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THE GREEN NEW DEAL PUTS CHINA FIRST
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Georgia
(Mrs. Greene) for 30 minutes.
Mrs. GREENE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to talk about the Green New Deal. This is a serious issue right now. It used to be a piece of legislation that most Republicans in the country laughed at and thought was some sort of high school project turned in as a House resolution, but it is actually something that America needs to take seriously because it is written in the infrastructure bill and it is written in the $3.5 trillion budget. So the Green New Deal is rapidly becoming a very real reality for America, which is tragic.
The first thing I would like to talk about is that I am always shocked, as a freshman Member of Congress, in the dysfunction of Congress.
You see, Mr. Speaker, tonight I am starting a speech that was difficult to schedule, not knowing when I would be able to start the speech based on the House floor constantly changing. But this is the order of affairs in Washington that is always shocking to me. I come from the private sector in the real world where people work every single day, do a good job, solve problems, and they make a profit. But the difference in the real world and what I would consider a very messed up world here in Washington, D.C., is here in Congress everything is upside down. We are not able to keep a schedule that runs well. As a matter of fact, it runs wrong most of the time.
Another problem is that everything that is produced with the taxpayer dollars here in Congress produces a loss continuing to keep the American people in debt. Everything that happens here in Congress is shocking to me because I can't believe how opposite the bills and the discussions are of what freedom stands for and our Constitution, especially on the wall where it says: In God We Trust.
So as just a regular American citizen who decided to run for Congress and won my race representing Georgia's 14th district, I am here to speak on behalf of the American people and how outraged we are at the policies of the Green New Deal, which are in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and the $3.5 trillion budget because these policies are the most America-last policies. As a matter of fact, they do nothing but put China first.
So we will go ahead and address what these policies are that are so shocking to me. If the American people actually knew what these globalist, America-last policies are, I believe they would be ringing every single phone up here probably demanding that Congress go home because America is only safe when Congress is out of session. But, unfortunately, Congress is in session, so let's tell the truth about what is happening.
Mr. Speaker, this is a simple meme that you would find on the internet, but this meme is very real. The Green New Deal surprise is that it serves China and China only.
So today, talking about the Green New Deal and the all-out war on the men and women who built this country--which is definitely happening every single day here in Congress--Democrats want to turn the lights out on America. They want to shut down our economy, they want to end our energy independence and surrender America, putting us on our knees to China--dependent on China, yes, just to drive a car or a truck. That is not in some distant time in the future. That is pretty soon, especially in less than 10 years.
In his last 6 months as President, Joe Biden has demonstrated that he would rather listen to Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the climate Democrats who want to do what is ``best for America.''
He is raising an army of vaccine police and climate justice troops to track your every single move. Yes, American citizens, the government wants to track you.
On top of that, Democrats in Congress are happy to take every penny of Americans' hard-earned paycheck to destroy our economy through the so-called Green New Deal--a complete government take-over of every aspect of our lives under the excuse of so-called climate justice.
This is not a theoretical idea for these people, unfortunately. Mr. Speaker, you would think it is a joke, but it is not. No. They want to transform America into a Third World country, and that is exactly what these policies will do.
To quote Senator Ed Markey:
The Green New Deal isn't just a resolution, it is a revolution. In the past 2 years, the Green New Deal has become the DNA of climate action. And the principles of jobs, justice, and climate action are now widely represented in legislation and State and local actions across the country.
The Green New Deal provides the framework we need to confront the intersecting crises our country faces--climate change, a public health pandemic, racial injustice, and economic inequality. We can transform our economy and our democracy for all Americans by addressing the generational challenge of climate change. We have the technology to do it. We have the economic imperative. We have the moral obligation. We just need the political will.
So let's talk a little bit more about the people who believe in this. One of my colleagues here in the House of Representatives is a Democrat from New York. I had asked her to debate this policy because I believe in debate. I believe the American people deserve to know exactly what is in these bills and the outcome and the effect on the economy.
As a successful business owner who makes a profit and not a loss, I would like to debate my colleague from New York and talk to her about how her policies are actually going to destroy jobs and do nothing for the climate, because the reality is the climate has changed in the entire history of the Earth and no amount of taxes that anyone can pay is going to change the climate. That is just the truth. That is not made up like climate change and climate justice.
So according to Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, the dozens of bills that have sprung from this resolution since we introduced it 2 years ago all contain, number one, a commitment to creating good paying union jobs; number two, prioritizing frontline and vulnerable communities disproportionately affected by climate change.
I didn't know the climate affected some communities and not others. I am from Georgia. It is pretty hot and humid. I didn't know it had anything to do with the color of our skin or how much money that we made, but, apparently, according to Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, it does.
Number three, Mr. Speaker, she says that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from human sources by 40 to 60 percent within 10 years and net zero global emissions by 2050 is in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which is finding that global temperatures must not increase more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrialized levels in order to avoid the most severe impacts of climate change.
