In his speech at the Democratic National Convention this week, United Auto Workers President Sean Fain portrayed Vice President Kamala Harris as a “fighter for the working class.” But Harris’ green energy policies paint a different picture: They put millions of jobs in America’s auto industry and millions more in the industries that support it at risk.
“For those of us in the labor movement, Kamala Harris is one of us,” Fain said. “She’s a fighter for the working class. Who is going to stand with the working class in the fight for justice in 2024? It’s Kamala Harris.”
Fain also accused former President Donald Trump of being a stooge for the “self-serving billionaire class.” In reality, Harris is becoming a Wall Street darling, and CNN running Wednesday’s article titled “How Kamala Harris is charming Wall Street.”
Wall Street and wealthy donors, in particular, have viewed Harris’s lack of policy details as an excuse for their vested interests — for example, she has yet to release a full policy platform on a range of issues, including those facing American autoworkers.
Fain is endorsing Harris because her record with autoworkers is murky at best.
When she ran for the Democratic nomination in 2020, Harris advocated ending the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 and requiring Americans to buy only electric vehicles (EVs) for new cars.
“[W]”We will ensure that 50 percent of all new passenger vehicles sold will be zero-emission vehicles by 2030, and 100 percent by 2035,” Harris’ policy platform said at the time.
Meanwhile, Vice President Harris supports President Joe Biden’s EV mandate, which would require the majority of new cars produced and sold in the U.S. market to be electric or hybrid by 2032.
Last month, a Harvard-Harris Poll found that 72% of registered voters opposed a Biden-Harris EV mandate, including 57% of Democrats, 77% of swing voters and 83% of Republicans.
Either EV mandate risks destroying millions of American auto jobs, including those of UAW members, as experts point out that EVs require far less labor to produce than traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.
Similarly, such an EV mandate would also be a boon for China, which globally controls around 70% of the lithium, 95% of the manganese, 73% of the cobalt, 70% of the graphite and 63% of the nickel – all raw materials needed to produce EV batteries.
Already, some EV projects backed by Harris have failed.
The Biden-Harris infrastructure package approved by Congress in late 2021 provided $7.5 billion to install 500,000 EV charging stations across the U.S. As of June of this year, only seven EV chargers had been installed with the billions of dollars in funding.
Similarly, Biden and Harris have praised the “Buy American” provisions of their flagship bill, the Stop Inflation Act, but auto industry executives have fought hard to ensure that the EV tax credits included in the bill apply to cars made in Canada and Mexico, not just the U.S.
EV tax credits in general already face major challenges as China continues to control much of the supply chain for critical minerals needed to produce EV batteries: By 2025, China is on track to control roughly one-third of the world’s lithium.
Harris talks about the goal of creating what is called an “opportunity economy,” but makes no mention of the threat of Chinese economic dominance that specifically affects American autoworkers.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter. here.
