Biden uses Cold-war era law to push back against gas appliances

In an unexpected Friday development, President Joe Biden resurrected a statute from the Cold War era to invest heavily in the American production of electric heat pumps.

To speed up production of electric heat pumps, the federal government has announced, in conjunction with the Department of Energy (DOE), that it will allocate "historic" $169 million across nine projects at 15 locations across the country, as Fox News reported.

Biden repurposed the Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950 to boost U.S. manufacturing of renewable energy technologies, freeing up a sizable sum of money.

The DOE's climate agenda and wide push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions includes new restrictions targeting traditional residential gas-powered furnaces, which were released less than two months prior to Friday's action.

Official Statements

"Getting more American-made electric heat pumps on the market will help families and businesses save money with efficient heating and cooling technology," said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

"These investments will create thousands of high-quality, good-paying manufacturing jobs and strengthen America’s energy supply chain, while creating healthier indoor spaces through home-grown clean energy technologies," she added.

"Today’s Defense Production Act funds for heat pump manufacturing show that President Biden is treating climate change as the crisis it is," added John Podesta, the White House clean energy czar.

"These awards will grow domestic manufacturing, create good-paying jobs, and boost American competitiveness in industries of the future," Podesta said.

And Ali Zaidi, who serves as Biden's national climate advisor, said the president was "using his wartime emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to turbocharge U.S. manufacturing of clean technologies and strengthen our energy security."

Application to the Climate Agenda

Copeland, Honeywell International, Mitsubishi Electric, and York International Corporation are just some of the multibillion-dollar corporations that would receive millions of dollars from the DOE as a result of the measures unveiled on Friday. The initiatives will develop manufacturing of industrial, commercial and residential heat pump technology.

"This is absolutely shameful corporate welfare. But we're to believe that, because it's for the sake of climate change, all is well. I think that's ridiculous," Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

"Of all the Biden administration's claimed climate emergency declarations, this may be the craziest of them all," Lieberman continued. "There is no shortage of heat pumps — it's just that not every homeowner wants them. Consumers ought to decide for themselves. The government has no role in tilting the balance in favor of one energy source over another. That's clearly what's happening here."

The action Friday comes less than two months after the DOE issued new regulations targeting traditional home gas-powered furnaces as part of its climate agenda and broad effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

DOE's revised regulations, which are set to go into effect in 2028, expressly require furnaces to attain an annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) of 95%, meaning manufacturers would only be able to sell furnaces that convert at least 95% of fuel into heat within six years. The average annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) of a home furnace sold today is 80%.