Horowitz: DeSantis becomes first governor to reject major Green New Deal subsidies

Do Republicans actually believe in their own rhetoric and want to stop the destruction of American energy, or do they support the Green New Deal when it actually counts? There is no middle ground.

The next COVID is a mass energy lockdown whereby we lack enough fuel and electricity to maintain our standard of living. In order to achieve this objective, the left is pushing a “transition” to green energy. Progressives can’t openly advocate for confiscation of energy, so instead they allocated hundreds of billions of dollars in the “Inflation Reduction Act” to “transition” our entire way of life to EVs, solar, and wind. That is the camel’s nose under the tent and the Trojan horse than will lead states to wean themselves off reliable energy and become dependent upon energy that doesn’t work, leading to the outcome the left desires.

Although Republicans lack control of the Senate and the White House, ground zero for this battle – whether our freedom, prosperity, and way of life will be maintained – is actually in the red states. It is those states with supermajority Republican control that contain most of the landmass of this country needed to build this infrastructure. If Republican governors and legislatures would merely reject the federal funding for the Green New Deal – reminiscent of how they initially rejected Medicaid expansion under Obamacare – the green “transition” would be dead on arrival.

Sadly, Republican governors, who are addicted to corporate interests and federal funding, are eagerly and obsequiously gobbling up the federal funds. Georgia has taken hundreds of millions of dollars to become the EV capital of the country. Other red states out west are taking large grants for solar and wind farms. There is only one governor who is refusing to turn his state into a green dystopia – the same governor who stands alone on most issues.

Politico reported earlier this week that Ron DeSantis refused to accept $350 million in “energy efficiency” grants from the Green New Deal bill. Politico rightly observes that the legislation “allows governors the authority to block a handful of its programs, and with it, the power to blunt the political impact of legislation.” If we all believe that this is the worst legislation of the Biden administration, and we have the ability to block it in red states without even repealing it in Congress, why would he be the only governor placing a blockade on the green grift?

Most of the funding would have gone toward a program paying off consumers to buy these crony appliances made by Chinese-backed companies. The question nobody is asking: If these products are so efficient and effective, then why do consumers need to be incentivized to buy them?

In his annual budget, the governor also rejected fake anti-pollution funding and a program paying people to purchase solar panels, and he vetoed $24 million in grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Other states such as Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and South Dakota have rejected the solar funding, but none have rejected the consumer rebates for “green” aka less effective appliances.

Politico explains the significance of this rejection in that it has the potential to derail the entire green transition agenda without ever having Congress repeal it:

The rejection has the potential to create significant ripple effects, politically and economically, in the coming months. As the president and his Cabinet members go around the country boasting about the IRA, rebates for energy-efficient purchases — the majority of the funding that DeSantis has refused — have played a particularly prominent role. That’s not just because they underpin the administration’s climate agenda but because they provide direct rebates to consumers.

Remember, most solar and wind projects require a ton of land use (indeed, they are anything but eco-friendly), and it’s the red states that hold most of the land. If every red state would reject the Green New Deal, then it would be impossible for Biden to phase out workable energy. Unfortunately, most GOP governors grovel for federal funding, even if it comes from a poisonous tree that will lead to a catastrophic transformation of our society. States like Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas have become meccas for EV, solar, and wind projects.

It’s for this reason that Biden chided Republicans for voting against it but then posing for pictures with him at ribbon-cutting ceremonies unveiling IRA projects in their respective states. “And to my Republican friends who voted against it but still ask to fund projects in their districts, don’t worry,” said Biden mockingly at this year’s state of the union address. “I promised to be the president for all Americans. We’ll fund your projects. And I’ll see you at the ground-breaking.”

These governors are selling out our future for some extra pennies and some temporary government-contrived job creation. But in the long run, they will turn their states into Europe, where fossil fuels now account for just 33% of the electricity generation, making Europeans permanently at risk for a diminished quality of life.

We all know that the Biden administration is chomping at the bit to declare a climate emergency in the same vein as COVID. But officials need a fake transition in order to facilitate that change, just like the advent of Zoom was able to grease the skids for lockdowns. They need the veneer of alternative energy sources to ultimately get the country to go along with a shutdown of our way of life. GOP governors stand at the nexus of that dystopian future looming over us. They have the power to sabotage the transition.

Sadly, the desire for federal funding is the kryptonite of red-state Republicans, which is ultimately why red states have gone along with these green energy scams for years. DeSantis is the only governor of this generation who has shown that not only is he not deterred by identity politics and corporate politics – the other two Achilles’ heels of the GOP – but he is willing to reject federal bribes to turn red states blue.