{"id":50901,"date":"2023-06-23T08:53:57","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T12:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=50901"},"modified":"2023-06-23T08:53:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T12:53:57","slug":"changes-made-due-to-being-under-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/?p=50901","title":{"rendered":"Changes Made Due To Being Under Scrutiny?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, The Epoch Times<\/a> posted an article about a grant that was part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) that was rescinded.<\/p>\n

The article reports:<\/p>\n

House Republicans have voiced worries about the Biden administration\u2019s energy-related spending, questioning a Department of Energy (DOE) official about how a Chinese-owned battery manufacturer was on pace to get hundreds of millions in taxpayer money before the Biden administration yanked the money away last month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That company, Microvast, somehow qualified<\/a> for a $200 million grant to build a battery separator facility in Tennessee as part of spending doled out through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Department of Energy announced the decision in October 2022 as part of $2.8 billion in what its announcement<\/a> repeatedly described as \u201cfunded projects\u201d for the American battery sector.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said the money would \u201csupercharge the private sector to ensure our clean energy future is American-made.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cShortly after the announcement, Microvast\u2019s association with the Chinese Communist Party became apparent,\u201d Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) said in his opening statement at the June 21 hearing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to Microvast\u2019s own SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission] filings, the government\u2014referring to the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2014\u2019exerts substantial influence over the manner in which we must conduct our business activities, and may intervene at any time with no notice,’\u201d Griffith continued.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cUncertainties with respect to the PRC legal system could limit the legal protections available to you and us,\u201d that same filing<\/a> states. It also describes the firm\u2019s receipt of Chinese government subsidies and states that \u201cmost of [Microvast\u2019s] current customers\u201d are in China.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The article notes:<\/p>\n

At the June 21 hearing on Microvast, Griffith and his colleagues questioned David Howell, principal deputy director of the DOE\u2019s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Virginian asked Howell how companies are vetted by the DOE for funding.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The DOE official said \u201cdetailed negotiations are started\u201d over BIL grants after selections are made.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of us did not understand that, because it appeared from the press statements that these people were awardees,\u201d Griffith said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe in-depth vetting began the day after those announcements,\u201d Howell said, before stating that previous \u201cin-depth vetting\u201d of the applicants focused on \u201ctechnical capacity and capabilities of the companies.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Griffith pressed Howell on the official\u2019s assertion that Microvast is \u201ca majority-U.S. owned company.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re majority U.S.-owned, how can the Chinese Communist Party through the Chinese government say \u2026 why would they say that they could be stopped or change course because of what the government said in China?\u201d he asked.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSimply because Microvast\u2019s major production operations are in China,\u201d Howell answered.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the other companies that you vetted do not have that problem?\u201d Griffith asked.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThat is correct,\u201d Howell responded.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have a budget deficit. We have tons of money that we have borrowed from China. Why in the world would Congress be passing laws that benefited the Chinese economy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, The Epoch Times posted an article about a grant that was part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) that was rescinded. The article reports: House Republicans have voiced worries about the Biden administration\u2019s energy-related spending, questioning a Department … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[16697,253,16665,15097,16698,12407],"class_list":["post-50901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bipartisan-infrastructure-bill-bil","tag-china","tag-department-of-energy-doe","tag-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm","tag-microvast","tag-the-epoch-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50901"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50902,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50901\/revisions\/50902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rightwinggranny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}