WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday vetoed a Republican measure that would have blocked a White House waiver allowing certain foreign content in federally funded electric vehicle chargers.
The White House said the Republican plan would effectively block the made-in-America requirements because it would return U.S. policy to a 1980s rule allowing foreign content in U.S. production.
The Republican bill “would eliminate the domestic production requirement for electric vehicle chargers, hurting domestic manufacturing and American jobs,” Biden said in a veto statement.
If passed, the Republican resolution would return U.S. policy to a 1983 rule that waives domestic requirements for many manufactured products. The Reagan-era waiver allows federal money to be spent on a range of products made outside the U.S., including in “competing countries such as the People’s Republic of China,” the White House said.
The Republican resolution would also “undermine the hundreds of millions of dollars the private sector has already invested in domestic production of EV charging stations, and curb further domestic investment in this critical market,” the White House said.
Supporters said Congress’ measure would keep China out of the EV charger supply chain, a politically potent idea that appeals to lawmakers in both parties.
“If we are going to spend $5 billion of taxpayer dollars to build electric vehicle charging stations for the United States, it should be done by Americans in America using American products,” said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, who sponsored the resolution from last year.
The Senate approved the measure 50-48 in November, despite a veto threat from the White House. Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, along with independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, joined Republicans in approving the measure.
The House approved the measure two weeks ago and sent it to Biden.
The debate over the measure highlights a challenge Biden faces between more clean energy and greater dependence on China, which dominates the EV battery market.
The widespread availability of chargers is critical to meeting the Biden administration’s goal of ensuring that electric vehicles account for half of all new car sales by 2030. In addition to costs, ‘range anxiety’ over a lack of available charging stations is a major barrier to buying an electric car. About 80% of respondents cited concerns about a lack of charging stations as a reason for not purchasing an electric vehicle, according to an April survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the University of Chicago Energy Policy Institute .
The White House said it will phase in domestic content requirements for Buy America EV chargers over the coming year to align with benchmarks Congress set as part of the 2021 infrastructure bill. “These actions will ensure that federal EV charger dollars are being used to purchase American-made products, while newly announced production capacity for EV charger components (in the United States) is given time to ramp up production,” the White House said.
Rubio said Biden should sign his resolution into law.
“There is absolutely no good reason to funnel taxpayer money to Chinese companies,” Rubio said. “President Biden must act in the best interests of the American people, follow the bipartisan wishes of Congress and stop favoring foreign industry.”