I find it pretty shocking that people actually think that Members of Congress and their legislation is actually going to control the Earth's temperature or the climate. Really what all of this is going to do is help this man out the most, President Xi of China. It is sad, really, really sad.
The White House proudly stated that President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement on day one and organized a national climate task force to establish a new 2030 emissions target. In April, President Biden committed to having greenhouse gas emissions cut in half by 2030 and creating a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035. As other countries race past us, President Biden wants to dismantle and cripple the United States' energy grid in order to look good at climate events in Europe while China laughs at our decline.
Oh, yes, President Xi will be laughing, and he is already laughing at President Joe Biden right now because President Xi himself knows one thing very clearly: if we are going to reduce our carbon emissions by cutting them down in half by 2030, that means we are cutting our economy in half by 2030.
So President Xi of China, who is very clever and thinks the long game, is planning on ramping up his economy, as a matter of fact, increasing carbon output, he says, until at least 2035. And then while President Joe Biden says: Oh, well, America's carbon will be net zero by 2050; President Xi is still laughing saying: Oh, well, maybe China can try to get to net zero by 2060.
Mr. Speaker, China is gaming us at our own stupidity. We have a President in the White House who is looking to do everything he can to serve China, and maybe that will help out his son in his business dealings in foreign countries like China.
Under the woke ideology of Biden's Environmental Protection Agency, public waters could mean any source of standing water the government feels constitutes Waters of the United States.
What does that apply to?
Does that apply to someone's pond on their private land or a private lake on someone's farm?
What does that apply to, Mr. Speaker, a puddle in your front yard or your swimming pool in your backyard?
Are those going to be considered Waters of the United States so the Federal Government can come and say whatever they want to do with them?
Who knows?
That means the Federal Government can claim jurisdiction over millions of acres of privately owned land and water under the excuse of ensuring conservation.
The Federal Government thinks it knows better than the American people.
Mr. Speaker, here is the truth: families who have passed down land through generations could see their property carved up and controlled by bureaucrats in Washington. I think this past year has shown that bureaucrats in Washington are the ones screwing everything up.
Biden's executive order implements a socialist agenda by creating well-paying union jobs, including more for women and people of color in occupations where they are underrepresented to combat the climate crisis and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sequester carbon in soils, grasses, trees, and other vegetation and source of sustainable bio-
products and fuels, cows, cow flatulence, and whatever else.
Biden's policies regarding electric vehicles and batteries could cripple the American economy, and this is where the real danger lies.
{time} 2045
The infrastructure plan, which the Speaker would very much like to pass, the Progressives would very much like the $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal, matched with the $3.5 trillion budget, because that is the whole package of the Green New Deal, and they would have a lot to celebrate.
This plan includes $7.5 billion, this is in the infrastructure, billion for a network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the country and another $7.5 billion for electric buses.
So this is a situation where the government has decided to take over the economy. This is what the Green New Deal does. You see, in the past--unfortunately, I don't know why it is changing, because the past has actually worked pretty well--our economy has worked on demand.
When there is consumer demand in the marketplace, businesses, private businesses--not the government, by the way--would produce their products and sell their goods to match the consumer demand. That is what happens in a healthy economy.
Currently, right now, this is America's charging network. As you can see, electric vehicle charging stations already exist over much of America, and the good news is, they are pretty much able to meet the demand, no problem, because electric vehicles run on batteries that can keep a charge and the technology is increasing and they can keep charges for a good long distance, some of them 300 miles or more. And so people are able to drive and find another charging station and charge their vehicle, and that is because this exists, mostly, through a private market, a private economy, through businesses meeting the public demand.
But that is not what the Democrats want to do. That is not what they want to continue to exist. No, they want to use the power of the Federal Government and radically change the way Americans drive, because your cars and trucks would have to drive on batteries, not gasoline or diesel.
So right now, currently, there are already 44,000 public charging stations in the U.S. President Biden has even proposed spending nearly
$6 billion transitioning the entire Federal fleet of electric vehicles. So President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Speaker of the House, the Democrats, everyone is on board with this right here, spending $7.5 billion of Americans' hard-earned tax dollars that they had to work for and then the IRS collects, so that the government can force us to move to electric vehicles by building another 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations.
Why would they have to do that? That is because they are going to force you to drive an electric vehicle that uses a battery. And then they want to spend more of your tax dollars, $7.5 billion for electric buses, and then more of your tax dollars, $6 billion, as a matter of fact, to transition the whole Federal fleet to electric vehicles. This is so shocking.
Here, let's go further. What else damage has he done?
He terminated the Keystone XL pipeline--that happened first in his presidency--according to the pipeline's developer, which caused 1,000 union workers to immediately lose their jobs. By the way, that was the same union that voted for President Biden. They backed him and supported him.
