GOP Wants to Freeze DOE Loan Program That Benefits China-Based Battery Company

DOE awarded $200 million Microvast Holdings, a Chinese lithium battery company, to U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. (L-R), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories director Dr. Kim Budil, National Nuclear Security Administration head Jill Hruby and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy director Dr. Arati Prabhakar, and NNSA Deputy Administrator to Defense Programs Dr. Marvin Adams to attend a news conference at Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, DC to announce a breakthrough in fusion research to fusion research to fusion research to fusion research to be conducted by Dr. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

House Republicans want the Biden Administration to stop a Department of Energy program that last fall awarded $200 million to a China battery company. This is despite the fact that Congress has not been able to get basic information from federal officials about the funding process.

Rep. Frank Lucas (Republican from Oklahoma), chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, wrote a Wednesday letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, asking her to “immediately pause any further funding or expenditures” The grant program is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, spearheaded by President Joe Biden.

The letter comes amid mounting frustration from House Republicans, who say the DOE has stonewalled requests for information about any China-related grants, despite provisions in the infrastructure law that were intended to block funding from going to China’s battery sector. Republicans have warned that China, a dominant player in the solar and battery industries, could benefit financially from the Biden administration’s aggressive green energy agenda.

Microvast Holdings (a lithium battery company based primarily in China) was awarded $200M by the DOE in October. Washington Free Beacon First reported last month. This award will finance the construction of a battery separator facility Microvast in Tennessee.

“DOE has yet to provide any response to the committee that explains the Department’s vetting process or demonstrates that sufficient guardrails are in place to ensure that companies that receive awards do not transfer funding or technology to China, or are not subject to undue influence by the [Chinese Communist Party],” Lucas wrote his letter to DOE.

Lucas asked that any department documents be turned over to him. “documents and communications referring or relating to project awards” Microvast, and more than a dozen other companies who received grants from DOE that was funded under the infrastructure legislation.

“DOE’s apparent