{"id":1767786,"date":"2022-12-08T12:36:29","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T17:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1767786"},"modified":"2022-12-08T13:48:08","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T18:48:08","slug":"senator-launches-inquiry-into-bidens-200m-grant-to-china-based-battery-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senator-launches-inquiry-into-bidens-200m-grant-to-china-based-battery-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator Launches Inquiry Into Biden\u2019s $200M Grant to China-Based Battery Company"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsenator-launches-inquiry-into-bidens-200m-grant-to-china-based-battery-company%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1767786&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/senators-meet-for-their-weekly-policy-luncheons-on-capitol-hill_735x515.jpg\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The top Republican on the Senate energy committee launched an inquiry on Wednesday into a Biden administration grant to a China-based battery company under scrutiny from U.S. financial regulators. The announcement came in the wake of a <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> report about the Biden administration&#8217;s attempt to spin the grant as a boon for American-made clean energy.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. John Barrasso (R., Wyo.), the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the Department of Energy\u2019s grant to Microvast Holding &#8220;endangers our national security&#8221; and &#8220;undermine[s] the United States\u2019 position in its race against China for technological supremacy,&#8221; in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.senate.gov\/services\/files\/78472F1E-2200-4289-822A-BA8870D1E96C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter<\/a> to DOE secretary Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The inquiry comes after the DOE gave the $200 million award to Microvast, a holding company that operates primarily in China, to build a lithium-ion battery separator facility in Tennessee, the<em>\u00a0Free Beacon<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/doe-touts-200m-grant-to-lithium-battery-company-as-boon-to-american-made-clean-energy-the-company-operates-primarily-from-china\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> on Tuesday. Granholm said the funding, which came from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, would help &#8220;supercharge the private sector to ensure our clean energy future is American-made.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Barrasso asked Granholm to turn over records detailing the &#8220;security review process&#8221; for companies receiving DOE funding, and the names of officials who are responsible for approving the payments.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Microvast\u2019s close relationship with China is no secret,&#8221; wrote Barrasso. &#8220;I remind you that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was ostensibly intended to develop robust domestic manufacturing bases and supply chains free from the predations of the [People\u2019s Republic of China].&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;DOE distributing $200 million in taxpayer funds to a company joined at the hip with China is demonstrably antithetical to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law\u2019s intent,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Barrasso asked Granholm to provide him with the information by Dec. 21.<\/p>\n<p>The DOE described Microvast as a &#8220;majority U.S.-owned company, traded on NASDAQ&#8221; and &#8220;headquartered in Stafford, Texas.&#8221; Microvast\u2019s 2021 annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission said it is a &#8220;holding company, and we conduct all of our operations through our subsidiaries, and principally through our subsidiary in China.&#8221; Microvast said it has received subsidies from the Chinese government and a significant portion of its customers are Chinese state-owned enterprises.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The PRC government exerts substantial influence over the manner in which we must conduct our business activities and may intervene, at any time and with no notice,&#8221; said the company\u2019s filing.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission added Microvast to a list of public companies with China-based auditors and whose financial records are subject to restrictions by the Chinese government. Companies that remain on the list for three consecutive years will be delisted from U.S. stock exchanges under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act.<\/p>\n<p>A DOE spokesman defended the grant in a statement to the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> on Wednesday, saying the company &#8220;will use U.S. sourced raw materials in the proposed facility and equipment manufactured within the U.S. or by U.S. allies.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law states that the DOE should avoid funding projects that &#8220;use battery material supplied by or originating from a foreign entity of concern,&#8221; which includes a &#8220;foreign entity \u2026 subject to the jurisdiction or direction&#8221; of China.<\/p>\n<p>The DOE told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> that Microvast &#8220;does not meet these criteria.&#8221; A spokesman did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about how this was determined.<\/p>\n<p>Microvast spokeswoman Sarah Alexander told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> that the company is majority U.S.-owned and primarily operates out of Huzhou, China, but has been expanding its manufacturing and research facilities to Germany and the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The top Republican on the Senate energy committee launched an inquiry on Wednesday into a Biden administration grant to a China-based battery company under scrutiny from U.S. financial regulators. The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1891528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Senator Launches Inquiry Into Biden\u2019s $200M Grant to China-Based Battery Company","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1767786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Senator Launches Inquiry Into Biden\u2019s $200M Grant to China-Based Battery Company","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1767786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1767786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1891528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1767786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1767786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1767786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}