Rep. Rodgers rips EPA for aiding 'China's agenda' with EV push

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., assailed Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for what she sees as doing the bidding of Communist China by attempting to mandate electric vehicle (EV) quotas in the United States.

Rep. Rodgers’ remarks were made during a subcommittee hearing titled "Driving Affordability: Preserving People’s Freedom to Buy Affordable Vehicles and Fuel." In her opening statement, Rodgers took aim at an EPA proposal to require two-thirds of vehicles sold in the U.S. to be fully electric by 2032.

"That’s China’s goal; that’s China’s agenda," Rodgers said. "Since when is the United States of America following China’s lead?"

"I don’t agree for a moment" with the Democrat push to do so, she added.

The EPA’s proposal has drawn heavy backlash around the country. One common counter to the initiative is that the de facto mandate will benefit China since the nation has a near-monopoly on the elements needed to assemble EVs, a point Rodgers touched on in the hearing.

Money spent on electrifying the U.S. car industry is money that’s "going to China," Rodgers expressed. "China dominates the supply chains. It’s China’s technology that’s being used in electric vehicles."

It’s estimated that China controls 87% of the rare earth elements used in EVs, such as cobalt, nickel and lithium.

Another issue raised is consumer choice. Former Trump EPA transition team member Steve Milloy has said that, on top of being an "impossible" proposal, it constitutes regulatory "tyranny" against the American people.

Rep. Rodgers similarly criticized the proposal as the EPA’s way of trying to make decisions for consumers, calling it "an affront to representative government" as well as to "every American."

Follow Addison on Twitter.