Whitehouse, Schumer, Markey, Van Hollen Call for Answers from Citibank on Climate Bank Funding Freeze

Washington, D.C.— Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), together with Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.); Senator Edward J. Markey (D-M.A.), a senior member of EPW; and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-M.D.), a member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, called for answers from Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup, and Sunil Garg, CEO of Citibank North America (N.A.), on the reported freeze of federal investments made under the National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) and Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA)—programs that are part of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) and held in Citibank N.A accounts.  The affected accounts contain legally obligated federal funds appropriated in the Inflation Reduction Act aimed at powering domestic investment in low-cost clean energy and energy.  The freeze appears to relate to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin’s desire to claw back these grants.  Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-M.A.), Ranking Member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-O.R.) also signed the letter.

“If public reporting and information obtained by Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Democrats is accurate, the federal funds in these accounts have been frozen for more than two weeks without explanation from either Citibank or the EPA. Without access to these funds, grantees will be hard pressed to cover basic operating expenses, such as payroll or rent, much less satisfy their mission of delivering cost-saving investments in underserved communities across the country. According to recent reporting, a prolonged account freeze may drive many of the nonprofit grantees to bankruptcy or default,” wrote the Senators.

“These reports suggest that Trump DOJ and EPA officials are trying to rescind the legally obligated funding at issue by fabricating claims of financial mismanagement and launching sham investigations,” the Senators continued.

The lawmakers requested responses by March 15, 2025, to questions that include:

• What NCIF, CCIA, or GGRF grantee accounts have been paused, frozen, or closed by Citibank? When did Citibank pause, freeze, or close these accounts?
• Why did Citibank pause, freeze, or close grantee accounts?
• If Citibank has paused, frozen, closed, or otherwise limited access to grantee accounts, what is the legal authority for doing so?
• Does Citibank have plans to resume grantees’ access to, or use of, their accounts and to the federal monies contained therein?

Ranking Member Whitehouse previously led all Democratic members of EPW in demanding answers from EPA Administrator Zeldin about his agency’s illegal efforts to claw back these federal investments in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that would spur economic development, lower energy costs, and reduce pollution.  Senators Whitehouse, Markey, Van Hollen, and Sanders also sent a letter to the Department of Justice regarding the forced resignation of the head of the criminal division at the U.S. Attorney’s office in the District of Columbia, Denise Cheung, after she declined to pursue an unwarranted criminal investigation that would have frozen accounts with federal funds held at Citibank.

The text of the letter is below, and a full version (with footnotes) is available HERE.