Biden’s legacy continues to get tarnished. He’ll always be remembered as one of the worst presidents ever.
And Joe Biden is sick to his stomach over what the Trump administration just did to him.
In a decisive move, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has scrapped a Biden administration plan to funnel billions of dollars in semiconductor research funds through a nonprofit staffed by former political insiders. The decision, outlined in a letter collected by the New York Post, aims to restore transparency and control over taxpayer money allocated under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act.
The CHIPS Act and Natcast’s Formation
The CHIPS Act set aside $11 billion for semiconductor research, to be overseen by the Commerce Department’s National Semiconductor Technology Center. Instead of managing the funds internally, the Biden team created Natcast, an external nonprofit, to handle the distribution.
“Rather than establishing these operations within the Department, however, Biden Administration officials spent significant time, effort, and resources creating an unaccountable, outside entity–Natcast–to administer taxpayer funds,” Lutnick stated in the letter to Natcast CEO Deirdre Hanford.
A Last-Minute Financial Maneuver
Just four days before President Biden left office on January 20, the Commerce Department locked in $7.4 billion in “advance payments” to Natcast, securing nearly all its funding through 2034. This move cut the incoming Trump administration out of the process, sparking a review by the Departments of Justice and Commerce into the Sunnyvale, California-based nonprofit.
Lutnick didn’t mince words, stating, “These actions do not just give the appearance of impropriety; they flout federal law.” He noted that the CHIPS Act never authorized an outside group like Natcast to manage the funds.
The Government Corporation Control Act, he added, explicitly bars agencies from setting up corporations to act on their behalf without clear permission. “The January 16, 2025, agreement does nothing other than set forth the terms of the Biden Administration’s attempt to do just that,” he wrote.
Natcast’s Ties to the Biden Administration
Natcast’s leadership is stacked with Biden-era connections. Its selection committee included Jason Matheny, a former White House Office of Science and Technology Policy official, and Kendra Wilkerson, head of a nonprofit that “promotes greater equality for women and nonbinary professionals in technology fields,” per the Biden Commerce Department.
Other key figures include Donna Dubinsky, who served as senior counselor to former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and approved Natcast’s 501(c)(3) status; Susan Feindt, a former Biden Commerce CHIPS Act advisor now serving as Natcast’s senior vice president of ecosystem development; and Jeremy Licht, previously the chief counsel on semiconductor incentives at the Commerce Department, now Natcast’s general counsel. CEO Deirdre Hanford also served on the Biden Commerce Department’s Industrial Advisory Committee.
Parallels to Other Oversight Concerns
This isn’t the first time concerns have surfaced about last-minute Biden-era fund allocations. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin recently spoke to the New York Post’s Miranda Devine on her Pod Force One podcast that Biden appointees were “rushing to get billions of dollars out the door before Inauguration Day” to left-leaning groups.
Zeldin uncovered $20 billion “parked at an outside financial institution,” later identified as Citibank, slated for distribution through eight pass-through entities “riddled with self-dealing and conflicts of interest.”
He noted, “When the money goes through the prime recipients to others — in many cases, also pass-throughs — EPA no longer is a party of the account control agreement. EPA is losing oversight by design intentionally.”
Lutnick’s cancellation of the Natcast deal aims to bring similar accountability back to the Commerce Department. “Ending this illegal relationship will ensure efficient use of taxpayer funds and continued American leadership in the semiconductor industry, and it will return responsibility–and accountability–for faithfully executing the CHIPS Act to the Department, as Congress intended,” his letter said.
The Commerce Department also warned it may pursue legal action against Natcast, reserving all rights to address the issue further.
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