since the i.r.a. became law delivered on his promises, inflation has gone down, it's about half of what was at its peak. medicare can negotiate the price of prescription drugs, those prices are falling. and procedures insulin is capped and vaccines are free. on top of all the savings we set the i.r.a. we kickstart the error of affordable clean energy, countless good paint green jobs and that's that's happening. thousands and thousands of jobs in so many parts of the country, and these are jobs of the future. when your son or daughter gets a job in one of these new industries, even my grandkids can work in their picnic a big change in america where we are restructuring some ways the american economy to have a bright future with more jobs, more good paying jobs and, of course, reducing the amount of carbon that goes into our atmosphere. so we are very excited about the i.r.a. it's delivered. it's going to continue to deliver. and e, senator reed. >> thank you very much, senator schumer. the ndaa is crit

been a real leader and a model for mayors in how to communicate all the good things that are in the i.r.a. to our residents. the h.h.s. low income household energy assistance program, lieheap, has been crucial for low income families to help with energy bills. even when the heat is over, many of our families may see their largest ever energy bill in their mailboxes. and we're among the many warm weather communities asking for balanced consideration of how these formulas are structured.

i was so glad to hear you were coming on our show when the i.r.a.d, it's about the same money it is now, i'm talking about american save, 401(k), i.r.a., $6,500 this is ridiculous you are the keeper of more savings than anyone else we cannot have americans save as much as they should with these ridiculously low limits so people can't put money away. >> i agree >> let's change it >> we have to be relooking at the same time, re-evaluate, how do we make sure we have more resiliency with social security, which i know congress is looking at we should be looking at ways to incent more people to save more. i had a conversation with somebody who's very connected to high net worth individuals, and the biggest question they were being asked today is, are men and women who are nearing retirement, and they're frightened they don't have enough, and i think this is going to happen more as we are aging our population we're seeing more of that fear and it's our responsibility to make more people or to help people to be more prepared that they can live in retirement

the federal government is negotiating prices for medicare and i.r.a. they're trying to block mergers and there is an election year where big pharma tends to become a public enemy, like a pinata. what a nightmare again. black mirror. fifth. the bomb market equivalents. that means the staples. pepsico. also, the utilities. there are definitely have-nots. the dividends just aren't big enough to protect you. finally, six are the retailers. calls, target, macy's, enter at your own risk. back-to-school season, students have to pay back their loans, how do you like that? you have to pay back your loan, what a crummy feeling. brick-and-mortar bought by amazon. retail, funeral invitations, anyone? i know this is preposterous. there are exceptions, as i mentioned, pepsico. i think costco will do well, so will walmart. really, the market is about as clear as i have ever seen it. the funniest thing or the oddest thing, everything you ever hear about the economy whether it be the fed, inflation, has nothing to do with what is actually making money, nothing. because

they announced that they were able to -- people say the i.r.a. doesn't really help reduce inflation, but at the end of the day, the morning news this morning, we just learned that inflation continues to drop. i think the annual ice numbers is now down to 4%. and the left job creation number that was reported out of the department of labor a couple of weeks ago, jobs 23 40, 000, in the last month. and unemployment rate for the country is still going, down around three and a half percent, which is pretty darn good number. it's not perfect, there's still things we can do better, but the, i think, for the bad it's not that bad. thank you, senator capito, will now hear from our witness, jalen bhatt. shailen protests just name bhatt, but a lot of us pronounce it bhatt. and bhatt, insoles, the better to play. i will answer to either one, but he the administration of the federal highway administration. sort into his current role on january 13th, 2023. after -- was confirmed by the senate on december 8th of last year. as administrator, mr. bhatt overseas

in the u.s., the i.r.a.as been problematic, specifically on some of its provisions on when prices are set we think we can shape all of that in the medium to long term. right now in washington there's promising legislation on pharmacy benefit manager reform, which we think will also provide tailwinds to patients affording their medicines and our sector we have to keep shaping that policy in the environment to be successful. >> that's interesting. i don't think you've come out as strongly as others against the inflation reduction act drug pricing provisions. >> oh, we're quite strongly against it, absolutely. >> do you think your industry can delay the implementation >> i think we can shape the implementation over time i mean, clearly you've seen a number of lawsuits those will aim to hopefully slow down things so we can get legislative fixes. when you look at obama -- the aca, affordable care act there were 40 revisions over time we need to aspire to do something differently with the i.r.a., shape legislation

