Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm seemed to suggest that lower-income families should just go buy electric cars or spend on weatherizing their homes as methods to fight off and deal with the soaring levels of inflation.
While speaking as part of an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Granholm lauded the new tax credits for purchasing electric cars or taking steps to weatherize their houses and businesses coming from the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act.” Granholm then made the claim that those particular tax credits would end up lowering the costs for lower-income and middle-class income families that are drowning with this inflation rate.
“One of the critiques here with these credits is that the prices are high, right? And the supply is limited. What is the practicality? It seems like there’s a disconnect. What’s the practicality for everyday Americans in this kind of benefit?” questioned host Trace Gallagher.
“There’s two implications here,” shot back Granholm. “One is, for example, if you want to buy a used electric vehicle, you can get $4,000 off at the dealership today. If you want to buy a new electric vehicle, there is a $7,500 credit for those that are assembled in America … Why is this important? Because the president … wants to re-shore manufacturing. It’s not just in electric vehicles … It will be in solar panels. It will be in wind turbines. It will be in transmission. It will be in electric vehicles and the batteries for those electric vehicles. A whole supply chain and ecosystem, energy ecosystem, built up in the United States because of the incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act.”
“But you talk about incentives. Maybe it’s the messaging. People don’t quite get it,” Gallagher responded, jumping to clips of everyday Americans who claim that they still could not afford to buy electric cars, even with the new tax credits. “And really, you could make the same argument, we were talking about tax breaks for adding solar panels, energy-efficient windows, appliances, heat pumps. What do you say to the families who simply can’t afford this stuff in the first place?”
“Number one, for your home, yes, there are significant incentives in this bill, which is great to reduce people’s energy costs on a monthly basis,” answered Granholm.
“So if you are low income, you can get your home entirely weatherized through the expansion from the bipartisan infrastructure law,” she went on. “If you want heat pumps, insulation, new windows, that is covered. If you are moderate income, today, you can get 30% off the price of solar panels. Those solar panels can be financed, so you don’t have to have the big outlay up front.”
“When they’re financed, they’re financed in a way that reduces your energy bill even though you have solar panels, with this 30% off. It’s a significant incentive. Same thing if you don’t qualify for the weatherization program, you will be able to, starting next year, get rebates on the appliances and equipment that will help you reduce your monthly energy bill by up to 30%. This is all about reducing costs for people.”
WATCH:
Biden Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm: “If you are low-income, you can get your home entirely weatherized” to help deal with 40-year high inflation.
“You can get 30% off the price of solar panels.” pic.twitter.com/qUM7JGvdYN
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 21, 2022
