Dupage Policy Journal

Breakthrough Ideas CEO Jeane Ives has expressed her gratitude for the efforts of Congressman Darin LaHood (R-IL) in introducing the No Official Giveaways Of Taxpayers' Income to Oppressive Nations (NO GOTION) Act.

The proposed legislation is aimed at preventing companies associated with oppressive regimes, including the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), from benefiting from green energy production tax credits provided by the Biden Administration through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

"Many thanks to Congressman LaHood for recognizing the insanity of giving our number one adversary billions in taxpayer subsidies,” Ives told the DuPage Policy Journal.

“Now we need similar legislation at the state-level to rescind the half billion dollars Pritzker promised this Chinese-owned company. Personally, as a mother of an active-duty Navy pilot, I find Pritzker’s funding of our enemy traitorous.”

The Gotion controversy centers on the Chinese company's proposal to secure $8 billion in taxpayer subsidies for the construction of a $2 billion battery manufacturing facility in Manteno. This development has sparked apprehension among both local residents and lawmakers, as reported by Wirepoints.

Manteno's citizens, alongside concerned residents in Michigan and North Dakota, where additional Gotion battery plants have been proposed, as well as a committee within the U.S. House, are voicing reservations regarding the significant financial support extended to a company with affiliations to the Chinese Communist Party.

LaHood’s proposed bill seeks to prohibit companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from receiving the green energy production tax credits offered by the Biden Administration under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

“As a member of the House Select Committee on the CCP and the House Intelligence Committee, I have seen the malign efforts that the CCP and other foreign adversaries like Iran and Russia are engaged in to undermine our domestic supply chains and national security,” LaHood said in a press release.

The legislation would also broaden this restriction to encompass companies connected to Russia, Iran and North Korea.

“Hard-working taxpayers should not be on the hook for billions in federal subsidies funneling to companies beholden to malign actors, like the CCP,” LaHood said. “It is clear that the so-called ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ is being leveraged by foreign adversaries to exploit loopholes to gain generous incentives and dominate key technologies in the United States. Congress and the federal government should be promoting pro-growth tax policy that supports American businesses and this commonsense bill is a positive step to get us back on track.”

 A review of Gotion, Inc. by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has been called for due to Gotion’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party and its potential influence over green-energy tax incentives, particularly in Illinois.

“The extent of the CCP’s control over Guoxuan (Gotion) is explicitly mentioned in the company’s corporate by-laws, which require the company ‘to carry out Party activities in accordance with the Constitution of the [Chinese Communist Party],’” a letter from U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and U.S. Representative John Moolenaar reads.

“In 2021, Guoxuan High-Tech hosted several company retreats where employees were mandated to recite a pledge of loyalty to the Party, including to ‘fight for communism.’ This is concerning, no less because the Biden Administration itself has described the PRC in its 2022 National Security Strategy as the “only competitor with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it,” and that ‘Beijing frequently uses its economic power to coerce countries.’ The CCP’s control over Guoxuan High-Tech is no exception to the Party’s strategy to exert its influence in the United States.”

In response to the proposed NO GOTION Act, Gotion has issued a statement, asserting that it views the legislation as an effort to disseminate misinformation and unfounded allegations regarding the company and its operational standards.

“In keeping with our well-established record of an international company with facilities in 10 countries, including seven and a half years in North America, Gotion never has and never will promote any political philosophy in the USA," the company said.