Biden invokes wartime powers to fund electric heaters as he cracks down on gas appliances

Posted on November 17, 2023 by Latest Political News on Fox News

President Biden invoked a Cold War-era law in a surprising move Friday to pour taxpayer funds into domestic manufacturing of electric heat pumps, an alternative to gas-powered residential furnaces.

In a joint announcement with the White House, the Department of Energy (DOE) said the federal government would award a "historic" $169 million for nine projects across 15 sites nationwide in an effort to accelerate electric heat pump manufacturing. The significant level of funding was made possible after Biden utilized the 1950 Defense Production Act (DPA) to increase domestic production of green energy technologies.

"Getting more American-made electric heat pumps on the market will help families and businesses save money with efficient heating and cooling technology," said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. "These investments will create thousands of high-quality, good-paying manufacturing jobs and strengthen America’s energy supply chain, while creating healthier indoor spaces through home-grown clean energy technologies."

"Today’s Defense Production Act funds for heat pump manufacturing show that President Biden is treating climate change as the crisis it is," added John Podesta, the White House clean energy czar. "These awards will grow domestic manufacturing, create good-paying jobs, and boost American competitiveness in industries of the future."

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And Ali Zaidi, who serves as Biden's national climate advisor, said the president was "using his wartime emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to turbocharge U.S. manufacturing of clean technologies and strengthen our energy security."

Under the actions announced Friday, the DOE will send millions of dollars to companies like Copeland, Honeywell International, Mitsubishi Electric and York International Corporation, all of which are billion-dollar multinational corporations. The projects will advance manufacturing of industrial, commercial and residential heat pump technology.

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"This is absolutely shameful corporate welfare. But we're to believe that, because it's for the sake of climate change, all is well. I think that's ridiculous," Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

"Of all the Biden administration's claimed climate emergency declarations, this may be the craziest of them all," Lieberman continued. "There is no shortage of heat pumps — it's just that not every homeowner wants them. Consumers ought to decide for themselves. The government has no role in tilting the balance in favor of one energy source over another. That's clearly what's happening here."

The action Friday comes less than two months after the DOE issued new regulations targeting traditional home gas-powered furnaces as part of its climate agenda and broad effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

DOE's finalized regulations, which are slated to go into effect in 2028, specifically require furnaces to achieve an annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) of 95%, meaning manufacturers would only be allowed to sell furnaces that convert at least 95% of fuel into heat within six years. The current market standard AFUE for a residential furnace is 80%.

Because of the stringent AFUE requirements, the regulations would largely take non-condensing gas furnaces — which are generally less efficient, but cheaper — off the market. But consumers who replace their non-condensing furnace with a condensing furnace after the rule is implemented face hefty installation costs.

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"Energy security is a top priority for AGA," American Gas Association President and CEO Karen Harbert told Fox News Digital on Friday. "We are deeply disappointed to see the Defense Production Act, which is intended as a vital tool for advancing national security against serious outside threats, being used as an instrument to advance a policy agenda contradictory to our nation’s strong energy position."

"Increased use of natural gas has been responsible for sixty percent of the electrical grid’s CO2 emissions reductions," she continued. "This vital tool for emissions reductions and energy system resilience should not be unfairly undermined through misuse of the Defense Production Act."

According to the Congressional Research Service, the DPA, which was passed during the Cold War, gives the president a broad set of authorities to influence domestic industry "in the interest of national defense." Invoking the law opens the door for the president access to hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding for a given national security-related purpose.

Biden previously invoked the DPA to accelerate domestic critical mineral production and to pause tariffs on Chinese solar panel imports, claiming that climate change is a national emergency.

In addition to consumer furnaces, over the last several months, the DOE has unveiled new standards for a wide variety of other appliances including gas stoves, clothes washers, refrigerators and air conditioners. According to the DOE, its past and planned appliance regulations will save Americans $570 billion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.4 billion metric tons over the next 30 years.

CEO of bankrupt electric vehicle company still on top White House advisory council

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Gareth Joyce, the CEO and a board member of California-based electric bus maker Proterra, continues to serve on a top White House council advising President Biden on trade policy even after his company filed for bankruptcy.

