Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a candidate for the U.S. Senate, voted against legislation that would prohibit states from capping the sale of gasoline-powered cars; A key driver of the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike is President Joe Biden’s decision to favor electric vehicles over gasoline engines.
The House voted on bipartisan lines to pass the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchasing Act, which would amend federal law to block state actions to eliminate the sale of gasoline engines and ban the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) to grant exemptions that prohibit these vehicles.
House Republicans introduced the legislation as the California Air Resource Board decided to ban the sale of new vehicles powered by an internal combustion engine by 2035 and require that all new vehicles have no emission.
“These bans will significantly increase costs and put personal vehicles out of reach for many hard-working people. Americans can make consumer choices based on their merits and needs, not on sweeping mandates to impose Green New Deal guidelines on families,” the chairman of the House Rules Committee said this week , Tom Cole (R-OK).
Notably, Slotkin was one of 190 House Democrats to vote against the legislation, even though eight House Democrats voted with Republicans to pass this legislation.
The Michigan Democrat’s embrace of efforts to phase out gas-powered cars in favor of electric vehicles (EVs) comes as the United Auto Workers (UAW) is on strike, and one of the union’s main arguments of the automobile is the pressure of the Democrats in favor of a transition. to electric vehicles, which will significantly reduce the number of jobs in the automotive sector.
Slotkin said Thursday that the stage for the United Auto Workers (UAW) was set because inflation was taking money out of auto workers’ pockets.
Breitbart News Economics Editor John Carney wrote in Breitbart Business Digest that the UAW strike amounts to “a protest against bidenomics as are the policies of General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis: »
One of the major issues was the agreement on accept contracts that no longer tie workers’ pay to inflation.
The pressure on the unions at the time was enormous. The Obama administration relentlessly insisted that its program pass, largely because it wanted to take credit for saving the auto industry. THE workers were threatened with economic ruin if they did not make sacrifices to support their failing employers. Politically, unions have been left adrift, abandoned by Democrats who were their longtime allies and unappreciated by a Republican Party still dominated by establishment types captivated by the agenda of big business and Wall Street.
Carney also wrote that the “promise of low inflation” has been shattered by the Biden administration’s “bloated fiscal policies.” He also claimed that the Biden administration has pushed automakers to make more electric vehicles, which would lead to a rapid decline in auto worker payrolls, even though automakers would benefit from generous subsidies from the law on reducing inflation.
Slotkin was a strong supporter of the Inflation Reduction Act.
“This will bring critical battery and electric vehicle supply chains back to the United States, boosting Michigan’s economy and ensuring that America, not China, leads the way on the next generation of vehicles” , she wrote in a statement in August 2022 regarding her vote for. the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Inflation Reduction Act is just part of the Biden administration’s effort to make half of all new vehicle sales electric by 2030. Biden’s ‘ambitious’ emissions standards The EPA for passenger cars and light trucks would seek to ensure that two-thirds of new passenger cars sold in the United States will be fully electric by 2032.
The UAW is reportedly “openly skeptical” of Biden’s push for more electric vehicles.
The UAW “chastised Biden for spending hundreds of billions of dollars on incentives for electric vehicles, which could threaten UAW jobs.”
A UAW study found that ditching traditional engines could cost 35,000 union jobs.
The Economic Policy Institute found that 75,000 jobs could be lost if Biden achieves his goal of making half of cars sold electric by 2030.
The UAW also declined to support Biden because of his efforts to make more electric vehicles.
Despite the UAW’s concerns about Biden’s push toward electric vehicles and moving away from traditional gas engines, Slotkin said Friday she stands with the UAW. She wrote,
I look forward to joining our auto workers on the picket line this weekend. For the sake of Michigan, I hope the strike is short-lived. As a former negotiator of international agreements, I know that no one should let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I hope the UAW and the Big Three continue to negotiate in good faith to reach a fair agreement as quickly as possible.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) wrote“Yesterday Liberal Democrat @ElissaSlotkin, a Senate candidate in MICHIGAN, voted to ban gas-powered cars. Don’t they like gas cars in Michigan?
Slotkin’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment regarding his vote.
Sean Moran is a politics reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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