Once in office, Lombardo warmed to policies that could diversify Nevada’s one-trick pony economy, even as he opposed the federal spending measures enacted during the Biden administration that made the initiatives possible. (Photo: Richard Bednarski/Nevada Current)
President Donald Trump, during a victory lap last month in Las Vegas, partially credited Gov. Joe Lombardo with his win in Nevada.
“You had an impact. I’ll tell you that,” Trump said from the stage to Lombardo, who was in the audience. “Thank you, my man. Great job.”
Lombardo, now navigating an unprecedented freeze of federal funds allocated to Nevada, is in communication with the president’s staff, he said last week, but has yet to call in any favors from Trump personally. Instead, he’s contemplating cutting services and state government jobs to offset revenue that could be lost under Trump.
“We absolutely believe Governor Lombardo should use his close, personal relationship with Trump to lobby against cuts to federal funding for Medicaid, SNAP, and clean energy infrastructure,” a spokesman for Nevada Senate Majority Leader Nicole Canizzarro wrote in an email, referencing Republican plans to cut Medicaid, in addition to the frozen funds. “We’re staring down the prospect of thousands of lost jobs and 300,000 Nevadans losing their health care, so there’s no good reason those calls shouldn’t already be happening.”
Lombardo may be hesitant to impose on his relationship with Trump, which has been rocky, at best.
“Whatever Trump said about Lombardo, I think Lombardo knows that doesn’t last,” UNLV Political Science Professor Rebecca Gill said in an interview. “I think Lombardo needs Trump more than he needs Lombardo. Trump doesn’t need anything from the states except to acquiesce to what he wants.”
Lombardo, who repeatedly urged former Pres. Joe Biden to curb federal spending, may be content to watch the fruits of Biden’s initiatives wither on the vine, as Trump aspires to remake government in his own image.
“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” Matthew J. Vaeth, Trump’s Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget wrote in a vague memo announcing the freeze last month.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, who intends to challenge Lombardo in the 2026 gubernatorial race, has joined Attorneys General from 22 states in a legal challenge of the freeze. Trump is refusing to comply with court orders to unfreeze the federal money while the case plays out.
‘Reckless spending’
“The Biden Administration’s reckless spending is causing higher inflation, making your family pay more for their everyday items,” Lombardo, a candidate for governor at the time, tweeted in Oct. 2021, months after the passage of Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and a month before Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
“It’s no surprise Biden’s handling of our economy has low approval ratings. Reckless spending only leads to higher taxes and inflation,” Lombardo, while still a candidate, tweeted in January 2022, referring to Biden’s federal initiatives as “disastrous policies.”
Once in office, Lombardo, who rejected former Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak’s clean energy plan, warmed to policies that could diversify Nevada’s one-trick pony economy, even as he opposed the federal spending measures that made the initiatives possible.
“Whether it’s closing the lithium loop, unlocking innovation and investment in logistics, entertainment, science and technology, or embracing entrepreneurship, the message is that Nevada is ready to partner,” Lombardo said in his first State of the State address in 2023.
Months later, the governor hailed the Tonopah Flats Lithium Project as “a milestone in our efforts to diversify our economy.” He made no mention that construction of a lithium refinery would be subsidized with a $57 million federal grant via the Infrastructure Law.
In April 2024 Lombardo wrote to Biden, urging him to slow inflation by curbing federal spending.
“Your administration must halt excessive federal spending to curb future inflation, which will lead to irreversible calamity not only in Nevada but across the nation,” Lombardo wrote.
Weeks later Lombardo announced an effort to make broadband available to rural Nevadans.
“I’m pleased to announce the allocation of $250 million towards Middle Mile Infrastructure,” Lombardo said, without mentioning who was paying the tab.
The state’s Office of Science, Innovation and Technology (OSIT) acknowledged later to state lawmakers that the project was funded by 12 sources, all of them federal.
Also in April 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selected the Nevada Clean Energy Fund for a $156 million Solar for All award to provide solar benefits to low-income households in Nevada, via the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in renewable energy in U.S. history.
The IRA allocated $369 billion for clean energy and climate change initiatives. Given a scenario in which “consumers and businesses adopt clean technologies at the pace and scale needed to meet national climate targets” Nevada, according to one analysis, could reap $8 billion in clean energy investments, or $2,500 per capita by 2030, through the IRA.
