#shorts On 5/4/2023, The United States Senate Committee on the Budget held a hearing on the Republican debt limit bill passed in the House. Witnesses include Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody’s Analytics; Abigail Ross Hopper, President and CEO of Solar Energy Industries Associations; Brian Riedl, Senior Fellow at Manhattan Institute. They testified before the Senate Budget Committee as the panel holds a hearing on the Republican proposal to address the debt limit, which passed in the House last week, at the Capitol in Washington.

Kennedy: Miss, I can’t say your name, I can’t see what’s happening.
Hopper: It’s Hopper.
Kennedy: It’s Hopper. I, I love solar energy. I just want you to know that. And I love electric cars. But I’ve got to ask you this question I’ve been waiting to ask. This, if electric cars are so swell, how come the government has to pay people to drive them?

So, I think, um, like most government policies, right, are put in place to incentivize certain behaviors. And so, that’s part of the policy, is that if we want more…

Kennedy: But if they’re so swell, why couldn’t they, in just a competitive market, you know, people, why wouldn’t they be choosing EVs, electric vehicles, over internal combustion engine cars?

Hopper: I think that,
Kennedy: why do we have to pay people to drive them?

Hopper: Well, I wouldn’t characterize it as paying people to drive them, but I would sure say we are getting a big old tax credit from the government. Having a policy to incentivize more purchases of electric vehicles.

Kennedy: Okay, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

other clips of this published longer video is here: https://youtu.be/zTAfR-eN00I
if EVs are so swell, why do we have to pay people to drive them?