Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg were panned for commemorating the anniversary of passing the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act with a “tone-deaf” event focusing on promoting electric vehicles.
According to The New York Post, the high profile leaders made no mention of soaring gas prices or the escalating conflict in Ukraine as they “spent the afternoon promoting electric vehicles and Green New Deal policies.”
Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a House Energy and Commerce Committee member, tweeted, “The Biden Administration could not be more tone-deaf.”
Mullin’s added, “Are you kidding me?”
Against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which threatens to send fuel prices even higher, Harris announced the investment of $1.5 billion to develop electric buses. She then asked her audience to “imagine a future” with electric vehicles.
“Imagine a future: the freight trucks that deliver bread and milk to our grocery store shelves and the buses that take children to school and parents to work. Imagine all the heavy-duty vehicles that keep our supply lines strong and allow our economy to grow. Imagine that they produce zero emissions. Well, you all imagined it,” she said.
“That’s why we’re here today,” Harris continued. “Because we have the ability to see what can be unburdened by what has been and then to make the possible actually happen.”
Harris added that the Transportation Department was releasing $2.2 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act to 35 transit agencies in 18 states to “help communities and bring more transit workers and keep transit services running.”
In a swipe at truckers struggling to keep their vehicles on the road amid high gas prices, Harris also announced that a new EPA rule will tighten emissions standards for heavy trucks.
Harris signaled the Biden administration’s focus is Green Energy, not fossil fuel, noting the administration’s intent to spend an additional $7.5 billion for electric vehicle charging stations and $5 billion to buy electric and low-emission buses in the near future.
“Our transportation sector has reached a turning point,” Harris said. “We are all in the midst of a turning point,” Harris said. “We have the technology to transition to a zero-emission fleet. Our administration together, all of us, is working to make that possibility a reality.”
“We can clean our air and protect the health of our children. We can connect all our communities for affordable, accessible, and reliable public transportation. We can address the climate crisis and grow our economy at the same time,” she continued.
Buttigieg noted that electric buses will help address the “climate crisis.”
“Transportation has to be a big part of the solution to the climate crisis and to air pollution. One of our tools for doing that is public transit.”
Responding to Rep. Mullin’s thread, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) tweeted “I filed articles of impeachment against Biden & Harris during their Afghanistan debacle. Things have only gotten worse. It is BEYOND time to impeach Biden & hold him accountable.”
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