Oklahomans are familiar with U.S. Sen. James Lankford’s “Federal Fumbles” reports detailing what he labels as outrageous government spending.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s similar effort is his annual Festivus Report and in the latest one released this week, the Senator cited the more than $15 billion the Biden administration’s Department of Energy spent “to push Americans toward electric vehicles they don’t want.” You can read all about his criticism on page 13 of his report.
His criticism of electric vehicles arrived as more than 80 Oklahoma employees of the EV manufacturer Canoo have been furloughed until sometime in January. Canoo’s financial challenges are no secret and now the company could stand the loss of Oklahoma’s commitment of huge sums of money.
What did Sen. Paul point out about the spending? He contends electric vehicle owners report to have nearly 80% more problems than owners of gas-powered vehicles including “unreliable performance, difficulty finding charging stations, EV batteries struggling in cold weather, long charging lines, higher maintenance costs and limited driving range.”
“Despite the growing list of headaches for EV owners, the Biden Administration is eager to waste your hard-earned dollars on an unpopular transition.”
In his report, Sen. Paul pointed out that Americans have spoken and they overwhelmingly prefer r eliable gas-powered vehicles. He stated that vehicle manufacturers are “feeling the sting of producing vehicles that consumers don’t want, losing money on every EV car they build.”
“Still, the Biden administration is determined to throw $12 billion at automakers to push EV production forward. It’s as if they think throwing taxpayer dollars at the problem will magicaly make us forget that Americans still prefer their trusty gas-powered vehicles.”
Paul asserted “its time to put the brakes on this runaway spending spree.”