But what did he do right away? He made a decision to kill their jobs and ended a project that was expected to employ more than 11,000 Americans in 2021.
Democrats are job killers, and Joe Biden is doing a great job of it.
The majority of them, union workers, by the way. Isn't unions what all the people that are for the Green New Deal want? The majority of the union workers, hurting these jobs, 11,000 of them.
But what did it do? It cost them $1.6 billion in wages. Cost them
$1.6 billion in wages. It is so shocking you can't even make it up. Unfortunately, it is real.
By the end of President Biden's first term, his ban on new oil and gas leases on Federal land, according to one study, would destroy an average of 58,676 jobs annually. And what we have seen over the past year and a half is so many destroyed already by COVID shutdowns. That is unbelievable.
And for the people at home that work so hard in small businesses, that I totally understand because that is all I have ever done my entire life is been a small business owner, it is heartbreaking how many small businesses have shut down over the past year and a half to COVID shutdowns. But yet, then we have a President in the White House and a Democrat-controlled Congress that wants to continue to force this to happen. Unbelievable.
Biden has also signed executive orders to raise the social cost of carbon, the social cost of carbon, by 700 percent. What this means for Americans is that the price of gas will go up; heating your home in the winter will become more expensive; and electric bills will go up. This will especially take a toll on our fellow citizens who are already struggling to get by as it is. So we will make the poor poorer after we have already cost them their jobs by these fatal climate change policies.
In 2019, the United States became energy independent--what an amazing thing that was--and exported more energy than it took in for the first time since 1952. Let's say that again.
In 2019, the United States became energy independent and exported more energy than it took in for the first time since 1952. I would like to thank President Donald J. Trump for that and his America first policies. Sadly, they are no more.
Part of this came from the fact that the U.S. exported more natural gas than ever before, partially because the United States transitioned away from coal to natural gas. Our carbon emissions shrunk--wow, isn't that the goal--which allowed the U.S. to lead the world in reducing energy-related CO2 emissions.
But let's get back to electric vehicles, because this is what is going to truly affect every single American that drives a car or a truck or relies on a vehicle to get to work or, let's just be real, as a taxpayer.
After years of planning, China dominates the world's production of new generation batteries that are used in electric vehicles, most portable consumer electronics, such as cell phones and laptops.
I don't know if anyone realizes this, but right now there is over 50,000 trucks sitting, brand new trucks sitting in Kentucky. Do you want to know why they can't be sold? They are waiting on microchips; and the reason why they are waiting on microchips is because China dominates the market, because they dominate the market of rare earth minerals. They dominate creating them; they dominate the market that creates microchips; and they dominate the market that creates Lithium batteries that drive cars, electric vehicles.
So, as the demand for electric vehicles grows, it is expected that most of them will be built with Chinese batteries. That is because China dominates the market at 80 percent. And America barely competes at 10 percent. This doesn't look good for our economy, does it?
We have a Federal Government, a Democrat-controlled Federal Government, a Democrat-controlled Congress, that wants to transition our economy that is already functioning really well--our Americans businesses do well--but we want to move it to rely on basically one country, China, Communist China, who is not our friend, who is our enemy, and sent us the COVID virus that we are already staggering from, from the past year and half.
But yet, it is our own government that wants to cripple us and put us on our knees to rely on China that dominates this market for our battery needs, from our federally-forced electric vehicles, coming soon to you by 2030. It is pretty unbelievable.
So, of the 136 Lithium ion battery plants in the pipeline that are going to be to 2029, 101 of those are based in China. China dominates the battery market, ladies and gentlemen.
The pace of demand growth is expected to rise rapidly over the next few years as sales of electric vehicles are slated to reach 12.2 million in 2025, so we are going to continually--the more electric vehicles that we are forced to drive because the Federal Government has decided that that is how the private market should go. Isn't that interesting?
Since when in America should the government decide how the private market should buy and sell? But that is what is in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure deal; and that is what is in the $3.5 trillion budget; and that is what is in the Green New Deal.
So hear we have--this is a really interesting chart. This shows you the production of how you get an electric vehicle. Right here, you can see stage one is mining. Let me tell you the percentages here that the U.S. competes.
For nickel, 0 percent; cobalt, 0 percent; graphite, 0 percent; Lithium--oh, we got 1 percent for lithium. That is what goes in the electric vehicle battery. Zero percent for manganese.
Okay, we have--China's doing really well. They have got 31 percent, 1 percent, 65 percent, there is 0, then we got 6 percent, right here, stage one mining. But don't count them out on that.
Let me show you. Global share production. This is in 2019. Stage one, chemical processing refining. Let's go with America and China. Nickel, 1 percent; cobalt, 0; graphite, 0; Lithium, 4 percent. Ooh, we moved up a little bit. Then we got this last one, manganese, at 0 percent.
