Say what? Joe Manchin says he's 'not a fan' of $7,500 EV tax credits in new law he negotiated

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin told reporters he's "not a fan" of the $7,500 electric vehicle purchase tax credit that's in the $740 billion spending and tax law that he helped negotiate.

In press releases, Manchin's office has publicly referred to the bill as "Manchin's Inflation Reduction Act." Manchin's negotiations with Democratic leaders in Congress and the White House helped shape the legislation into a form that could pass in the 50-50 Senate.

Some vehicle manufacturers have expressed frustration with provisions in the bill that would disqualify many EVs on the market today from eligibility for the $7,500 tax credit. Under the bill, an EV has to be assembled in North America and meet other requirements to qualify.

The final legislation that Biden signed into law also contains a first-ever $4,000 federal tax credit for the purchase of used EVs. 

"I'm not a fan of the credits, okay?" Manchin said after the bill signing at the White House on Tuesday. "I'm a fan of basically building a supply chain here so we don't have to be dependent on China to send their batteries and their anodes and cathodes and everything. So I've always said that.

"People are waiting a year right now to get their cars. Well, why would you give a discount? Why should the government give a discount when you're willing to wait for a year for a product you want? If we're going to do something, do something productive and good. Build a supply chain here." 

Manchin was asked why lawmakers didn't allow customers who lease new EVs to receive the tax credit. Instead, vehicle manufacturers would collect the tax credit and are not required to pass the savings onto the person leasing the new EV.

"We never went into that," Manchin admitted. "We really didn't. We went into basically making sure that used cars, used EVs would get the $4,000, so that was the thing we compromised on."

Just the News asked Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm if she thinks U.S. customers that lease EVs should be able to receive the federal tax credit savings.

"That would be great," Granholm replied after attending Biden's formal signing of the bill.