Joyce has served on the White House Export Council, the principal national advisory committee on international trade which advises Biden on "government policies and programs that affect U.S. trade performance," since February. According to the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration, Joyce remains a member of the council.

However, in August, Joyce's company Proterra filed a voluntary Chapter 11 reorganization under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code as a result of negative financial performance. He explained at the time that Proterra, despite its bankruptcy filing, had created a foundation setting the stage for "decarbonization across the commercial vehicle industry as a whole."

"While our best-in-class EV and battery technologies have set an industry standard, we have faced various market and macroeconomic headwinds, that have impacted our ability to efficiently scale all of our opportunities simultaneously," Joyce said on Aug. 7. "As commercial vehicles accelerate toward electrification, we look forward to sharpening our focus as a leading EV battery technology supplier for the benefit of our many stakeholders"

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Joyce's continued role advising the White House — which has lauded him for his work "accelerating the transition of transit and other commercial vehicles to zero emission solutions" — recently sparked criticism from Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee Ranking Member John Barrasso, R-Wyo., who called for his removal.

"It is unclear why Joyce, having overseen the failure of Proterra, should continue to advise you on issues of such great importance to our nation’s economic security and wellbeing," Barrasso wrote to Biden in a letter Thursday. "It appears that by retaining Joyce, you are continuing to play political favorites with a company your administration has systematically promoted time and again since you took office."

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Proterra, meanwhile, has been boosted by Biden on multiple occasions since he took office in January 2021.

On April 20, 2021, Biden hosted a virtual White House event to spotlight Proterra's business. During the event, Proterra executives took the president on a virtual tour of the company's South Carolina manufacturing facility where its buses are assembled.

"I want you all to know I used to be a bus driver," Biden remarked at the conclusion of the event. "You think I'm kidding, I'm not. I worked my way through law school driving a school bus."

"I'm going to come down and see you in person. So, I look forward to seeing y'all," he concluded.

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Biden also touted his support for billions of dollars in federal funding to accelerate the adoption of zero-emission transit buses and school buses during the tour. He has set a goal for all buses made in America to be zero-emissions by 2030.

The president has since touted Proterra as an American electric vehicle success story in multiple speeches about his green energy goals.

In addition, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has faced widespread criticism for her ownership stake in Proterra.

Granholm had served on Proterra’s board before her confirmation to lead the Department of Energy and continued holding shares of the company for months after her confirmation.

"Mr. President, it is evident that the promotion and favoritism towards Proterra Inc. have resulted in significant losses for taxpayers and investors, including those in my home state of Wyoming," Barrasso continued in his letter to Biden on Thursday.

"The bankruptcy of Proterra, despite the administration's support, raises serious questions about the reasoning behind these endorsements," the Wyoming Republican wrote. "The American people deserve accountability and transparency in matters of public policy and the businesses the President of the United States and his cabinet officials choose to promote."

The White House didn't respond to a request for comment.

White House prohibiting official travel to fossil fuel conferences, internal memo shows

Posted on October 2, 2023 by Latest Political News on Fox News

EXCLUSIVE: The White House is prohibiting senior administration officials from traveling for international energy engagements that promote carbon-intensive fuels, including oil, natural gas and coal, Fox News Digital has learned.

The guidance — which originated from the White House National Security Council (NSC) — was revealed in a Department of Energy (DOE) memo issued internally to agency staff on Sept. 15 and obtained by Fox News Digital. The memo was authored by Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk who outlined travel restrictions and stated officials are required to obtain approval from the NSC before attending any global energy engagement.

"This guidance sets out a presumption that agencies and departments will pursue international energy engagement that advances clean energy projects," Turk wrote in the memo. "It also outlines a process for seeking limited exceptions to pursue carbon-intensive engagements on a justified geostrategic imperative or energy-for-development/energy access basis."

"The guidance rules out any U.S. Government ‘engagement related to unabated or partially abated coal generation,’" he continued. "Carbon-intensive international energy engagements are those 'directly related and dedicated to the production, transportation, or consumption of carbon-intensive fuels that would lead to additional greenhouse gas emissions.'"

