Let’s celebrate the Fourth of July by pushing for more and better American jobs.
Last week Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) unveiled H.R. 6274, which would temporarily eliminate the manufacturer electric vehicle (EV) cap, allowing a US taxpayer to get a credit for buying a new EV during the next ten years even if the manufacturer has sold more than 200,000 EVs (the limit under current law). The biggest single winners from this would be the American manufacturers Tesla and GM (maker of the the Chevy Bolt), both of which will bump up against the 200,000 EV limit soon. US auto workers and taxpayers would of course win, too, when they build and buy these American-made EVs.
H.R. 6274 is cosponsored by Reps. Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) is expected to introduce a similar bill in the Senate.
Sad to say, H.R. 6274 has no Republican support. Even Republican representatives from Michigan, California, and Nevada (all producing EVs or major components) are sitting on their hands. And it’s not hard to see why. Republicans want us to burn more fossil fuels, even if this pollutes our air and disadvantages American manufacturers, workers, and car buyers.
Are Republicans worried that their lack of support will hurt American manufacturing jobs? It is to laugh. Republican politicians care more about the “contributions” they get from fossil-fuel interests than about American jobs. Witness how Republican politicians react to the mounting scientific evidence of fossil-fuel harms by trying to shut down scientists who are just doing their jobs.
(Photo by Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz, licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0.)