‘Pushing It Down Our Throats’: Red State Locals Bristle At Incentives For Foreign Companies In Biden’s Signature Bill

‘Pushing It Down Our Throats’: Red State Locals Bristle At Incentives For Foreign Companies In Biden’s Signature Bill

Nick Pope on August 14, 2023

Some red state residents around the country are fuming about the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) tax incentives and subsidies that have boosted ventures linked to foreign companies, according to Politico.

The IRA included nearly $370 billion in taxpayer funds for green energy initiatives over the coming years, a figure which could actually end up being around $1.2 trillion, according to analysis by Goldman Sachs. While President Joe Biden and high-ranking officials in his administration have promoted the IRA’s impacts in GOP-controlled districts after Republicans largely opposed the bill, many residents in those areas remain skeptical of the bill and the potential boost its subsidies may provide to foreign ventures, according to Politico.

“They’re pushing it down our throats,” Lori Brock, a real estate agent in Michigan said of an IRA-subsidized Gotion battery plant set to be built in the Big Rapids area, according to Politico. “Why are we giving our tax money to China when we’re almost at war with China? Why aren’t we giving our tax money to an American company?”

JANET YELLEN: “The Inflation Reduction Act is, at its core, about turning the climate crisis into an economic opportunity.”

Fantastic, what does the Inflation Reduction Act do to reduce inflation? pic.twitter.com/btsHoG3qd0

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 4, 2023

Gotion, a Chinese company whose U.S. subsidiary is involved in the project, stands to cash in on major federal incentives to build a $2.4 billion factory, which will be within 100 miles of a military base where members of the Michigan National Guard reportedly trained Taiwanese soldiers, according to The Detroit News. Gotion’s top executive is Zhen Li, who as of April was a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee, an advisory body to the CCP that aims to influence and gather intelligence about elite organizations and individuals within and beyond China’s borders, according to an April press release from the Michigan State House Republicans

Locals have coalesced in opposition to the project, highlighting their shared concern about having a CCP-linked company operating in their backyard.

Over 40% of the new manufacturing projects announced in the year since the IRA became law are to be led by corporations based outside the U.S., or by companies outside the U.S. in joint ventures with a U.S. company, according to data shared with Politico by E2, a national business association. At least six of those announcements include or were made by Chinese-based corporations, according to the E2 data Politico cites.

“I don’t support it now,” Jim McAnally, owner of an eatery in Inola, Oklahoma, said of an Italian company’s planned solar manufacturing facility in his area, according to Politico. “The federal government doesn’t need to get involved. We all support bringing in green, but we don’t want to give them all this free money.”

The IRA’s effects have put some Republicans in a difficult political bind, forcing a tough contrast between opposing the Biden administration’s massive green agenda and welcoming taxpayer supported-investments that may eventually bring increased commercial activity to their rural districts, according to Politico.