‘China Is Coming For Us’: Debbie Stabenow Stresses Importance Of Investing In EV Sector

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During a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) questioned witnesses about electric vehicle chargers and policy.

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Transcript

00:00I will now turn to the distinguished senator from Michigan who I think knows

00:07and cares more about the auto industry than pretty much anybody around here.

00:11Thank you so much Mr. Chairman and Senator Graham who I know cares

00:18passionately about manufacturing. We share that in common and I could talk

00:24all day I won't I know I don't have all day to talk about this but let me first

00:28start by saying that no one is forcing Americans to buy electric vehicles but I

00:33have one. Nobody forced me to get it. My price didn't go up with the tax

00:37credits. Unfortunately the latest round of tax credits is so complicated and

00:41limiting that I don't it's certainly not helping as much as it could help. But I

00:47will say the biggest issue is charging stations and I'm about to test that

00:51again. I mentioned to the chairman I haven't driven my car from here to

00:57Michigan about a year and I'm gonna test it again to see how many more

01:00charging stations we have to be able to get me back to Michigan in a couple of

01:05days. I do want to emphasize though I've said this before you know in 1917 when

01:11Congress began heavily subsidizing oil production because of fines down in

01:17Texas we didn't have gas stations on every corner either. And in fact at the

01:21same time Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were working to develop a battery

01:26operated car but they had no subsidies. So Congress picked a winner and they

01:32won for over a hundred years and now we're trying to expand this out. And I

01:36would say also Senator Graham I agree with you we have a lot of issues and I

01:42guess what I would say is I think we know more of what the answers are we

01:46just need to do it and then we need to find out where we need to find you know

01:51know more about this but chargers not you know we know we need more charging

01:56stations electric grid capacity absolutely both of those things are

02:00beginning to happen we're investing in that through the bipartisan

02:04infrastructure bill more usable consumer credit more American access to where

02:09where earth materials we actually have new mining capacity lithium capacity

02:15being developed in Nevada which is very exciting because we're way behind. I

02:19would also say that our companies are looking at using different kinds of

02:24technology that don't take all those rare earth materials also recycling which

02:29is becoming a job creator in Michigan for for materials. So there's a lot of

02:35things there have more battery production which we know that we need in

02:38the United States and of course we need to change the highway trust fund

02:41absolutely. But I support American innovation I will tell you in Michigan

02:45right now we have a stretch of road being built that actually has the

02:51charging technology in the road Mr. Chairman so that when you drive you will

02:57automatically have your car charged. So I support American innovation are we there?

03:03No. But we are certainly getting there and I would also say this our biggest

03:08competitor there's no question about it is China but right now our companies are

03:13competing against a country that's what's happening there is not a level

03:18playing fields specifically China is coming for us they want to corner the

03:24EV market and their government has heavily subsidized this effort and

03:29they've also been willing to steal our patents I should tell you coming from

03:32Michigan. So what do we do I mean we I believe have the smartest most talented

03:39auto workers and automakers in the world we need to do our part to help them

03:45create a level playing field and that's why I'm so glad that we are doing this

03:50this hearing because we're talking about more than 10 million good-paying jobs

03:54right now. So Mr. Jenkins in your testimony you mentioned the most

03:59important thing Congress can do now for the EV sectors to provide policy

04:04certainty in continuity could you talk a little bit more about that I know that

04:08our private sector our automakers say just give me certainty about what's

04:13going on. Thank you senator by that I mean that the tax credits that were

04:19implemented in the IRA have just been finalized in terms of their guidance and

04:22many of the programs authorized and funded by the infrastructure law are

04:25authorized to spend down through 2026. So these programs are just getting

04:29underway and industry needs to know that they can count on a stable policy

04:34environment to make the hundreds of billions of dollars of investments

04:37they've announced across the United States and to do that with confidence to

04:40drive innovation and to expand our supply chains and so I think the most

04:43important thing that can be done now is to provide that confidence for the

04:47industry with bipartisan support for the maintenance of existing policies. Also

04:53note that on the consumer side consumers are just getting familiar with how these

04:56tax credits work you know January this year we started to offer at at point of

05:01sale rebates that's a new thing for people so there's a lot for people to

05:04get familiar with we just set the stage let's let our American companies and

05:08innovators play on that stage and do what they do best. Great thank you and

05:13Mr. Schweitzer would you just briefly comment on the same issue. Sure senator

05:18obviously policy certainty is absolutely essential I mean you talked about not

05:22just the certainty as it relates to potential tax incentives but in a

05:26competitive environment we need to look beyond just five or ten years we need to

05:30ensure that policies are in place to ensure that the U.S. is competitive not

05:34just tomorrow but well beyond that so that certainty is important and senator

05:38as you know oftentimes the general public forgets about the long lead times

05:42in automobile manufacturing and production. The decisions made today in

05:46calendar year 24 model year 25 are effectively locked. Manufacturers are

05:51already looking out to model years 28 so policies that change today have a

05:55material impact but they don't fully get realized for years to come so that's why

06:00that policy certainty is so important. We need to ensure incentives are here to

06:04build resilient supply chains to support consumers as well as to attract the

06:08investment in the jobs that we're witnessing. Thank you. Thank you Mr.

06:12Chairman. Thank you very much Chairman Stabenow.

‘China Is Coming For Us’: Debbie Stabenow Stresses Importance Of Investing In EV Sector

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