President Trump is wielding a Cold War-era law to fund grid and energy infrastructure. (Bloomberg)
Yesterday, Trump signed a flurry of memos that directed federal funds to domestic energy infrastructure, including grid, coal, LNG, and petroleum assets. He cited the Defense Production Act, which is used to ramp up production of supplies deemed key to national security.
How it works: The DOE can now disperse funding laid out in last year’s One Big Beautiful ‌Bill toward sorely needed supplies, like gas turbines and transformers. The Trump administration has previously harnessed the same law for its “drill, baby, drill” agenda, including in a recent effort to revive an oil pipeline off the CA coast.
Why now? The Iran War is compounding consumers’ frustration over rising energy costs—an issue Trump campaigned on fixing. Now, the White House hopes that an industry cash injection can ease the financial and regulatory gridlocks slowing US energy production.