Joe Biden can’t be faulted for his audacity. After obliterating the value of the U.S. dollar by sending prices 19.3% higher than when Donald Trump left office, he put the economy on course for the hardest “soft landing” you can imagine. Now, Bidenomics is making a bold move to offshore even more of America’s manufacturing jobs—to China, no less.
One of Biden’s signature policies, massive tax credits to buy electric vehicles, features a China-shaped loophole. Though Congress wrote the law with the intention of having these credits go only to U.S.-made EVs, in adherence to the pseudo-religion of climate alarmism, Biden had other plans.
The Biden administration is handing out tax credits for EVs. Even though many of their key parts—notably batteries and rare minerals—come directly from China. Even worse, if you lease rather than buy an EV, there are virtually no restrictions on where any of the parts can be imported from.
As you might imagine, the proportion of EVs rolling off the lot that are leased has jumped from 10% to 30% to take full advantage of this pro-Chinese Communist Party loophole. Exporting our jobs, not our products, is a classic case of Bidenomics hard at work.
Some Democrats recognize the danger in Biden’s overreach. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), just a few weeks ago, attacked this executive rule-making from Biden. Their aim is to fulfill the original intent of the law and block these Chinese imports. The pressure seems to be working, at least a little. The administration has tried to tighten the loophole on Chinese imports of EV parts, but unfortunately Biden is still dangerously committed to disastrous energy policies.
America’s energy industry is the foundation of our country’s prosperity, especially our gas-powered cars. So, this latest round of attacks on the foundation of our way of life shouldn’t come as a surprise. Indeed, it is part and parcel of the Biden administration’s longstanding goal of transforming our economy.
Consider, for example, that President Biden has approved more than $1 trillion in subsidies to buy EV cars over the next 10 years. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This administration has also made numerous aggressive attempts to halt the production of conventional energy resources and to block the production and sale of technologies that afford us the convenience of modern-day life: such as gas-powered cars, natural-gas stoves, and many other appliances.
These subsidies alone will steal more than $7,500 from each American household, adding to the inflation fire and sending mortgage and small-business loan rates even higher.
For Democrats, stopping climate change tomorrow is simply more important than ensuring American prosperity today. Never mind that the government’s own climate models show that if the United States could, overnight, achieve net-zero emission of greenhouse gases, global temperatures 76 years from now would be virtually unchanged.
This latest decision to sign these subsidies into law shows more clearly than ever that promoting the well-being of American households isn’t a priority for the Biden administration. These subsidies are funded by American families’ hard-earned money and are funneled to companies that prioritize catering to unelected bureaucrats and the Chinese Communist Party over making good products.
If the Biden administration continues down this course, it may face a tough choice between the false religion of climate alarmism or the integrity of its own political coalition. Audacity only gets you so far.
This piece originally appeared in The Blaze
Reprinted with permission from The Heritage Foundation by Richard Stern.