Biden last week conceded the existing bill would have to be broken up into smaller parts to gain support from all 50 Democrats in the Senate. He didn’t specify which elements of the legislation he’ll focus on passing first.
“I’m confident we can get pieces — big chunks of the Build Back Better law signed into law,” he said at a Jan. 19 news conference.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said in an interview Tuesday, before participating in the White House meeting, that he would urge Biden to retain tax credits for electric vehicles included in the initial legislation.
“We are so far behind,” Farley said. EVs comprised only about 2 percent of U.S. car purchases in 2021, compared to nearlyad 20 percent in Europe, and China now buys half of all EVs produced in the world.
“I’m very concerned about the country’s competitiveness if the country doesn’t do what other countries have done, which is put their foot on the scale of economics with incentives between $7,000 and $10,000 per vehicle,” Farley said. “That’s what it’s going to take.”