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According to the memo, carbon-intensive fossil fuels include coal, oil and natural gas.

In addition, the memo notes that the guidance became effective in November 2021 and applies to all international energy engagements. Turk issued a separate memo in early April 2022, which first outlined how the DOE would implement the NSC guidance and stated that energy engagements that promote carbon-intensive fuels may only be exempt if they advance national security or are essential to support energy access in vulnerable areas.

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Turk's September memo updated that guidance, stating that for all future engagements, "Departments and Agencies are required to submit exemption justifications to the NSC and receive NSC concurrence before proceeding with a covered engagement."

The DOE referred Fox News Digital to the NSC, which didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.

"The Biden Administration cannot continue to treat the fossil fuels industry as an enemy. Millions of people are employed in this industry which powers our entire nation, our military, our national security, and allows Joe Biden to jet off every weekend to his beach house," Daniel Turner, the founder and executive director of Power the Future who reviewed the memo, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

"This war on American fossil fuels is making us poorer, weaker and more reliant on China and OPEC for our energy," he continued. "These petty, [hyperpartisan], childish games should end before it is too late."

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Since taking office, President Biden has pursued an aggressive climate agenda, seeking to boost green energy technologies like solar and wind while curbing domestic reliance on fossil fuels like those listed by the administration as "carbon intensive." Biden has issued federal goals to ensure 50% of U.S. car purchases are zero-emissions by 2030 and that the power sector is carbon-free by 2035.

However, vehicles with internal combustion engines (gasoline-powered), make up more than 99% of all cars in the U.S. and about 99% of new car sales, according to J.D. Power. And approximately 60% of electricity in the U.S. is generated from fossil fuels, mainly natural gas, while 17% is produced form wind or solar power.

"From the day I came to office, we’ve led with a bold climate agenda," Biden remarked during a United Nations conference last month. "We rejoined the Paris Agreement, convened major climate summits, helped deliver critical agreements on COP26. And we helped get two-thirds of the [world's] GDP on track to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius."

As part of his agenda, Biden and senior administration officials have traveled to global energy conference to boost green energy development.

And officials have largely been absent from global fossil fuel summits like the World Gas Conference, which former Energy Secretary Rick Perry attended during the Trump administration. The Biden administration also opted against inviting oil and gas industry representatives to the White House Methane Summit in July.

"Tackling a challenge of this scale requires not just will and words, but action," the American Petroleum Institute (API) said in a statement on July 26. "We are disappointed that the industries driving the most reductions in methane emissions, including the natural gas and oil industry, were not included."

"API’s members are investing in advanced technology to detect and mitigate emissions, and thanks to industry action, average methane emissions intensity declined by nearly 66 percent across all seven major producing regions from 2011 to 2021. We continue to work with the administration to build on this progress."

Biden admin quietly released study showing green energy receives far more subsidies than fossil fuels

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Latest Political News on Fox News

The Biden administration quietly issued a 59-page report outlining the current scope of federal energy-related subsidies revealed that the renewable energy sector enjoys significantly larger taxpayer backing than the fossil fuel industry.

The report — authored by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) and published in August — represents the first of its kind since 2018. The EIA analyzed data from 2016 through 2022, and determined that, during that time period, the federal government doled out $183.3 billion in direct and mainly indirect taxpayer subsidies, more than half of which came over the last three years.

"For years Democrats have claimed technologies like solar energy are cheaper than coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear. This report makes clear that solar is largely dependent on heavy subsidies with taxpayer dollars," Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News Digital.

In early 2021, Barrasso and Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., requested the analysis to help inform congressional policymaking in a letter to then-EIA Acting Administrator Stephen Nalley. The pair argued such a report would be particularly relevant "as Congress considers calls for a greater level of federal involvement in the nation’s energy systems and markets."

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"Under the Biden Administration, American families are paying too much for energy as it is," the Wyoming Republican continued. "They shouldn’t have to fork over their hard-earned money to support liberal special interests. Solar should be competing for sales in the marketplace, not for subsidies in Washington."

