{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-repeal-the-biden-car-bribe/", "Barrasso: Repeal the Biden Car Bribe", "2024-12-11", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "Senate", "WY", "John Barrasso", "B001261", "www.barrasso.senate.gov", "barrasso", "https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom/news-releases/", "scraper", "\u201cTaxpayers should not be forced to pay for the cost of luxury vehicles. It is wrong for tax dollars from working families to subsidize the car purchases of wealthy elites. Americans refuse to be force-fed electric vehicles.\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) spoke on the Senate floor today calling for the repeal of Democrats\u2019 $7,500 electric vehicle handout.\n\nThe Democrats\u2019 EV subsidies are a bribe to push their unpopular climate agenda, killing American jobs and abusing taxpayer funds. Repealing this subsidy will put Americans back in the driver\u2019s seat.\n\nSen Barrasso\u2019s remarks:\n\n\u201cThe new Senate Republican Majority begins January 3, 2025. So, our day one starts in three weeks. Republicans will enter the next Congress with a long \u2018Fix It\u2019 list on behalf of the American people.\n\n\u201cAt the top of that list is an agenda that lowers costs and restores American energy dominance.\n\n\u201cPrices today we know, are 20 percent higher than they were 4 years ago. And just this morning, we learned once again that prices have gone up in November.\n\n\u201cAnd we know the culprits \u2013 the problem behind the high prices: Wasteful Washington Spending. And we\u2019ve seen a lot of it the last four years. The other reason, of course, is the Democrats\u2019 throttling American energy production.\n\n\u201cRepublicans are going to fix the fiscal insanity of the past four years. We\u2019ll put Americans \u2013 not Washington bureaucrats \u2013 back into the driver\u2019s seat.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to start by repealing the \u2018Biden Car Bribe\u2019. This is something President Trump strongly supports, and he is supporting what we are promoting. He\u2019s asked for it. He\u2019s campaigned on it.\n\n\u201cEliminating this car bribe by the Biden administration, it is one of the most wasteful policies that we\u2019ve seen from this administration in the last four years. It is Democrats\u2019 $7,500 subsidy for people buying electric vehicles. It was included in their reckless tax-and-spend legislation. It received zero \u2013 zero \u2013 Republican votes. Not a one.\n\n\u201cIt is an attempt by the Democrats to bribe the American people to go along with their unpopular climate fantasy. It is a welfare check for wealthy elites and for green corporations. It\u2019s a giveaway to Communist China, which controls key parts of the EV supply chain.\n\n\u201cWe were initially told by the Joint Committee on Taxation that these subsidies would cost about $14 billion. Well, the price tag has continued to tick up since then.\n\n\u201cToday, there have been some revised estimates, and they have ballooned to projected costs of way over $300 billion. That\u2019s right over $393 billion. That\u2019s for vehicles that most Americans don\u2019t want, can\u2019t afford, and don\u2019t work for them or their families.\n\n\u201cThe auto dealers in Wyoming tell me it takes much, much longer to try to sell these things compared to the traditional gas-powered vehicles. They say they can\u2019t even sell them at a loss. They\u2019re stuck piling up on the lots.\n\n\u201cLess than 10 percent of new car sales in America last year were EVs. The sale figures have been abysmal. EVs lost market share \u2013 hard to believe \u2013 actually lost market share in 2024.\n\n\u201cSo you have these carmakers from around the country who are now hemorrhaging cash, losing tons of money. And we have auto workers who have lost their jobs.\n\n\u201cThe CEO of Ford says his company is projected to lose $5 billion this year on their EV market.\n\n\u201cStellantis, which owns Chrysler, is also in the ditch. In August, it announced plans to lay off thousands of auto workers at its plants in Michigan.\n\n\u201cYet last week, it won a $7.54 billion loan, an additional loan from the Biden administration, over $7.5 billion for something that\u2019s failing. Joe Biden is leaving the White House the same way he led it \u2013 by doubling down on failure.\n\n\u201cAmerica now has fewer manufacturing jobs today than it did last year.\n\n\u201cAnd do you want to know the dirtiest Democrat secrets in terms of this \u2018Biden Car Bribe\u2019? It sends taxpayer money to Communist China.\n\n\u201cBut the original law was clear. It said, if your EV was made with Chinese batteries or used their critical minerals, it would then be ineligible \u2013 not eligible \u2013 for taxpayer-funded subsidies. China batteries, China components \u2013 can\u2019t get any of the subsidy benefits.\n\n\u201cJoe Manchin, he actually wrote that provision into that bill. Republicans still voted against the entire bill. We thought it was a waste of taxpayer dollars. Joe Biden signed it, and then EV sales stalled out.\n\n\u201cSo what did Democrats do? They doubled down. They could have made it easier to mine more critical minerals in America, use our own supply chain. But, no, President Biden decided to overrule the China ban.\n\n\u201cHis own Department of Treasury came out with lax rules on sourcing materials, meaning that China, Communist China, will benefit from American tax dollars. It also means that American workers will pay a higher price for policy and for vehicles they don\u2019t want.\n\n\u201cWe need to go back to a consumer-driven, free-enterprise system.\n\n\u201cThis is the United States of America. We should never be dependent on dictators and despots \u2013 like those we have in Communist China.\n\n\u201cElectric vehicles make sense for some people, but they\u2019re not an option for all people. Consumers have legitimate anxiety about the range of these vehicles, about costly repairs, and about extremely expensive insurance because often a minor ding on one of these electric vehicles with the damage done. Well, they will call it a total and complete loss of the vehicle. That\u2019s why the insurance is much higher on electric vehicles than traditional vehicles\n\n\u201cIf EVs were better options, then government wouldn\u2019t need to bribe Americans all across the country to buy them, or to bribe businesses to build them.\n\n\u201cElectric vehicles are a luxury item. They are toys with severe limitations. They are not must-have means of transportation.\n\n\u201cTaxpayers shouldn\u2019t be forced to pay for the cost of luxury vehicles. It\u2019s wrong for taxpayers and tax dollars from working families to subsidize the car purchases of wealthy elites.\n\n\u201cThe American people have proven to refuse to be force-fed these electric vehicles. Can\u2019t be pushed into buying them, can\u2019t be bribed into buying them. \u2018No thank you,\u2019 said the American consumer.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s exactly what the Democrats have been trying to do \u2013 to ban traditional vehicles and to bribe people to buy electric vehicles.\n\n\u201cDemocrats want to pick what you can drive and want to punish anyone who doesn\u2019t want to do it. All as a result of their smug moral superiority.\n\n\u201cWell, I have a message for my colleagues. It is the same message that Americans sent in November. When taxpayers and voters went to the polls, they said government, big government, Democrat government does not know better than We the People.\n\n\u201cSenate Democrats don\u2019t know better than We the People. We the People have a right to decide what is best for us and what\u2019s best for our families.\n\n\u201cThe incoming Trump administration and the Republican Senate Majority will get rid of the \u2018Biden Car Bribe\u2019 and the \u2018Biden Car Ban\u2019.\n\n\u201cWe will embrace free enterprise and fiscal responsibility. We will lower prices for American families and restore American independence and dominance. We will strengthen our manufacturing and bring back good paying jobs.\n\n\u201cWe will put Americans back in the driver\u2019s seat.\u201d\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.barrasso.senate.gov/newsroom-news-releases-barrasso-repeal-the-biden-car-bribe/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9670648723840714, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}