Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance will introduce a piece of legislation Thursday that is aimed at eliminating electric vehicle subsidies established under the Biden administration as well as promoting domestic auto manufacturing.
President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022, which allocated millions to combating climate change and other energy provisions while additionally establishing a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles. The bill, first obtained by the Daily Caller, will repeal a series of EV tax credits created or expanded under the IRA such as the Clean Vehicle credit and a credit for previously owned electric vehicles. (RELATED: ‘You Can’t Blame Them’: Former Trump Official Tells Viewers To ‘Think Twice’ Before Bashing UAW Over Strike)
“Right now, the official policy of the Biden administration is to spend billions of dollars on subsidies for electric vehicles made overseas,” Vance told the Daily Caller. “If we’re subsidizing anything, it ought to be the wages of Ohio workers – not the green energy daydreams that are offshoring their jobs to China. We can secure a bright future for the American auto industry by passing this legislation, giving workers a much-needed raise, and reversing the misguided policies of the Biden administration.”
The bill also aims to create the first “America First Vehicle Credit” for cars powered by fossil fuel and that are American-made. For qualifying vehicles, the bill will establish a $7,500 credit which is dependent on payload and seating capacity.
The credit established under the bill will be limited to vehicles with gas or diesel-powered engines, including hybrids. Vance’s bill will encourage onshoring, promote domestic production and aim to boost wages by requiring the final assembly of vehicles to be done in the United States with 60% of the value added from the United States or Canada.
The bill will also require 25% of the vehicle value to be added from high-wage American auto plants.
The new credit established under Vance’s bill will be limited to those making less than $150,000 and to married couples making less than $300,000.
U.S. Senator J.D. Vance delivers remarks to the press along side Former President Donald Trump at the East Palestine Fire Department station on February 22, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Swensen/Getty Images)
While speaking with striking members of United Auto Workers (UAW) in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday, President Donald Trump bashed Biden’s electric vehicle policy, which Vance’s bill aims to eliminate, calling it a “government assassination” of autoworkers’ jobs and the industry.
“Biden’s mandate isn’t a government regulation. It’s a government assassination of your jobs and of your industry. The auto industry is being assassinated, and it makes no difference what you get,” Trump told those attending the speech. “I don’t care what you get in the next two weeks or three weeks or five weeks, they’re gonna be closing up and they’re going to be building those cars in China and other places. It’s a hit job on Michigan and on Detroit.”