According to the EIA report, while renewable energy sources like wind and solar power account for about 21% of domestic electricity production, such sources received a staggering $83.8 billion in subsidies, by far the largest share compared to any other category.

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Energy end use subsidies, like energy efficiency- and conservation-related tax provisions, represented the next-largest slice of energy sector federal subsidies after renewable power, according to the EIA report. End use sources received $64.8 billion in subsidies, equivalent of 35% of total energy-related subsidies doled out by the federal government.

While renewable and end use sources accounted for more than 80% of total energy industry subsides, fossil fuel sources — namely natural gas, petroleum and oil, which account for more than 60% of electricity production and the vast majority of transportation energy — benefited from $24.5 billion, or 13%, in subsidies.

Nuclear power, which produces another 18% of U.S. electricity, received $2.9 billion in subsidies during the analyzed timeframe, the equivalent of 2% of total subsidies awarded.

The reports findings suggest far more taxpayer money is being spent per energy unit produced by green energy sources than for the equivalent energy until produced by fossil fuel energy.

For example, natural gas power generated 44.9 quadrillion British thermal units in 2022, 45% of total energy generated economywide, but received $2.3 billion in taxpayer subsidies that year. That means for every million British thermal units (MMBtu) produced by natural gas, the industry received about $0.05.

By comparison, in 2022, the solar industry generated about 0.6 quadrillion British thermal units, less than 1% of total energy produced economywide in the U.S., but received $7.5 billion in subsidies. That means the solar power industry received $11.9 per MMBtu generated last year.

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The results are as pronounced when comparing coal power which received $873 million in subsidies last year while generating 18 times the amount of power as solar energy.

However, President Biden, his administration and prominent Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly called for an end to fossil fuel subsidies, arguing they distort the market and unfairly disadvantage alternative energy sources.

"The President is committed to ending tens of billions of dollars of federal tax subsidies for oil and gas companies. Even as they benefit from billions of dollars in special tax breaks, oil companies have failed to invest in production," the White House earlier this year.

The statement came after Biden unveiled his proposed fiscal year 2024 budget which proposed to strip $31 billion worth of "special tax treatment" for oil and gas company investments in addition to other fossil fuel tax preferences over the next several years.

"We are subsidizing the danger. As we’ll hear today, the United States subsidizes the fossil fuel industry with taxpayer dollars," Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said during a hearing in May. "In the United States, by some estimates taxpayers pay about $20 billion dollars every year to the fossil fuel industry. What do we get for that? Economists generally agree: not much."

"But the really big subsidy is the license to pollute for free," he continued. "The IMF calls this global free pass an "implicit" fossil fuel subsidy. Economists call it an 'unpriced externality.' Behind these benign-sounding phrases is a lot of harm."

Republicans open probe into Biden’s energy secretary after police called on her EV road trip

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee are probing Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm over her recent electric vehicle (EV) road trip where police were called on her and her team.

Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Oversight Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Chairman Pat Fallon, R-Texas, informed Granholm in a letter Tuesday morning that they were investigating the June road trip which they said was aimed to "boost the charade of the effectiveness of green energy."

"This taxpayer-funded publicity stunt illustrates yet again how out of touch the Biden Administration is with the consequences of policies it has unleashed on everyday Americans," Comer and Fallon wrote to Granholm.

"Committee Republicans remain committed to preserving freedoms like vehicle consumer choice in the face of an unproven, burdensome, and expensive Biden Administration push to force all Americans to buy EVs," they continued. "We request documents and information to understand the purposes, costs, and consequences of your summer 2023 EV road trip."

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Earlier this month, reports surfaced that, during Granholm's four-day EV road trip from North Carolina to Tennessee, Energy Department staffers used a car with an internal combustion engine to block off an EV charger for the secretary outside a Walmart in Grovetown, Georgia.

One family, angered that they were forced by a gas-powered vehicle to wait to use a charger, ultimately called the police to report the incident.

