Politics

Pete Buttigieg eviscerates GOP lawmaker’s complaint about EV subsidies in just one sentence

The Republican demanded an end to subsidies for electric vehicles, calling them "bribes" to consumers. Secretary Buttigieg had a response ready.
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Pete Buttigieg
Pete Buttigieg Photo: Screenshot/Twitter

Progressives are cheering out Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg after he responded to a Republican congressmember’s complaints about subsidies for electric vehicles (EVs) by pointing out that oil and gas companies get subsidized.

At a hearing held by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee yesterday, Rep. Aaron Bean (R-FL) said that Americans are only buying EVs because “the Biden administration is on a mission to force consumers to buy electric vehicles that they clearly don’t want.”

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Pete Buttigieg fact-checks a GOP congressman to his face at House hearing

“But I imagine most people are aware of that,” Buttigieg said before the Republican showed that he was not, in fact, aware of that.

“The Biden administration is spending billions in subsidies to force consumers to make these decisions,” Bean continued. “They’re only buying them because we’re bribing consumers with $7500 to purchase that vehicle.”

“Is there a time that you will say, ‘You know what? This is just too expensive, this is just too expensive, we wanna rethink this policy.’ Is there ever a time that you’re gonna say that, that it’s too expensive?” Bean asked.

“If you think this is expensive, wait till you find out how much oil and gas subsidies you’ve been supporting,” Buttigieg shot back.

“Also, wait till you find out the economic impact, that some economists have put it, $15 million every hour or every day, trillions of dollars every year from allowing the environmental conditions in this country and planet to worsen.”

The International Monetary Fund estimates that the U.S. spent $757 billion in 2022 on fossil fuel subsidies, both explicit and implicit. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that electric vehicle tax credits cost the government $85 million in 2023, or 9,000 times less than fossil fuel subsidies from the previous year.

On social media, people lauded Buttigieg’s response.

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