Biden-Harris admin gave subsidy to China-linked EV firm for electric school buses, company exec then made massive donation to Dem presidential campaign: report

A top executive from a Chinese-linked electric vehicle (EV) firm donated tens of thousands to the Biden-Harris campaign after the EV company reportedly received a subsidy from the Biden-Harris administration a year prior.

Records reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon showed that BYD Americas received around $395,000 from the Clean School Bus program in October 2022. Ke Li is the president of BYD, and then made large donations to Joe Biden's campaign for president on November 14, 2023. Those funds were then transferred to Kamala Harris for her campaign after she replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee.



Although the funding was designated to Li's company in 2022, the cash was disbursed in May 2023, around six months prior to the donation from Li to the Biden-Harris campaign. The BYD president donated $25,000 to the Biden Victory Fund (which has since become the Harris Victory Fund) and $18,400 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC). However, Li earmarked $6,600 on the donation to the DNC as it was a max individual contribution to the Biden campaign.

In BYD's most recent report, Li is identified as being a Chinese national and has a "right of abode" in the United States. Even though federal law prohibits those who are foreign nationals from donating to political campaigns, you can do so if you have a green card.

Li's donation to the Biden-Harris campaign could be considered evidence that the Chinese EV industry is more favorable towards an economy where the Biden-Harris administration's policies are those implemented. The guidelines for other Biden-Harris era EV tax credits have loopholes for Chinese car companies. BYD is also one of the few Chinese auto companies that Congress began investigating last month over worries of espionage.

The Clean School Bus program was created a few years ago in the 2021 infrastructure bill and set aside $5 billion for the EPA to distribute as grants and rebates to make EV school buses. BYD also has a plant in California where it manufactures electric school buses as well as coach bus models. The company has also emerged as the largest international company for EVs and surpassed Tesla in the number of sales in the last year.

The bus program has so far spent over $1 billion in rebates in order to get 389 districts across the country to help deliver 2,463 electric school buses. But only 27 of those school districts proved to the EPA that the buses were delivered and only 60 of the 2,463 goal have been delivered. 55 districts have quit the program.