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"I'm calling because I'm in the Grovetown Walmart at the charging station and there's literally a non-electric car that is taking up a space and said they're holding the space for somebody else," the woman who made the 911 call told a police dispatcher in a recording obtained by Fox News Digital. "And it's holding up a whole bunch of people who need to charge their cars."

"There are other people who are waiting to charge and they're still here and they're not in electric cars," the woman continued. "The sign says you can't park here unless you're charging."

The dispatcher then informed the woman that a deputy was on the way to handle the situation. While a police officer eventually responded to the incident, a police report was never filed. The incident was first reported by NPR which joined Granholm on the trip. According to the report, Granholm's office organized the trip to "draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars."

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While Granholm's team planned the trip far in advance to prepare for charging stops, the Georgia stop underscored logistical issues that continue to face zero-emissions cars which Granholm, President Biden and Democratic-led states are aggressively pushing.

After she was pressed on the incident during a House Science and Technology Committee hearing on Sept. 14, Granholm explained the incident occurred as a result of "poor judgment on the part of the team," sidestepping blame.

"Your fleet of EVs could not complete the trip without the support of the fossil fuel industry which you and the Biden Administration have been intent to vilify and destroy," Comer and Fallon continued in their letter Tuesday. "Traveling from Charlotte, North Carolina to Memphis, Tennessee, you encountered significant EV implementation hurdles."

"You and your staff did not even make serious, practical decisions on the EV vehicles chosen for the road trip."

The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Top Republicans launch probe into Leonardo DiCaprio-funded blue state lawsuits against Big Oil

Posted on September 25, 2023 by Latest Political News on Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: Two top Republican lawmakers are probing Sher Edling, a California-based law firm, over its dark money-fueled climate litigation against oil companies, Fox News Digital has learned.

In a letter sent to Sher Edling partners Vic Sher and Matt Edling on Monday morning, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., expressed concern about their firm's activities in targeting major energy companies nationwide. The GOP lawmakers further probed Sher Edling's relationship with a top Biden administration official over crafting climate policy.

"While people may use their resources to bring whatever cases they want — even those that may be so frivolous as to be sanctionable — it appears that left-wing funds are footing the bill for Sher Edling’s climate crusade," Cruz and Comer wrote in the letter obtained first by Fox News Digital. "Radical activists are backing these lawsuits, too."

"Sher Edling purports to be taking a righteous gamble that this ludicrous argument will pan out," they continued. "The firm shopped these lawsuits to jurisdictions around the country. And to convince them to sign up for what is likely to be very costly litigation, Sher Edling agreed to provide its legal service at no cost unless it obtained a 'settlement against the industry.'"

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Cruz and Comer noted that Ann Carlson, the current acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), worked as a consultant for Sher Edling before she joined the Biden administration. Fox News Digital previously reported that she helped raise money from donors for the firm's litigation, a scheme that involved famed actor Leonardo DiCaprio and helped recruit at least one state, Hawaii, to hire Sher Edling.

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They further pointed to Carlson's work in the administration in which she unveiled strict fuel efficiency regulations that experts said would push more Americans to buy electric vehicles.

"It appears that Ms. Carlson has moved from attacking traditional energy through litigation to attacking it through regulation," they wrote to Sher Edling's partners.

The Republicans then demanded Sher Edling provide them with details about Carlson's work with it in addition to a detailed accounting of the firm's funding.

Since 2016, the year Sher Edling was founded, the firm has pursued aggressive climate-related litigation on behalf of Delaware, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Baltimore, Honolulu and several local governments across the country. The first-of-their-kind lawsuits allege major oil companies like Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell have deceived the public about climate change.

On its website, the firm says its climate practice seeks to hold oil companies accountable for the alleged "deception." It claims that the fossil fuel industry has known for decades that burning fossil fuels would cause global warming, thus making the industry responsible for mass human devastation caused by such human-induced climate change.

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The latest such "climate deception" lawsuit was filed by California this month. While it is unclear whether Sher Edling is involved in the case, California's arguments largely mirror those made by the firm in its litigation.

