>> Continued From the Previous Page <<
Lutnick accused Biden’s Commerce Department of manipulating legislation to carve out a private corporation that functioned like a government agency—but without any of the accountability. He continued:
“The Biden Administration had no authority to manipulate legislation in a way that would allow them to establish, staff, and govern a corporation to act as a government agency. Ending this illegal relationship between Natcast and the NSTC will ensure that the Commerce Department keeps control of taxpayer funds and delivers investments and benefits for all Americans.”
At the center of the controversy was a deal signed in the final days of Biden’s presidency that handed $7.4 billion in taxpayer money to Natcast. Lutnick says that agreement was not only improper but illegal, and he is shutting off the pipeline.
Documents reveal the entire scheme was political from the start. “In an effort to skirt clear legal restrictions prohibiting government agencies from establishing corporations, the Biden-era Commerce Department officials handpicked individuals friendly to the Biden Administration to serve on a ‘Selection Committee’ that, in turn, chose who would form the entity that the Department anticipated would serve as the operator of the NSTC,” the release explained.
That so-called “Selection Committee” included Biden insiders such as Jason Matheny, a former White House official; Don Rosenberg, a venture capitalist whose firms raked in more than $117 million in federal grants; and Brenda Wilkerson, a left-wing activist who described herself as fighting for “social justice for underrepresented communities in technology.”
Even after its creation, Natcast remained stacked with Biden loyalists. According to the release, “The Biden Administration then stacked Natcast with former Biden officials. The majority of Natcast’s executives, and a few of its trustees, previously held formal positions either within the Commerce Department itself or as members of the Industrial Advisory Committee, which advised the Commerce Department on CHIPS Act implementation.”
Instead of managing the NSTC within the government, Biden officials spent taxpayer money and political capital building Natcast—an “unaccountable, outside entity” tasked with controlling billions in federal funds.
Lutnick’s letter noted that the arrangement was rushed through just days before President Trump returned to office. “Then, on January 16, 2025 — just days before President Trump’s inauguration — Natcast and the Biden Administration executed an agreement in an attempt to sever democratic accountability for Natcast,” he wrote.
The Biden team not only sent Natcast $7.4 billion in advance payments but also tied future administrations’ hands with contract terms that restricted the government’s ability to cut off funding. “These actions do not just give the appearance of impropriety; they flout federal law,” Lutnick warned.
He emphasized that nothing in the CHIPS Act authorized the creation of Natcast, making the entire arrangement a violation of federal limits. “In sum, the Biden Administration’s creation of Natcast for the purpose of operating the NSTC violated the lawful limits on the federal government’s authority,” his letter read.
Lutnick closed by making clear what this decision means going forward: “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.”
The collapse of Natcast marks yet another example of how Biden officials operated behind closed doors to serve political allies at the expense of American taxpayers. Now, under new leadership, the billions meant for semiconductor research will finally be put back under proper oversight—where it should have been all along.
