Stacey Abrams, the failed Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate, is being condemned by conservatives for appearing on MSNBC and defending a $2 billion initiative of Biden’s EPA that will purchase green energy appliances in America.
Stacey Abrams’ Power Forward Communities, which is linked to Stacey Abrams, received two billion dollars in taxes in 2024 despite reporting only $100 of revenue in the previous year. The grant agreement stipulated that they must complete a course on ‘How to develop a budget’ within 90 days.
“$2 billion in hard-earned tax dollars should not have been doled out to this organization for many reasons, especially if they don’t even know how to put together a budget. The Biden EPA ‘gold bars’ scheme is riddled with self-dealing and conflicts of interest, unnecessary middlemen, unqualified recipients, and massively reduced government oversight. The funds are currently frozen, and the DOJ and FBI are investigating.”
Abrams joined MSNBC Friday and defended the Biden Administration’s $2 billion grant to Power Forward Communities last year.
This group comprises housing non-profits such as Habitat for Humanity International and United Way Worldwide. According to Ian Magruder’s LinkedIn posting, Abrams “played an important role” in the formation of the group. Magruder works for Rewiring America, which is one partner.
Abrams, who appeared on MSNBC to defend the millions of dollars provided to Power Forward Communities to help bring energy-efficient appliances to Georgia communities in 2023 or 2024, said that she worked with Rewiring America.
What is the organization called? What’s your relationship with this organization? What does it do?” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes asked Abrams on the show.
“In 2023 and 2024, I was the leader of a Vitalizing De Soto program. In a small town in South Georgia, we worked to show that you could lower costs by switching from energy-inefficient appliances to efficient ones. We were able to achieve this for 75 percent of the residents. They got appliances which are lowering the bills”, Abrams explained, explaining that one Georgia woman saw her energy bill cut in half as a result of the project.
Abrams said that because the project had been so successful for Americans, a group of groups joined together to ask the EPA and the Biden Administration to replicate the program to achieve the same outcomes nationwide.
According to that program, a group of famous organisations came together and told the EPA, “If we could do it here, then we could do it for millions more Americans.” We should invest in lowering costs for Americans. The EPA agreed.
According to a press release by Power Forward Communities dated April 20, 2024, the $2 billion will be used to “decarbonize” homes in communities with low incomes and pay for new appliances such as solar panels, water heaters, and induction stoves.
Power Forward Communities CEO Tim Mayopoulos said to Politico in a statement last month that Abrams had not received funds through the EPA grant.
He said that Stacey Abrams had not been paid a cent from the EPA grant. It was never intended that she would receive money through this grant. Power Forward Communities does not have any relationship with Abrams other than that she has advised one member of our coalition in the past.
Conservatives in social media slammed Abrams for the media interview. Critics asked why the EPA did not provide rebates to Americans who purchased energy-efficient products. Others remarked on the initiative being intended to buy votes in Georgia.
Abrams claimed in an interview with MSNBC that conservatives such as Zeldin and President Donald Trump are “angry” over the money provided to the organization because Democrats “know what it takes to serve American citizens and lower prices.”
They are upset because they know that the program will work. It is hypocritical that the EPA just released funding for a portion of the program today. $7 billion. Of that, $100 million will be going to West Virginia solar projects. Alaska will receive $60 million for solar projects. They are confident that this will work. They understand that it is cost-effective. “They are furious that Democrats know the best way to serve Americans and lower prices,” said she.
Trump had called Abrams to task during a speech he gave at a joint meeting of Congress on Tuesday.
Stacey Abrams, a woman who we all know is involved, was the one to pass over the $1.9 billion that had been allocated for the newly created Decarbonization of Homes Committee. “Have you heard of her?” Trump asked during his speech. Some booed Abrams as Trump spoke.
The Washington Post ran a fact-check on the remark, giving Trump four “pinocchios” for the comment, arguing Abrams “does not head the consortium; she did not even head one member of the consortium. She was only an adviser. Moreover, the money was delivered nine months before President Joe Biden left office, not at the last moment.”
Abrams did not dissociate herself from this project in her MSNBC interview but instead praised her Vitalizing De Soto work, which, she said, led to Power Forward Communities.
In its fact-check, the EPA responded to the WaPo article by saying that “it is no surprise that the Washington Post continues to follow the radical left’s line and they are quick to defend the apparent cronyism rather than actually do the work for American citizens to investigate.”
