No one likes paying their taxes to the state and federal government. It’s something pretty much every American dreads. But what’s especially frustrating is when your taxes go to causes that don’t actually improve the well-being of Americans or the country overall.

That seems to be a common theme in modern American history: taxpayer dollars funding something that is completely useless and that almost no U.S. citizen asked for. Yet, the federal government insists that these expenditures are completely necessary. If Americans are going to get taxed, at least have that money go to programs like infrastructure.

But instead, we’re finding out that taxpayer dollars are actually being used to provide unnecessary aid for foreign countries, or for sham environmental groups that aren’t actually addressing anything regarding problems with the environment. The latter is exactly what the Biden administration did with at least $20 billion dollars in taxpayer funds.

Billions in Taxpayer Funds Funneled to New Environmental Groups Under Biden Administration

In a stunning revelation, the Biden administration directed at least $20 billion in taxpayer money to environmental organizations, many of which were established mere months before receiving massive grants. One eyebrow-raising example is the Climate United Fund, a Bethesda, Maryland-based outfit that snagged nearly $7 billion from then-Vice President Kamala Harris in April 2024. Curiously, the group, incorporated in Delaware just five months earlier in November 2023, doesn’t appear in the IRS’s database of charities and lacks any federal filings.

Climate United Fund wasted no time celebrating its windfall, issuing a press release touting “the historic investment” and promising benefits like “cleaner air…and increased energy security.” Yet, with the organization still in its infancy, no public records shed light on how it plans to spend its hefty check. So far, the group has announced a modest $10.8 million “pre-development loan” for a solar project on Tribal lands in eastern Oregon and Idaho, plus a $32 million solar initiative at the University of Arkansas. These projects, while notable, account for just a sliver of the billions entrusted to the fund.

Laurie Styron, CEO of Charity Watch, an independent watchdog group, didn’t mince words about the arrangement. “Ethically speaking, it’s concerning. What was the purpose of creating middlemen entities when there are so many established groups in the climate space with good track records? What was the value-added in [by] doing it this way, especially with such large sums of taxpayer funds?” she questioned.

The cash flowing to Climate United Fund and similar groups originated from a $370 billion climate initiative overseen by John Podesta, a seasoned political operative who chaired Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign and served as White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton. Tapped by President Joe Biden in 2022 to manage the fund—born out of the Inflation Reduction Act—Podesta steered billions toward these newly minted organizations.

The plot thickened when EPA advisor Brent Efron was recorded last year discussing a separate $20 billion climate fund managed by Citibank. “Get the money out as fast as possible before they [Trump Administration] come in … it’s like we’re on the Titanic and we’re throwing gold bars off the edge,” Efron said on video, hinting at a frantic rush to distribute funds before a change in administration. His attorney, Mark S. Zaid, later told the New York Post that Efron “was acting in his private capacity” and that his remarks “expressed [his] personal views,” unrelated to the funds already disbursed.

Now, EPA Director Lee Zeldin is fighting to reclaim the money, calling for an inspector general investigation earlier this week. “The Biden EPA ‘gold bar’ scheme was designed to limit government oversight while doling out funds to far-left organizations pushing DEI and Environmental Justice. Of the eight pass-through entities that received funding from the pot of $20 billion in tax dollars, various recipients have shown very little qualification to handle a single dollar, let alone several billions of dollars. I have zero tolerance for waste and abuse at the EPA,” Zeldin told The Post.

A Climate United Fund spokeswoman defended the process, noting that the Biden-led EPA “encouraged groups to work with coalitions” to secure the grants. But scrutiny is mounting. The New York Times reported Tuesday that the FBI and Department of Justice have opened investigations into the grants, with billions in bank accounts now frozen as the EPA scrambles to recover the funds.

As questions swirl about transparency and accountability, the saga of these climate billions highlights a tangled web of taxpayer dollars, political insiders, and untested organizations—leaving many to wonder where the money’s really going. And the Trump administration hopes to offer a new sense of transparency to how the federal government operates as far as the use of taxpayer funds. They’re hoping to expose where American’s money is truly going. And if any of those places are deemed wasteful or fraudulent, then President Trump and his team are working to shut that down. This type of transparency simply wasn’t conducted in the past administration or even many of the presidential administrations before that.

Do you wish the government was more open about what your taxes are used for? Do you think the Trump administration will stick to their word about being transparent about this issue? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments!