WASHINGTON—U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) led members of the Illinois Congressional delegation in a letter to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Chris Wright and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought demanding that the Trump Administration restore funding for the 33 energy grants totaling more than $580 million to the State of Illinois that were unlawfully terminated in October 2025. The Trump Administration has since admitted to illegally canceling energy grants because those projects were in states, including Illinois, that did not vote for President Trump in the 2024 Presidential election. The canceled federal grant funds designated for Illinois included projects on domestic energy production, lowering energy costs, and improving grid reliability.
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In addition to Durbin and Duckworth, the letter was signed by U.S. Representatives Jonathan Jackson (D-01-IL), Robin Kelly (D-02-IL), Jesús "Chuy" García (D-04-IL), Mike Quigley (D-05-IL), Sean Casten (D-06-IL), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-08-IL), Jan Schakowsky (D-09-IL), Brad Schneider (D-10-IL), Bill Foster (D-11-IL), Nikki Budzinski (D-13-IL), Lauren Underwood (D-14-IL), and Eric Sorensen (D-17-IL).
The lawmakers wrote, “As if this brazen politicization of DOE’s grant-making process were not bad enough, these cancellations also took aim at our constituents’ wallets. Average household energy bills in Illinois rose by $210 in 2025, and that number is expected to increase further by the end of 2026. As Artificial Intelligence data centers—welcomed and unchecked by your Administration—demand a growing quantity of electricity, bills are projected to rise even higher. In fact, Illinois officials warn that without action, the state may experience power shortfalls as soon as 2029. To combat the deluge of new demand, Illinois needs additional power generation, expanded energy storage, and upgrades to its electrical grid.”
The lawmakers continued, “The grants you terminated would have assisted in the deployment of these technologies and created hundreds of jobs. One such grant would have provided $50 million to Rockford, Illinois, to modernize its grid infrastructure and train new technicians to service those upgrades. Instead of enabling this progress in Rockford and across Illinois, your shortsighted, vindictive policy inflicted higher prices on our constituents. The terminations make clear that OMB and DOE are willing to sacrifice the well-being of Americans to punish the President’s perceived political enemies.”
In the letter, the lawmakers highlighted how the grants would have benefited communities in Illinois that were hit by extreme weather, including tornadoes. So far this year, a record-breaking 220 tornadoes have touched down in Illinois—more than the next two highest states combined. These weather events deal incredible damage to Illinois’s electric grid, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of residents. In one instance, the Trump Administration terminated a grant to the City of Naperville intended to improve the management of its small-scale, distributed generation. The callous terminations weakened Naperville’s ability to respond to the frequent storms of recent months.
The lawmakers wrote, “Repeated damage to Illinois’ grid infrastructure also increases demand for critical electrical components like distribution transformers, exacerbating already severe supply chain shortages that affect every state. The U.S. electric grid is complex and interregional, and it does not distinguish between political parties. Your partisan attacks on Illinois are just as likely to raise prices or extend repair timelines in Wisconsin, Indiana, or Iowa the next time they face a tornado or flood.”
The lawmakers concluded, “It is incumbent upon DOE to take a wide view of and responsibility for the health of our nation’s energy systems. Through these grant terminations, you have demonstrated a complete failure to understand this basic principle of DOE’s mission. To begin rectifying this unprecedented political attack, we demand that you restore all 33 of the DOE grants cancelled in Illinois as a part of these mass terminations.”
Read the full text of the letter here.
Today’s letter follows a letter Durbin and Duckworth sent last week with U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Patty Murray (D-WA) to DOE and OMB demanding they restore funding for canceled energy projects across the country.
