[Breitbart] The Republican Arkansas delegation is demanding answers from the Department of Energy as to why it awarded a $200 million grant to a company linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using American taxpayer money that was supposed to be used to make America less reliant on China for battery production.In a letter sent this week, Sens. Tom Cotton, John Boozman, and Reps. Rick Crawford, French Hill, Steve Womack, and Bruce Westerman asked DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm why a federal grant was awarded to the company Microvast despite the company having documented ties to the CCP and operating primarily out of China.
"While American companies were denied funding opportunities, the DOE supported a company that admits the Chinese 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.’ DOE’s vetting and oversight process is deficient," they said in the February 7, 2023, letter.
The grant was part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which aimed to help secure America’s domestic supply chains by being less reliant on China for materials such as lithium-ion battery cells or critical minerals. According to Reuters, over 200 companies competed for grants under the IIJA last year, but only 20 companies were awarded.