i.r.a., infrastructure, number of plants being built, battery plants, those are not going his way.o, we're going to have to -- we're going to see a plethora of new jobs created that we're not ready for, but when it comes to the actual empirical data, i mean, like, other than twinkies, we're in good shape. >> yeah. well, you mentioned wages. real average hourly earnings, jim, june to june, now up better than 1%, is going to give some tailwind to the consumer, who's going to find that things, i mean, inflation is softer than wages right now. >> yeah. i mean, i think it's -- there's some real wins here. look, i mean, and the ones, again, that aren't so good, i mean, clocks i mean, hey, who needs clocks? what's the point of clocks >> maybe that's part of the issue. >> maybe they're talking about some antediluvian clock. and then we have jewelry and watches, and i just think that's apple watch. so -- and look, i know people are saying, jim, you're being facetious. no, i'm being empirical. the numbers are very good f. you don't think powell is winning on the details, i think you should j

been a real leader and a model for mayors in how to communicate all the good things that are in the i.r.a. to our residents. the h.h.s. low income household energy assistance program, lieheap, has been crucial for low income families to help with energy bills. even when the heat is over, many of our families may see their largest ever energy bill in their mailboxes. and we're among the many warm weather communities asking for balanced consideration of how these formulas are structured. expanding these solutions would have made impact for families. we are also using arpa dollars to address heat and we are looking forward to applying for the funding for trees which could really go a long way in making our communities more comfortable that you have secured in the inflation reduction act. we've been focused on prepareds. you mention how'd many lives are lost to heat and that's a real focus for us. we would love it if congress would give you the ability to declare heat a disaster. we think that could really save additional aid. and that would even more multiply the impact of the fema hazard mi

the i.r.a., was one ever the most consequential pieces of legislation passed in decades, and in just one year it's already paying huge dividends for the american people, for our economy, and for our environment. since we passed the inflation reduction act, costs are down for families. for the first time ever, we made it possible for medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. vaccines are free for market beneficiaries. -- for medicare beneficiaries. a cap on out-of-pocket drug spending for seniors is just a few months away. no one will pay more than $2,000 a year for expensive drugs they need to save their lives. of course, after a lot of hard work, we also capped the price of insulin for seniors on medicare to $35, only $35 a month. since then, eli lilly and noarveo north is have also -- norvo-nortis have lowered costs for everybody. we hope to build on all of this with additional legislation later this year. every american deserves affordable insulin, not just those on medicare. the

that was run by the i.r.a. internet research. evgeni prigozhin has new problems. but the cost of characters keeps circling around. >> this is a more tangled web than i was referring to. "the new york times" has another charge against donald trump. here'sthey say. nas issued by mr. smith suggeste has been scrutinizing the political action committee. it rsed $250 million, tell ing the donors it was to fight election fraud. there was no evidence to back up the claims. what crime would that be? >> that would be defrauding the people giving to that fund. >> lying to people is one of the basic things that are charged every day. it's been in play. there's been reporting that people are going to the grand jury to talk about that. that's been on the ray car for a long time. it's a simple charge if they have the evidence. >> sources say trump's attorney is scrambling to figure out what witnesses jack smith has. >> most defendants don't know anything about a case until after it's charged. the fact they know anything at all, through the witnesses and reporting in the january

is the i.r.a. subsidies have strengthened demand more than what we see.t the same time, there is not a lot of supply. >> phil lebeau mentioned something i found to be surprising the rivian r1t is the best selling electric pickup truck. the ford f-150 pickup truck is still the best combustion engine truck. tesla is the best selling ev maker, but more cars move to evs and does that make rivian and tesla bigger players with the legacy automakers? >> we have seen everywhere and especially in china with the move to electrification a leveller it puts everybody back to the starting line and that creates opportunities for new commerce to acquire significant share we saw tesla and in perspective, two electric pickup trucks to buy in the u.s rivian and f-150 lightning excluding the hummer for the moment we haven't seen a huge supply. this opportunity with the two is sharp. that is why this makes it interesting in electrificelectr. >> certainly a lot to watch. thank you. >>> coming up here on "worldwide exchange," the one word that every investor needs to know today