Oh, but China is doing really well. They are at nickel with 65 percent; cobalt, 82 percent; graphite, 100 percent. Geez, I would say that is complete domination.
Uh oh, then we went up with lithium at 59 percent. Yeah, China is doing pretty good.
Let's go down here. What happens in stage three? We have got the cathode of anode production. So what happens here? What is going on with America?
Zero percent for cathode. Zero percent for anode. But what does China have? Oh, 61 percent for cathode and 83 percent for anode.
So here you see, America is not doing well. But guess what? President Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress, and I am sure the Democrats in the Senate, would love to force you to be dependent on everything that goes into an electric vehicle. And you can see by the percentages I am telling you, America doesn't compete. That is America last. That puts our businesses, our American businesses, our American workers completely dependent on Communist China. No thank you.
Let's go a little further. What happens in stage four? Well, here is the really important part. Stage four is Lithium ion battery cell manufacturing. And this is something that I don't think my colleague from New York, who cosponsored this little deal that we are having to deal with now, quite understands. Apparently, she knows the economy, but she wouldn't debate me, so I don't know how that works out.
You see, when it comes to producing the cells, this is where we have a problem. We have right here, 6 percent with the European Union. We have the United States at 10 percent, and according to this one, China has 73 percent. And now they are increasing, because you know what happened in Afghanistan? We walked away from $1 trillion worth of rare earth mineral mines. Why did we do that?
So, what goes into an electric vehicle? Just a battery. That is what makes it drive. And as you can see, China dominates and America is barely a speck in the economy and the market share for Lithium batteries.
So rare earth minerals. Let's talk about rare earth minerals. I just named some of them that go into the battery production, that affect batteries for electric vehicles. They affect microchips that are very important, such as the trucks, over 50,000--it is probably even more now that can't be sold because we are waiting on these. Don't forget appliances like dishwashers, refrigerators, cell phones, computers, they all rely on rare earth minerals, and America is not competing very well in this market. But China is.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, China currently producers approximately 84 percent of the world's rare earth minerals, while the U.S. only produces 4 percent, a portion of which is owned by, guess who, the Chinese. How about that?
The estimated value of rare earth compounds and metals imported by the United States increased by 10 million from 2018 to 2019. That is a big market because everybody knows that this has been the goal for quite a time.
There was a decline last year due to COVID. Well, everything shut down. But these numbers are sure to keep rising, and they are sure to keep rising because we have a government forcing us to these policies. We are being forced through these bills that we are working on and going to be voting on very soon. We are going to be forced to rely on rare earth minerals that, by the way, I just told you the U.S. only produces at 4 percent, but the Communist Chinese produce at 84 percent. This is a big problem. That is China first, America last.
{time} 2100
China is already one of the top five producers of lithium. They are not just barely one; they are number one. They are buying up most of the reserves in Australia. Why? Because China listens and pays attention. Well, we know they listen. They listen more than we want them to.
Joe Biden didn't just abandon our fellow citizens in Afghanistan. He also left behind valuable resources to the Taliban.
Let's just show them that.
Not only did we abandon Americans in Afghanistan, which was shocking--because in America we always thought the rule was ``no man left behind''--we abandoned Americans. We armed the Taliban, a radical Islamic terrorist-run nation, with $85 billion worth of the world's best military equipment and weapons. We also left behind $1 trillion in rare earth minerals. Can you believe that?
We didn't even negotiate for them. But do you know who did? China did. China has moved in and is negotiating a deal with Afghanistan for this $1 trillion worth of rare earth minerals. They also just made a 25-year deal with Iran, and they are working very hard on the Belt and Road project that will go right through Afghanistan to Iran.
You see, these deals, the infrastructure deal, the $3.5 trillion budget the Democrats in Congress know all the details to, are putting America last, are going to force every single American to have to drive a Communist Chinese battery just to get to work or go to the store.
And then guess what? When the battery runs out and you need a new one, you know what is going to happen to you? You are going to have to order it from China. Hopefully, there will be no more COVID shutdowns, and hopefully, you can get your Communist Chinese battery in time so you can start driving your government-forced electric vehicle.
This is an unbelievable thing. As a private business owner for over two decades, I cannot believe that our Federal Government is putting Americans in this position. I don't care if you are a Democrat or a Republican or if you don't care about politics, you should care about this because these are the policies that are going to destroy our economy and destroy our country.
Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to the time remaining.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman has 30 seconds remaining.
Mrs. GREENE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, what I would like to say is, I would like to appeal to my Democrat colleagues. Don't force us, don't force the American people, to rely on Communist China by taking over our private market and forcing the American people to have to rely on Communist China just to drive a car and a truck. Don't force Americans into this situation with their own tax dollars. And stop worshiping the fake climate religion.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 164
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
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