Elissa Slotkin Votes to Ban Gas-Powered Vehicles During UAW Strike

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who is running for U.S. Senate, voted against legislation that would bar states from capping the sale of gas-fueled cars; one of the main drivers of the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike is President Joe Biden’s move to push electric vehicles over gas-powered engines.

The House voted on bipartisan lines to pass the Preserving Choice in Vehicles Purchases Act, which would amend federal law to block state moves to eliminate the sale of gas-powered engines and it would bar the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) from issuing waivers that would ban such of these vehicles.

House Republicans introduced the legislation as the California Air Resource Board moved to ban the sale of new, internal-combustion engine-powered vehicles by 2035 and require all new vehicles to have zero emissions.

“These bans will substantially increase costs and put personal vehicles out of reach for many hardworking people. Americans can make consumer choices based on their merits and needs, not on radical mandates rooted in trying to force Green New Deal directives on families,” House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) said this week.

Notably, Slotkin was one of the 190 House Democrats to vote against the legislation, even though eight House Democrats voted with Republicans to enact this legislation.

The Michigan Democrat’s embrace of the effort to sunset gas-powered cars in favor of electric vehicles (EVs) comes as the United Auto Workers (UAW) are on strike, and a major contention for the auto union is the Democrats’ push for a transition to EVs, which will dramatically reduce the number of auto jobs.

Slotkin said on Thursday that the scene for the United Auto Workers (UAW) was set because inflation was taking money out of auto workers’ pockets.

Breitbart News Economics Editor John Carney wrote in the Breitbart Business Digest that the UAW strike is as much as “a protest against Bidenomics as it is the policies of General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Stellantis:”

A big one was the agreement to accept contracts that no longer tied worker pay to inflation.

The pressure put on the unions at the time was tremendous. The Obama administration relentlessly pushed for acceptance of its program, largely because it wanted to claim credit for rescuing the auto industry. The workers were threatened with economic ruin if they did not sacrifice to prop up their failing employers. Politically, the unions were left adrift, abandoned by the Democrats who had long been their allies and finding little welcome among a Republican party still dominated by establishment types enthralled to the agenda of big business and Wall Street.

Carney also wrote that the “promise of low inflation” was broken by the “bloated fiscal policies of the Biden administration.” He also contended that the Biden administration pushed the auto manufacturers to make more electric vehicles, which will mean a rapid decline in payrolls for autoworkers, even though auto manufacturers will enjoy generous Inflation Reduction Act subsidies.

Slotkin was a strong supporter of the Inflation Reduction Act.

“It will bring critical battery and electric vehicle supply chains back to the U.S. — boosting Michigan’s economy and making sure America, not China, leads the way on the next generation of vehicles,” she wrote in a statement in August 2022 regarding her vote for the Inflation Reduction Act.

The Inflation Reduction Act is just one part of the Biden administration’s push to make half of all new vehicle sales electric by 2030. The EPA’s “ambitious” emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks would seek to ensure two-thirds of new passenger cars sold in the U.S. are all-electric by 2032.

The UAW is reportedly “openly skeptical” about Biden’s push for more electric vehicles.

The UAW “chastised Biden for steering hundreds of billions of dollars towards incentives for electric vehicles, which could threaten UAW jobs.

A UAW study found that the shift away from traditional engines could cost 35,000 union jobs.

The Economic Policy Institute found that 75,000 jobs could be lost if Biden achieves his goal of making half of cars sold by 2030 electric.

The UAW also has withheld its endorsement of Biden over his push to make more electric vehicles.

Despite the UAW’s concerns with Biden’s push to electric vehicles and away from traditional gas engines, Slotkin said on Friday that she stands with the UAW. She wrote,

I’m looking forward to joining our auto workers on the picket line this weekend. For Michigan’s sake, I hope the strike is short lived. As someone who used to negotiate international agreements, I know that no one should let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I hope the UAW and the Big Three continue to negotiate in good faith to reach a fair agreement as quickly as possible.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) wrote, “Yesterday liberal Democrat @ElissaSlotkin, who is running for Senate in MICHIGAN, voted in favor of banning gas cars. Don’t they like gas cars in Michigan?”

Slotkin’s office has yet to respond to a comment request regarding her vote.