Trump’s executive order, “Unleashing American Energy” calls for federal agencies to “immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act … or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” which renewable energy advocates fear will jeopardize countless initiatives.
Another executive order, issued by Trump his first day in office, allows regulators to revisit the permitting process for wind farms “on a retroactive basis, not just going forward,” says Harry Godrey of Advanced Energy United, a trade organization representing clean energy producers. Godfrey says the move raises uncertainty and can “have a chilling effect” among financiers who wonder if the same review will eventually apply to other clean energy projects.
“Trump’s agenda leaves over 21,000 clean energy jobs, $15.5 billion in investment, cost-saving energy programs, public health protections, and critical infrastructure projects at risk. Nevadans will feel these impacts — in their wallets, their homes, their jobs, and their neighborhoods,” the Nevada Conservation League said in a news release.
Infrastructure, energy, and transportation projects, including those generating jobs in states led by Republicans, could grind to a halt in the event of a prolonged freeze. States with the highest per-capita clean energy investments in 2023 were Wyoming, Nevada, West Virginia, Arizona, Texas and Louisiana, “none of which are Democratic strongholds,” notes another analysis.
Unlike some Republican governors, Lombardo has not stood in the way of IRA-funded initiatives. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, while running for reelection, rejected billions of dollars from the IRA, but last year accepted $349 million for energy efficiency upgrades to help low- to moderate-income households get rebates for weatherizing homes and purchasing energy -efficient appliances.
State agencies, nonprofits and companies in Nevada have taken advantage of federal programs to help pay for electric vehicles, appliances, solar panels, and pool heaters. A $7.7 million dollar grant to put 25 electric school buses on Nevada roads is on ice.
As a result of Trump’s freeze, consumers contemplating purchases intended to augment energy efficiency may be deprived of incentives provided by the federal initiatives.
The IRA’s home efficiency rebates programs allocated $96 million in grants intended to assist low- to moderate-income Nevadans reduce the cost of energy efficiency upgrades, and lower their power bills.
NV Energy spokeswoman Meghin Delaney declined to say if Lombardo has reached out to the utility to assist in thawing the freeze on the incentives and funds allocated for electric vehicle charging stations.
“NV Energy continues to work with both federal and state elected officials to obtain all eligible grant funding that will help customers,” Delaney said via email.
Last year, Americans received $8 billion in energy efficiency tax credits made possible by the IRA.
As of September 2024, Nevada had claimed 54% of its IRA funds, the largest percentage in the nation.
“Whether it’s spurring new economic development, lowering energy bills and costs for working families, or making certain that in the face of heat waves, extreme storms, and wildfires, Nevada’s grid is resilient, the governor has an opportunity here to stand up for those things,” says Godfrey.
Poised to cut
Lombardo, who characterized the Democratic response to Trump’s hastily imposed freeze as “shameless political theater,” now appears resigned to cutting the state budget, including eliminating state jobs, and “determining what’s high priority and what is fluff.”
Last week Lombardo told the Nevada Independent he’s determining what to cut by discerning which services are “provided to the people for survival, versus, you know, a good quality of life.”
The amount of money due Nevada is unknown. Lombardo’s office did not respond to numerous requests for information. Nevada’s congressional and legislative leaders were unable to provide an accounting, but noted the state receives more than a third of its funding from the federal government – the bulk in Medicaid matching funds.
Democrats, says Gill, “are in a tough spot. The most politically rewarding position would likely be to just withhold their participation,” and “just let Republicans implode everything. But that’s not in the DNA. The philosophy of Democrats is that smart government can work. The Republican schtick is ‘government can’t do anything right so we should starve it.’”
Lombardo, she adds, “can say ‘government is bloated and Trump’s doing these great things’ while relying on Democrats to protect Nevadans from the worst of these cuts. It sets up a moral hazard for Lombardo because he’s incentivized to play both sides.”
“Having somebody like Ford making a stink about this in the courts, and maybe even getting some rulings that protect the money coming here” can assist Lombardo in a good cop-bad cop scenario, suggests Gill. “Is Lombardo going to attend ribbon cuttings? Of course he will. And is he going to blame Ford for working against the Trump administration, even if Ford is the one who protects the funding that comes here? Of course, because he wants to get reelected. If I were him, that’s how I’d play it.”