Sher Edling's more than 20 ongoing climate lawsuits, though, have received funding from a behemoth left-wing dark money apparatus, Fox News Digital previously reported. Since the firm was established, it has received millions of dollars through the discreet funding stream.

According to tax filings, between 2017 and 2020, the secretive Collective Action Fund for Accountability, Resilience, and Adaptation (CAF) wired more than $5.2 million to Sher Edling. Then, in 2021 alone, CAF funneled another $3 million to the firm.

CAF switched its fiscal sponsorship from the Resources Legacy Fund to the New Venture Fund (NVF), a nonprofit that is part of the left-wing Arabella Advisors network and which boasts deep connections to big-dollar Democratic Party donors, sometime in 2021.

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"As a fiscal sponsor, NVF provides operational and administrative support, including compliance, financial, back office, legal and HR operations so advocates can focus on their mission," a New Venture Fund spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital. "We are proud to support Collective Action Fund’s important work."

While the source of the millions of dollars in funding for Sher Edling funneled through CAF remains unknown, Fox News Digital reported last year that prominent left-wing nonprofits have contributed to CAF. The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, Emmett Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and JPB Foundation have sent money to CAF.

The Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation was particularly identified by officials involved in the funding scheme as a "serious" supporter.

"Some left-wing groups funnel millions to law firms to sue companies across the country on questionable legal grounds," Comer remarked during a Sept. 13 Oversight Committee hearing on third-party litigation funding. "They are trying to use the courts to put these companies out of business or limit their ability to bring new products to market."

"These activist groups will find plaintiffs and pour millions into claims against energy, mining and manufacturing companies to the detriment of consumers, innovation, national security, the workforce and even to plaintiffs themselves – all in the name of political activism," he continued. "These groups know that their tactics and goals are too extreme for the American people to support. So, rather than use the electoral process, they are implementing their agenda through litigation against both the public and private sectors."

Sher Edling and the NHTSA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Biden Energy secretary blames ‘poor judgment’ on her staff blocking EV chargers with gas cars

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Latest Political News on Fox News

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm blamed her staff's "poor judgment" on a recent incident when police were called on them for clogging electric vehicle (EV) chargers with a gas-powered car.

During a House Science and Technology Committee hearing Thursday, Granholm was pressed by Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Fla., over the incident that occurred in Grovetown, Georgia, during Granholm's four-day EV road trip in June. Granholm's staff angered EV drivers after they blocked open chargers with a non-electric car, according to a 911 call of the incident obtained by Fox News Digital.

"Let me just say, I have a fantastic young staff, just fantastic," Granholm told Franklin when asked about the incident. "It was poor judgment on the part of the team."

"I can only imagine they wanted to continue moving," she added in response to Franklin's question about why her staff blocked the charger.

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Granholm also sidestepped blame during the back-and-forth with Franklin on Thursday, saying that it was not her that was "saving the spot." However, the charger was ultimately saved for her to use in an effort to avoid waiting in a long line.

The 911 call of the incident indicated that Granholm's staff forced several people to wait extra time to use the chargers.

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"I'm calling because I'm in the Grovetown Walmart at the charging station and there's literally a non-electric car that is taking up a space and said they're holding the space for somebody else," the woman who made the 911 call told a police dispatcher in the recording. "And it's holding up a whole bunch of people who need to charge their cars."

"There are other people who are waiting to charge and they're still here and they're not in electric cars," she continued. "The sign says you can't park here unless you're charging."

The incident was first reported earlier this week by NPR, which joined Granholm on the trip. According to the report, Granholm's office organized the trip to "draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars."

Since taking office, the Biden administration has taken a number of steps to force an economy-wide transition from traditional gas-powered cars to electric alternatives as part of its climate agenda. Biden set a goal for 50% of all new car sales to be electric by 2030.

In April, the EPA proposed the most aggressive tailpipe emissions ever crafted, which it said would cause 67% of new sedan, crossover, SUV and light truck purchases to be electric by 2032. Months later, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued fuel economy standards that forces automakers to substantially increase fuel efficiency in new cars, a move that will likely drive prices higher.