied over its support for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Biden administration withheld federal funding last year from the Climate Justice Alliance, a nonprofit climate organization, over its support for Palestine, The Intercept previously reported. That group will not receive funding under Trump, who signaled his plans to launch political attacks on nonprofits and reversed many climate-oriented policies on day one.
By withholding funding promised to the Climate Justice Alliance, the Biden administration paved the way for Trump to more easily hobble those he considers political enemies, such as organizers in Indigenous and poor communities working on issues like climate change, said CJA political director Timmy Châu, who now goes by the name TR Rose.
“The outgoing administration had months to ensure these communities most affected by harm would get this money directly,” Rose said. “And now that administration has paved the way to further the kind of carving away of critical public infrastructure and funds to the communities most impacted.”
The wildfires that swept through Los Angeles earlier this month show that effects of climate change are already here, Rose said.
“Communities, as we can see on the West Coast, have been put directly in the line of fire of the hollowing out of protections and resources to defend against the impacts of climate change,” he said. “The lack of this funding is an example of the ways that communities are forced to fight for so limited resources and support to survive the compounding political, economic and climate catastrophes that are impacting all of us daily.”
Climate organizers were already concerned about Trump’s plans to draw back efforts to combat the climate crisis. Trump signed an executive order on Monday withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the international framework for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
“The true energy emergency is … the deadly consequences of prioritizing polluters over people.”
Last month, Environmental Protection Agency staffers wrote an open letter demanding that the Biden administration release the funds to CJA and that the agency end its work with Israel.
The group issued a statement on Monday denouncing Trump’s announcement of plans to declare an emergency at the border and roll back environmental protections.
“The true energy emergency is not about drilling on public lands for corporate profit — it’s about the deadly consequences of prioritizing polluters over people,” the statement said. “The right’s war on workers and the environment will harm us all, and it’s time we hold them accountable.”
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
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I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
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