>> well, you're seeing a lot of infrastructure in step one, the extension, especially with the i.r.a. coming in frau renewables in energy storage, in decarbonization, direct capture and carbon capture type of things there's going to be -- we're working with a number of people in government to try to get -- we need to get the smrs advanced nuclear started because there could be a big wave in advanced nuclear. and, you know, liquid hydrogen there's just a lot of things coming -- that come out of the lab and into the market now. and over time there's going to be a big global wave of capital into those technologies. that's exactly what the global economy needs to both reshore the supply chain that people are realizing is now too concentrated in certain areas as well as bring some of the populations of the less developed world into a global economy where the developed world economies all have peaking and declining population growth. >> alan, thank you always interesting to hear from you and get your thoughts on the environment and the opportunities. alan schwartz, thank you >> thank you ve

a journalist for the state news agency, i.r.a., was reportedly killed.ot verify russia's allegations. >>> nada bashir is keeping an eye on all developments joining us live from london. nada, what more can you tell us about the latest strikes on odesa? >> reporter: round after round of strikes on the ukrainian port city. this is the fifth night of russian strikes on odesa. at least one person killed, 19 others wounded, including four children. we have heard from ukrainian military officials in the region in the last few hours saying they believe 19 missiles were launched towards odesa in the early hours of sunday morning. as a result, we have seen significant damage to civilian infrastructure that has been damaged residential buildings, local monuments, a church, as well as damage to port, infrastructure. this is has been a concern for ukrainian authorities and the international community. these attacks come days after russia effectively withdrew from the black sea grain deal which essentially guaranteed the safe passage of vessels from ukraine's southern

it should be in your i.r.a. >> well, i would take a slightly different approach, i have kind of viewedtable coins as a payment mechanism that would not pay any interest. i don't think people should regard them as an investment vehicle. the question is will they be useful in payments? most of us think of the payment system as oh, that seems to be fine, right? i have my credit cards and mobile banking. what do we need anything else for? the truth is the u.s. system is more expensive than what other countries have developed all over the world. you see that particularly with crossover payments and also that burden falls heavily on lower income people, because their checks don't get cleared by the bank. so, could stable coins help? possibly. now, i say that i am not convinced yet, because it is not clear that they are faster, there are some real issues, in terms of making them safe, but i would rather see us develop a regulatory framework that simply says let's hope they go away, because other countries are doing that. we do have people in congress on both sides of the aisles that want to s

that's lacking i.r.a.vided additional incentives, which gives this, catalyzing the opportunity to go in and make this acquisition and do it with a return. it's an important part to get it going, but i would say we as an industry and i think society more broadly have to move from what i would call or government subsidized investments to market forces, market-driven investments. so i think the world's going to achieve its objectives to reduce emissions. got to move to a point where the market will pay to reduce those emissions. >> are investors onboard with that here with trades, president and chief investment officer are you a buyer of exxon >> very much one in fact, the weakness this year has been a welcome opportunity the stock doing quite well this is the time now where you see this acquisition, going into, how creative it is and how positive this will be for the company. yet gives them another monopoly. exxon loves them now monopolized co2 transportation right around the markets that they are going to b

act, i.r.a., as the company is growing. last night i had a 12 town hall which was informative.more than 6500 folks on the call. and what they tell me is they have a growing confidence in the economy as jobs are back, inflation is cooling. manufacturing jobs, 800,000 created. but they have an exhaustion with the low-base place this criminal, corrupt former president has taken our country. so we're at a time of great contrast, democrats leading, investing in america. and republicans chasing conspiracy theories. >> on the subject of what could be an impeachment inquiry into president biden, what questions, if any, do you have about joe biden's connection to hunter biden's business dealings? >> i don't have any at this point. but, certainly, there are questions that can be asked. and should be answered. if there was any connection. but we don't see any evidence of that whatsoever. so, they're making it up. >> and where would you learn that evidence, if not for an inquiry? >> well, sadly, we won't learn it by way of our judiciary committee which is now led by jim jordan. he's chair

