When it comes to electric vehicles, Democrats want all the “stuff” - but want to stop the things that make the stuff from being made here in America. Let me explain.
The recent Inflation Expansion Act includes a long-standing Republican initiative that prohibits tax credits for electric vehicles unless the battery minerals for such vehicles are at least 40% sourced from North America or a U.S. trading partner starting in 2024, and then 100% of battery components have to be made in North America by 2029 to qualify for tax credits. The credit also won’t apply to a vehicle that has any battery components from an entity of concern - i.e. China - by 2024 and no critical minerals from those sources by 2025.
This was necessary because Democrats wanted to pass out tax credits for electric vehicles like candy without any requirement that the material used in these vehicles be made in America.
Here’s the problem: not a single EV on the market today would qualify for these credits because Democrats have repeatedly blocked domestic efforts to mine the critical minerals necessary to build EVs.
Biden revoked the long-held lease at the Twin Metals mine in Minnesota, which would have provided copper, nickel, and cobalt. Biden blocked the development of Pebble Mine too, which would have provided copper, and also blocked a titanium mine in Georgia. Moreover, Biden has only approved *20* permits for mines during his whole time in office, with a backlog of 280 projects at BLM, and there are zero reforms included in the Inflation Expansion Act to make the permitting process easier to mine these materials.
This is the same hypocrisy we see from the left on virtually every environmental policy they have become obsessed with.
And let’s be clear… this bill Democrats passed will do NOTHING to reduce inflation but will do everything to increase your energy costs, taxes, and the number of IRS agents (87,000!!!) to audit and harass Americans.
This is what you get when Democrats control Congress, which is why Republicans need to take back the House in November.