Pete Buttigieg takes down Republican who complained about EV tax credits that Congress passed

Out Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg offered a swift blistering response this week to a Republican representative who accused Buttigieg of “killing” the auto industry and making poor Americans fund electric vehicles for “coastal elites and wealthy people.”

During a Wednesday hearing of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) told Buttigieg, “I don’t know if you can justify or how you justify forcing my constituents to pay for EVs [electric vehicles] and EV infrastructure for coastal elites and wealthy people, but somehow you do.”

Related: Pete Buttigieg slams GOP congressman’s embarrassing attempt at a climate change joke

Pete wasn’t having it.

Buttigieg responded, “Well, I need to point out that wealthy people were specifically excluded from the Inflation Reduction Act.” The 2022 law increased taxes on large corporations and on wealthy people making over $400,000 a year to help reduce the federal deficit. It provides tax credits for people who purchase electric vehicles and make less than $150,000 a year if filing as single person or $300,000 if filing as a married couple.

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Perry continued, asking, “Do you dispute that two-thirds of EV owners, are owned by people… that make over $100,000?”

When Buttigieg explained that the initially high cost of electric vehicles was “going down,” Perry said that it didn’t matter because his constituents “can’t afford them today.”

Buttigieg then asked Perry why he was opposed to “cutting their costs.”

Perry answered, “I’m not against cutting the cost. The market should do it… But… you want my taxpayers to pay to cut the cost.”

Then Buttigieg asked, “If you are of the view that there should be no subsidies to propulsion vehicles, then are you against oil and gas subsidies?” Taxpayers pay about $20 billion dollars in subsidies every year to the fossil fuel industry, according to the Senate Budget Committee.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg schools U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) on electric vehicles and the auto industry.

BUTTIGIEG: “If you are of the view that there should be no subsidy to propulsion vehicles, then are you against oil and gas subsidies?” pic.twitter.com/WmqkCroj5C

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) September 20, 2023

It wasn’t the only time that Buttigieg shut down Republican talking points during the hearing.

When Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) asked Buttigieg about the “private” flights that the secretary takes around the country, Buttigieg said, “I’ve taken 638 flights…. 607 of them were commercial, 10 of them were on military aircraft such as Air Force One, and 21 were on FAA [Federal Aviation Association] aircraft — representing about 3 percent of the flights.”

“I can’t help but get the sense that some people want to make it sound as if I don’t travel most of the time on commercial aircraft, which of course is untrue,” Buttigieg continued. “The way I usually travel is an economy class aboard an airliner like everybody else, when we do it differently, it’s often because it will save taxpayer money.”

Also at the same hearing, Buttigieg rebutted Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s (R-CA) claim that climate change is the same as seasons changing.