(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) President Joe Biden has invoked a Cold War-era law to drive taxpayer’s dollars into the leftist production of electric heat pumps, aiming to steer Americans away from traditional gas-powered furnaces in their homes.
The White House, working with the Department of Energy, allocated $169 million across nine projects in 15 locations, specifically targeting the scaling up of electric heat pump manufacturing.
Employing the Defense Production Act of 1950, an action termed “historic” by the Biden administration, Fox News reported this multi-million-dollar investment as an extension of the administration’s far-left green agenda.
Defending this initiative, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and White House aide John Podesta jointly emphasized the urgency to fight what they called a climate change crisis.
“Today’s Defense Production Act funds for heat pump manufacturing show that President Biden is treating climate change as the crisis it is,” Podesta declared. “These awards will grow domestic manufacturing, create good-paying jobs, and boost American competitiveness in industries of the future.”
Granholm echoed Podesta’s sentiments, highlighting the potential, but not promised, economic benefits.
“Getting more American-made electric heat pumps on the market will help families and businesses save money with efficient heating and cooling technology,” Granholm claimed, adding that the so-called “historic” move would generate manufacturing jobs.
Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, slammed the new move, calling it “corporate welfare.”
“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,” he said in response to the Biden announcement.
“Of all the Biden administration’s claimed climate emergency declarations, this may be the craziest of them all,” Lieberman added. “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.”
Notably, Biden’s National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi underscored the use of wartime powers to fuel the administration’s ambitious environmental agenda.
“The President is using his wartime emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to turbocharge U.S. manufacturing of clean technologies and strengthen our energy security,” Zaidi said.
“This acceleration of electric heat pump manufacturing also shows how President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is advancing American innovation, cutting energy bills for hardworking families, and tackling the climate crisis – a win, win for our economy, our workers, and our planet,” the aide added.
