President Donald Trump's Energy Department reportedly canceled a $4.5 million contract that the Biden administration awarded to develop a new agency website and logo.
Under then-President Joe Biden in March 2023, the Energy Department awarded a contract to the Native American firm Cherokee Nation Strategic Programs (CNSP) for the stated purpose of "rebranding" the agency, the Washington Free Beacon reported Wednesday.
However, by late last year, CNSP had made no progress on the website redesign and only delivered a logo, which was scrapped shortly after Trump took office.
The Free Beacon reported the Biden administration paid out about $2.3 million of the contract to CNSP and transferred the rest of the contract to a separate IT services firm.
CNSP outsourced the project to two subcontractors. Staffing firm Insight Global received $90,469 to hire a user experience designer, training specialist, and developer, and advertising agency Lempugh, Inc., received nearly $2 million to oversee the rebranding.
Earlier this year, the department ended two million-dollar green energy grants the Biden administration awarded to the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), the Free Beacon reported. RMI is a left-wing climate think tank that has pushed for heavy restrictions on gas stoves.
The Trump administration's decision to cancel the CNSP contract is part of a larger initiative to reduce wasteful government spending.
"Energy is not a political issue—it is national security. At the Department of Energy, we're driven by innovation, not ideology, to power America's future," the department posted Wednesday on X.
Trump's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, released Friday, seeks to cut $19.3 billion from the Energy Department's budget by making deep cuts to Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Utility Dive reported.
On Friday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued a statement concerning the budget proposal.
"This is a consequential moment in American history—thanks to President Trump's leadership, the Energy Department has an opportunity to help the nation restore energy dominance, lead the world in innovation, and modernize our nuclear weapons stockpiles," Wright said. "To succeed, we must instill a culture of transparency, performance, and common sense.
"This administration's budget proposal for the Energy Department supports those efforts and will ensure that the Department accomplishes its mission while also fulfilling President Trump's promise to restore the responsible stewardship of the American taxpayer's dollars."