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

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.

Driving Force Action PAC has raised concerns over the donations, writing in an October 11 letter, "We are deeply concerned about the reported $50,000 in political contributions your campaign received from Stella Ke Li, a Chinese national and senior executive at BYD, a Chinese electric vehicle company with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and a company identified as a national security threat on par with Huawei."

"BYD has been described as a company that benefits from substantial support from the Chinese government through direct subsidies and military-civil fusion initiatives. As detailed in various reports, BYD collaborates with military affiliates on significant projects, including data aggregation from vehicles and technology sharing with state-owned enterprises. Furthermore, Ms. Ke Li, who made these contributions, appears to be married to Wang Chuanfu, BYD’s founder and a prominent CCP member," the letter continued.

The letter from Driving Force Action later added, "The acceptance of political contributions from an executive of a company with such ties to the CCP raises serious ethical and national security concerns, especially in light of your campaign’s previous stance on reducing reliance on foreign adversaries for critical industries like electric vehicles."

"While you have recently spoken in support of American manufacturing and expressed concern about China’s dominance in the electric vehicle market, accepting contributions from BYD appears inconsistent with these statements."

Driving Force Action demanded that the campaign return the donations from Ke Li and "publicly dissassociate from any finanfial ties to BYD."

"We believe this action is necessary to demonstrate your commitment to protecting American jobs, defending national security, and maintaining transparency in your campaign."