. >> you mentioned that fiscal stimulus we've gotten out of congress, of course, the i.r.a.ot of money. how does the fed measure that and are they capable of measuring it in real time? >> they are capable of measuring it whether they can measure it as closely as you would like is doubtful how is labor going to go forward and how much more pressure will we see if inflation continues to come down, real interest rates will be even stronger that may pull the economy down more and slow inflation. they are measuring it constantly but don't know how it will shape out. they think it may but don't know for sure >> thomas, tomorrow we're expecting weighs known as basel 3 end game david and i were talking about it earlier in the hour three decades between the fed and the fdic, two of the three agencies tasked with creating these rules, what do you think the overall impact will be >> as i understand it, and i haven't seen it yet, testimony affect the trading account, a 2% from michael -- a 2% increase in capital. that will affect the largest banks only they usually can manage through th

place, what you determined there was, which was run by an office building off to the corner called the i.r.a. internet reach search agency which is run by a guy named yevgeny prigozhin, who has all kinds of interesting new problems, not connected to that, but the cast of characters keeps circling around. >> this is a more tangled web than i was referring to a minute ago. thank you for pointing that out. >> the new york times is reporting about a new potential charges against donald trump. here is what they say, subpoenas issued by ith suggest he's been scrutinizing mr. trump's politiaction committee, save america p.a.c., it raises as much as $250 million telling donors the money was needed to fight election fraud, even as mr. trump had been told repeatedly there was no election fraud to backup those claims. sorry, no evidence to back up those claims. what crime would that be? >> that would be defrauding the people who are contributing to that fund. >> is that wire fraud? >> just wire fraud. lying people to get their money 's fraud, one of the basic things prosecutors charge every day. >> tha

individual property owners and the owners of other types of low-income housing who are left out of the i.r.a. program. it's unfortunate that climate-resilient building measures are seen through a partisan lens. the reality is far different. climate disasters don't distinguish between so-called red states and blue states. we are all impacted. congress has the opportunity to shield our most vulnerable communities before disaster strikes. with that i yield back, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california yields. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from michigan, mrs. mcclain, for five minutes. mrs. mcclain: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to talk about the reality of bidenomics. we've heard the president say time and time again that his economic policies have worked. he actually believes that the american economy is better today than it was before he took office. well, let's look at the facts, because we know this administration has a habit of changing terms, redefining issues, and really not looking at the facts. so let's look at the facts. gas is up

caller: i'm doing great >> all right >> caller: so i have a 401(k) that i'm converting over to a roth i.r.a >> right >> caller: and i'm looking at a particular stock that's almost tripled over the last five years. i'm curious what you think about palo alto networks >> i think you're fine there was a downgrade today about palo alto from i believe opco saying it's moved up too far too fast well, you know what? that's the kind of thing that says to me all right, let it come in and buy a little more. so what i'm going to tell you to do is let it come in and buy a little more. let's go to jaden in arizona jaden. >> caller: hey, cramer how's it going >> not bad, jaden. how are you? >> caller: i'm terrific. thank you for having me on the show i'm very excited to be here. >> thank you >> caller: i've got a quick question for you i'm looking at digital turbine and i've had this position for a while. i'm looking 59 it right now as either a buying opportunity or i can wait a little while to have it go down lower to maybe buy it more what are your thoughts >> okay. i'm going to come out against that on

i think a number of people are wondering why we haven't seen the i.r.a.ve a bigger impact on ev sales. this is part of the chicken and the egg courtney was mentioning there. you have tesla going full bore in terms of the austin giga factory as well as the giga factory out in california. you have to see others ramp up production you see it with rivian and other automakers but that's what we need to see in order for the acceleration of adoption of electric vehicles. >> thank you, phil for more on what to expect from auto sales and evs in the second half, let's bring in group one darrell cunningham, who oversees more than 200 dealerships in the u.s. and united kingdom. thank you for joining us to pick up on what phil was talking about, what are you seeing with the balance between the demand for electric vehicles and your ability to supply them to the consumers that are coming in looking for them at your dealerships? >> well, on the ev side -- good morning, first off, thank you for having me. on the ev side we see some supply constraints with oems the f-150 l

that is gonna, be while we have the i.r.a. caucuses.be the focus of presidential debates. all of that shoe is not something i think a court should decide and reconsider, i don't think judge cannon will. >> john quickly before up to let you, go a lot of the legal arguments, let's focus on the legal arguments that are raised by donald trump and his opposition and getting the trial continued have already been disposed of by the 11th circuit, correct? because when they were all of the challenges brought by donald trump, vis-À-vis getting a special master appointed, a lot of the arguments that he raised in that special master arguments were dealing with whether or not a special master could be put in place. whether or not this prosecution of the search warrant can be done et cetera, is that the rug. is there any way for the doj slash judge cannon to make short thrift you know quickly of this league are arguments by donald trump in just a merely say, you know what these are denied and we can focus on just the classified documents procedures t

