During her testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, Jennifer Granholm, the Energy Secretary under President Biden, confirmed her endorsement of the idea of the United States military transitioning to an all-electric non-vehicle fleet by 2030.

Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) inquired about her position on the matter, to which Granholm responded, “I do, and I think we can get there as well.”

She added, “And I do think that reducing our reliance on the volatility of globally-traded fossil fuels where we know that global events, such as the war in Ukraine, can jack up prices for people back home – it does not contribute to energy security.”

“I think energy security is achieved when we have homegrown, clean energy that is abundant, like you see in Iowa. We think we can be a leader globally in how we have become energy-independent,” she said.

Senator Joni Ernst has been a vocal opponent of President Biden’s efforts to promote electric vehicles, citing concerns about the use of slave labor to mine lithium and cobalt, common materials in EV production. The senator, who is a combat veteran and retired Iowa National Guard colonel, successfully introduced a provision into the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act that prohibits sourcing electric vehicle components from entities that use child or slave labor.

The provision additionally mandates a report outlining the expenses involved in replacing the Department of Defense’s 170,000 non-tactical vehicles with electric ones, along with the costs of creating the necessary infrastructure to support such a transition. The report must also address any existing or anticipated sourcing deficits.

On Tuesday, she tweeted, “President Biden’s new EV rule is not only unsustainable and unaffordable, it makes us more reliant on foreign adversaries and their immoral force labor practices.”

Granholm’s testimony stirred pushback on social media.

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A retired Air Force officer tweeted:

A retired Army colonel tweeted:

A former Trump administration official and combat veteran tweeted:

During her testimony, Jennifer Granholm faced questions about the Department of Energy’s decision to award a $200 million grant to Microvast, a Chinese lithium battery company. The grant was scrutinized by Republican senators, prompting the Biden administration to put it under review, as reported by Breitbart News.

Granholm responded by stating that the selected companies were merely “named” and that all of them are currently undergoing a vetting process to guarantee that no funds are allocated to countries of concern.

“Not a dollar has gone out the door yet,” she said.