Erin Houchin Slams Biden Admin For Supporting Policies That ‘Only Seem To Help China’

4 months ago

On Tuesday, Rep. Erin Houchin (R-IN) questioned Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a House Financial Services Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00That would go to the gentlelady from Indiana, Ms. Houchin, recognized for five minutes.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:06Thank you to the Ranking Member, and thank you, Secretary Yellen,

00:08for your testimony and being here today.

00:10Like many of my colleagues, I have concerns about the ways in which this administration continues

00:16to support policies and practices at international financial institutions that do nothing

00:21to further American interests and instead seem to only help China and our competitors continue

00:27to make gains at our expense, from allowing mission creep into social and climate issues

00:32to giving our adversaries the upper hand in key geostrategic regions.

00:37This administration has been allowing America's influence abroad

00:41to be undermined, and it has to stop.

00:44Starting with the first of this month and running until the end of next June,

00:48the World Bank is aiming to devote 45% of its financing to climate-related programs.

00:53In the bank's latest annual report, climate was referred to some 200 times,

00:59largely in the context of the bank's green energy investments and reducing the reliance

01:03of developing countries on fossil fuels.

01:06At the same time, China has been taking an all-of-the-above approach

01:09to energy investments, pushing renewable energy while also developing oil and gas resources.

01:16One of our foremost concerns when it comes to China and the CCP is the extent

01:20to which they exert their influence over developing countries by providing funding

01:24for basic necessities, when half the population

01:27of sub-Saharan Africa does not have access to electricity to begin with,

01:31it's not hard to see why China's influence in that area might be growing.

01:35Secretary Yellen, if 45% of the bank's resources are chasing arbitrary climate targets,

01:41why wouldn't developing countries keep looking to China and to Chinese lenders

01:45to meet their core developmental needs?

01:48Well, the World Bank and the MDBs are heavily focused on broad development goals,

01:55relieving poverty and ensuring sustainable growth.

02:00But achieving those goals is also linked to addressing climate,

02:07which is increasingly compromising the development goals,

02:13especially in the poorest places.

02:16And climate and access to electricity are linked

02:20at the spring IMF World Bank meetings of President Banga.

02:25Secretary Yellen, I'm sorry, I only have five minutes,

02:28so I'm going to go on to another question.

02:30Sixty percent of the U.S. electricity generation does come from fossil fuels,

02:35but as part of this administration's climate agenda,

02:38you are voting against virtually all World Bank fossil fuel projects in Africa.

02:43Why is the Treasury holding Africans to a standard

02:46that the wealthiest countries in the world cannot meet?

02:51This reflects the goals that Africa itself has, that very often,

02:58most often, renewables aren't the cheapest way of developing energy.

03:06And it's a question of bringing electricity in Africa.

03:12Six hundred million Africans lack electricity,

03:17and renewables both address climate change and resilience

03:22and are the cheapest way of bringing electricity to those who don't have it.

03:28There's a goal of bringing...

03:31I'm sorry, one of the most egregious examples

03:33of the World Bank empowering China

03:35and its efforts to expand its geopolitical influence

03:38has been through allowing the CCP to overbuild its production capacity

03:42in certain products in order to flood the markets to other countries.

03:46They've done that with industries like aluminum extrusion,

03:48and now they've done it with solar technology.

03:50Last May, the President doubled U.S. tariffs on Chinese solar cells,

03:54and since the World Bank is aiming to direct 45 percent of its financing

03:58in the next year to climate projects,

04:00the bank's money may still just go to purchase Chinese solar panels,

04:05batteries, and the like.

04:07This seems to be supporting China financially

04:09in their efforts to expand their geopolitical footprint.

04:13Why is the Treasury supporting this

04:15if the department is concerned with Chinese overcapacity

04:17and the CCP dominating the market in green energy industries?

04:21Well, we are very concerned and attentive to procurement strategies

04:26and make sure that all of the MDBs have open processes

04:34and that American firms rarely bid on these contracts,

04:41and we want them to do so.

04:43Does the Treasury and the department,

04:45do they intend to then roll back the reliance on Chinese solar panels

04:52in order to prevent them from profiting financially

04:56from the United States in this way?

05:01Well, if American firms are...

Erin Houchin Slams Biden Admin For Supporting Policies That ‘Only Seem To Help China’

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