but the i.r.a.will cause a lot of people to get hired and a lot of projects to be started and it'll keep that part of the labor sector, you know, you'll be able to demand better wage, strikes, we're seeing it right now. you'll be able to ask for more money. is that big enough to cause the labor market to stay tight that's what kaplan said the other day. this will be two or three years of spending. >> two point, one is that this effect will be spread out over time it's not like one big shock like you had with just handing out a stimulus check and everyone going and spending this is going to be a slow burn. but i think more importantly, capital deepening is not inflationary so what they're doing by investing is going to help our product. >> down the road. >> down the road so i think that, you know, the difference between, you know, the strength in business investment is the difference and the impact it has on inflation so rather than, you know, these fiscal impulses we had during the pandemic which we

the i.r.a.ch catalyzes the opportunity to go in and make this acquisition and do it with a return. it's an important part to get it going, but i would say we, as an industry, and i think society more broadly, have to move from what i would call our government-subsidized investments to market forces, market-driven investments. i think the world is going to achieve its objectives to reduce emissions, we've got to move to a point where the market will pay to reduce those emissions. that's the basis on which we're planning we're working to get that up and started to drive down costs and then transition to a more market-driven business >> would you have paid $4.9 billion for this company? >> we wouldn't have seen the same returns so it would have been more challenged without the i.r.a. for sure. >> what's your relationship with the biden administration you get beat up a little bit exxonmobil is routinely flagged by the president for making more money than god who do you talk to in the administration

in fact, since we passed the i.r.a., inflation has been cut by more than half on an annual basis. since we passed the inflation reduction act, inflation has been cut by more than half on an annualized basis. if that's not enough proof that the democrats and president biden's agenda is working, the other major pieces of legislation we passed in congress, like the infrastructure law, the chips act are creating millions of good-paying jobs throughout the country and in my home state of new york. since president biden took office, private companies have announced over $500 billion, $500 billion in investments across industries like semiconductors, clean energy, e. investor's and battery -- e.v.'s and battery manufacturing, heavy industry. what does this mean? jobs, jobs, jobs, and more jobs. so many jobs, in fact, that some of my republican colleagues, who voted against all these bills, are claiming credit for the projects and the growth that they're generating in their own states and districts. so we've got a lot of work ahead of us, but yesterday's report makes clear the democratic

capex investment in the sustainability space, and moving from europe or asia to take advantage of the i.r.athat being said, where do you think the biggest funding gaps are right now? marie: there is two pieces to this. there is all the legacy business is to transition. i will come back to that in a second. my team is focused on cleantech companies, the solution providers to help those legacy companies decarbonizing. what are the new businesses in the hydrogen space, carbon capture, sustainable aviation fuel, long-duration storage. there is phenomenally exciting companies on the private side looking to scale to bring down the cost of solutions. that brings us back to legacy companies to enable their energy transition. david: since you brought it up, one of the things that keeps coming up when we have these conversations especially in southeast asia -- i say simple because it is a simple topic but a complicated issue -- is decommissioning coal assets. one of the most common feedback is that the math still doesn't work because of how young these assets are. how can banks like yourselves get in

. >> and part of the problem with the i.r.a. is this huge information we need for chips.> thanks, steve >> ewant it prng in linsey lindsey, i want to start with you. i think for friday you were anticipating that the jobs report would have 225 to 250,000 of a gain. of a what we just heard from adp, almost 500,000 jobs versus the 220 that people were anticipating, are you going to take up your numbers for friday's official government report which further justifies from the fed's perspective, a early as the july meeting in just a couple weeks now i think when we look at the details of the report, that's going to be more important than just that headline number. it the trend pressure. do we see a drop in the unemployment rate, do we continue to see hourly of the labor market continuing to be extremely tight among a lack of labor supply it true that we do need more osh work and millions of workers we do need to create an inseverityive, entice those workers back it the labor market pu we haven't seen that request mmm. >> hey, jay, i know you were looking at the youing do you se

