U.S. Senate Preps More Money for Auto Industry

参议院民主党人已经决定如何向使用全电动汽车和环保主义的汽车行业投入更多资金. 据报道，多数党领袖查克·舒默和西弗吉尼亚州议员乔·曼钦就扩大7美元面值的提案达成一致,500 tax credit for EVs while also introducing a new $4,000 subsidy for used models.

But that's just to kick things off. 据称，该立法方案还包括3690亿美元用于气候和能源支出. For automakers, 这意味着只要他们想把现有的工厂改造成生产全电动汽车的工厂，政府就会提供大量的财政援助. Though it may not be limited to EVs, 由于更新的语言，现在燃料电池汽车同样有资格获得拟议的行业补贴.

With 拜登政府表示将不惜一切代价实现美国公路电气化在美国，看到结盟的政客们推动扩大税收减免并不奇怪. The original $7,2010年，美国实施了500美元的税收抵免，以帮助提高电动汽车的采用率，当时该技术还处于起步阶段，采用了配额制度，旨在使各个汽车制造商之间保持平等. The theory was that, if the price of EVs were artificially lowered via tax breaks, more people would buy them.

特斯拉是第一家达到这一上限的公司，并且非常明确地表示，它不希望看到情况发生变化. Elon Musk derided any plan to expand or reset the credits as unfair, as it did not put all automakers on even financial footing. 他还严厉批评了早些时候提出的为工会制造的汽车拨出额外资金的建议, 找到了一个不太可能的盟友——丰田汽车公司(Toyota Motor Corp .)(该公司也达到了200强),000-vehicle cap, along with General Motors). However, 大多数制造商并没有对最新的草案表示不满，因为它基本上保证了他们都将通过做他们已经说过的事情——生产更多的电动汽车——从政府那里获得免费的资金.

Now clinging to the broader definition of "clean cars," the updated tax credits come with a few stipulations. Firstly, they cannot be used on combustion vehicles. Second, 符合条件的汽车必须用在与美国有自由贸易协定的国家开采和/或加工的矿物制造. According to Bloomberg, 汽车的“很大一部分”部件也需要在北美制造或组装.

这为汽车制造商提供了相当大的回旋余地，也为一些人提供了弹药，这些人声称，这只不过是对汽车行业的一笔支出 still managed to enjoy healthy profits despite their supply chain woes. In fact, 批评人士指出，该行业转向电动汽车的两个主要动力是避免监管处罚和减少开销. Electric cars typically take far fewer hands to build, meaning car companies don't have to pay for quite so much manpower.

福特最近暗示，其大力推进电气化将带来大规模裁员, 虽然这不是你第一次或最后一次听到这样的生意. That's assuming you're following the industry closely, of course. 普通人只是被灌输了一些关于环保主义的陈词滥调，因为这最终比断言企业高管相信更多的电动汽车和更少的员工可以实现更大的利润率更容易接受. Meanwhile, 政客们试图淡化这一问题，他们高呼，过渡将带来新的局面, better-paying jobs.

"[This package] doubles down on supporting American workers, and puts us in the driver’s seat to win the global clean energy race,” Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat who has long supported the auto industry, said via Twitter.

As you might have guessed, 在这个已经陷入困境的世界陷入另一场残酷的衰退之际，作者对我们是否需要扩大电动汽车税收抵免持相当怀疑的态度. 但这也是参议院更新后的提案开始让我觉得更有意义的地方. After over a decade of criticism that the $7,500信贷实际上只是富人购买高端电动汽车的折扣, someone had the good sense to address it.

新协议提议根据符合条件的汽车的建议零售价增加上限. 新乘用车的限额为5.5万美元，电动皮卡和suv的限额为8万美元. Credits would be similarly capped to an income level of $150,000 for a single filing taxpayer and $300,000 for joint filers. 虽然这确实解决了人们的抱怨，即只有富人从税收减免中受益, 这与全国范围内的电气化完全是为了环境的前提背道而驰，因为它优先考虑的无疑是更重、效率更低的车辆.

Considering Sen. 自认为是温和派民主党人的乔•曼钦此前曾表示，继续补贴电动汽车是荒唐可笑的, it's kind of amazing some common ground was reached within Congress. But, now that he and Chuck Schumer have announced they've come to terms, 很可能是缩减版的“重建得更好”(其中包括4,330亿美元用于气候变化项目的支出), drug pricing reforms, health care provisions, 以及超过3000亿美元的增税)该法案将在国会获得多数民主党议员的通过.

行业支持的贸易团体已经参与其中，可以说，它们帮助决定了拟议中的立法将采取何种形式. But Republicans don't seem interested in the slightest, saying that the additional spending would continue hampering the U.S. economy by worsening inflation. 尽管他们可能不会是决定新预算法案是否通过的群体——至少不会直接决定. 参议院只需要简单多数就能通过这项法案. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) is likely to become the deciding vote. 她的批准意味着副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯可以将该法案提交众议院，众议院很可能会投赞成票.