As Biden snubs Tesla to reward unions, GOP urged to invite Musk to energy summit

"Maybe Elon Musk is more of a conservative than this administration would like to recognize," but "he should be here," said New Mexico Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell.

By Nicholas Ballasy

Republicans should invite Tesla CEO Elon Musk to Capitol Hill "to be part of the conversation" about the transition to electric vehicles, as the Biden administration shows favoritism to General Motors and Ford EVs over those of non-union automakers, says New Mexico Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell.

Biden and the Democrats in Congress support higher purchase incentives for union-made EVs compared to non-union companies like Tesla, Honda and Toyota.

Biden has been criticized for leaving out Tesla, specifically, during auto and energy events at the White House. Musk has taken notice.

"Ford is investing $11B to build electric vehicles — creating 11,000 jobs across the country," Biden tweeted on Tuesday. "GM is making the largest investment in its history — $7B to build electric vehicles, creating 4,000 jobs in Michigan."

Musk tweeted in reply: "Tesla has created over 50,000 US jobs building electric vehicles & is investing more than double GM + Ford combined [fyi to person controlling this twitter]."

Herrell was asked for her reaction to Biden and the White House promoting GM and Ford at the expense of other leading automakers that happen to have a unionized workforce.

"Maybe Elon Musk is more of a conservative than this administration would like to recognize," but "he should be here," Herrell replied during an interview Monday on Capitol Hill. "He should be part of the conversation as it relates to moving towards the electric vehicle and some of the other energy ideas that are coming out of this administration."

Herrell said she'd welcome congressional testimony from Musk.

"He's certainly quite a player in all of that, but it is interesting that they really do not mention Elon Musk at all," she said. "And it would be curious to see why not. And I'd love to have Elon Musk on Capitol Hill before the Oversight Committee or even the Energy or Natural Resources Committee."

Herrell was asked if the House GOP should host some sort of energy summit with business leaders like Musk.

"There's nothing wrong with that," she replied. "Why not? You know, and I think he could bring to the table good information, and I think, again, what we need to be doing is putting the value of the American people at the forefront. And so having good robust, honest conversations with both sides of the aisle, whether you're talking about green energy or the traditional fossil fuels, but we need to have good conversations so that the American people can understand both sides of the issue and we can find solutions that actually work for America moving forward."