well, we're trying to figure out whether the 2.4% gdp is just simple keynesian economics with the i.r.a interest rate hikes, but if it's because of what you just said, because a lot of the gdp is government, you know, deficit spending propping up all these projects and propping up labor, then sooner or later, it seems that doesn't work. sooner or later you say now interest rates are higher and we didn't do all we want to do because of all the debt service. >> well, yeah. and some people will say ultimately the infrastructure investment by the government will pay off with lower inflation because presumably you increase productivity. but you could say the same thing about why not have let the free market determine the cost of capital, why not lure banks away from lending with these high rates paid by the fed and let them engage in the investment in a future productive economy but then that has been seen under the fed's model as inflationary. that's what they try to curtail. it's that multiplier effect they're trying to undermine and that's the way they do it. in paul volcker's day, the fe

last year i worked so hard with my democratic colleagues to pass the inflation reduction act, the i.r.a., the single largest investment in combating climate change. we are already starting to see the benefits coming from these federal actions. michigan's clean energy jobs grew by 3.8% in 2022 alone. we can turn this challenge into an opportunity, mr. speaker. our 21st century moon shot, create jobs, renovate, address, be resilient. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today to recognize the 110th anniversary of the alamo ironwork strike in san antonio, texas. back then, those organizers were fighting for better wages and working conditions like workers are today and started a tradition of labor strikes in the summer in the city of san antonio. 20 years later in 1933, the think cigar strike began when 400 young mexican american women wen

clean energy industry structure, 60% of clean energy projects awarded from the i.r.a., inflation reduction act, are foreign-owned businesses. yea, policy. so you see, we're borrowing $63,000 a second, we have crush -- we are crushing our kids, our grandkids, and many of your own retirement, because they're the ones that have to pay this debt back, and we're doing projects funded by last year's legislation that was only supposed to cost about $280 billion, only. and then goldman sachs comes out and says, no, the spending on all these grants and these giveaways and these supplements, functionally could be $1.2 trillion. c.b.o. comes in and doubles their estimate. and now we find 06% of that money is -- 60% of that money is going to foreign companies. this is not what we were promised. the president, the democrats promised us this was to create a u.s.-based infrastructure for clean energy, except the vast majority of their money, our money, is now going to foreign companies. great job, guys. and it just gets worse. because now we're starting to look at what's going on on interest. do you unde

and of the 49 traoepblts currently on the market would not have existed had the i.r.a. been in effect. even the congressional budget office, the c.b.o., our economists here in congress, even they said that it's going to eliminate treatments and cures that would have otherwise been developed. we've already had drugs that have been pulled by pharmaceutical manufacturers as a result of this. i know? there's a pending -- i know there's a pending lawsuit as well from manufacturers. i have to ask you, mr. secretary, what makes you right and these other agencies wrong? i don't get it. sec. becerra: congressman, thank you for the question. and i hope you'll agree that no american should be paying two to three times the price for a drug, often times -- mr. carter: i understand that. i was the one at the counter having to tell the senior citizen what the price of a medication was and watching them try to make a decision between buying groceries and buying their medicine. i'm the one who watched the mother in tears as she tried to get the antibiotic for her child. trying to figure

the i.r.a. is going to help us address the backlog. it is going to allow us to get more technical assistance to produces, so i would say, making sure that you understand the full realization of the reasons until the iri is once really for dealing with this. the other strategy, as the chairman indicated, partnering with organizations equally interested in conservation. >> and more to follow on that. you and your department have been very accessible in your work on some of these things. time doesn't allow me, but will go on there. also, i think almost everyone here on the committee, i think the -- i look at the farm bill as americas safety nets. for american agriculture, we look at the nutrition programs. the working poor, young and old alike, many of the folks that congressman scott referenced in his opening statement. particularly in the school lunch and breakfast program, but there are a lot of other facets to it, i am concerned about the reduction of the women, infants, and children program -- and reducing access to dairy nutrients a

the i.r.a. massively subsidizes e.v. purchases and manufacturing. the e.p.a. has mandated that 2/3 of new cars be e.v.'s by 2032. i live in texas. driving in austin to midland ain't easy to do in an electronic vehicle. i also don't have $70,000 sitting around to buy a new car. that then is expensive to deal with when the battery goes out. yet all of this is heavily owned by china. china has 80-plus percent, pushing 90% of the battery making manufacturing base. we are literally handing to china our entire energy security. it's literally one of the stupidest things a free people has ever done. at a moment where we have military strength and economic strength that is being challenged around the world, the geniuses of this administration, and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle decide we need to turn over our energy industry to our adversaries. but it's so much worse. the democratic republic of the congo produces 70% of the world's cobalt. n.p.r. reported on how modern day slavery in the congo powers the battery which i. children in mines. there are proba