Legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate on Friday could derail efforts by the Chinese Communist Party-affiliated Gotion Inc. to build an electric vehicle battery component plant in Michigan.

Gotion is receiving $715 million in state taxpayer subsidies through a secretly negotiated deal with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration to build a battery component plant in Mecosta County, and the company is eying further support from Washington.

A recently finalized Treasury Department rule for 45X tax credits would allow Gotion and other foreign companies to access federal incentives for producing battery components, and U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., is leading a charge to prevent that from happening.

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Last month, Moolenaar and Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, introduced legislation to block the Treasury rule, and Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., introduced the same legislation in the upper chamber on Friday.

“My legislation will protect American taxpayers and stop their tax dollars from going to the Chinese Communist Party. I welcome my Senate colleagues support for this commonsense legislation,” Moolenaar said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that the Biden Treasury Department would allow billions of taxpayer dollars to flow to CCP-affiliated companies. This legislation will stop the Treasury’s rule and protect the American people.”

The legislation would leverage the Congressional Review Act, which gives Congress authority to halt regulations from the executive branch with approval from the House and Senate. The act requires those approvals, as well as the president’s signature, within 60 days from when the rule was finalized in November.

The Senate legislation comes just three weeks after Moolenaar introduced the same legislation in the House. Moolenaar also introduced a similar NO GOTION ACT in early November that would prohibit companies based in China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea from receiving green energy production tax credits from the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which includes the 45x credits.

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“Under no circumstance should the CCP be allowed to benefit from the tax dollars of hardworking American families,” Moolenaar said last month. “Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s 45X rule has left the door open for CCP-affiliated companies, like Gotion, to reap billions in taxpayer funding.”

While prominent Michigan Democrats including Whitmer and U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin are strong supporters of the planned Gotion plant, Republicans including President-elect Donald Trump and a seeming majority of local residents are adamantly opposed.

“A few weeks ago, the Chinese Electric Vehicle battery company that Michigan Democrats support, Gotion, claimed that I support its EV battery plant planned for Northern Michigan. That is not true,” Trump wrote in a post to Truth Social in August. “The Gotion plant would be very bad for the State and our Country. It would put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. I AM 100% OPPOSED!”

Team Trump Michigan Communications Director Victoria LaCivita said the president-elect’s concerns about Gotion center mostly on national security risks. The planned Gotion facility is 88 miles south of the state’s national guard base, which is used to train Taiwanese soldiers, and even closer to a cyber security facility at Ferris State University.

“President Trump wants automotive manufacturing jobs to stay in Michigan and be staffed by Michiganders,” LaCivita told The Midwesterner. “That’s what he’ll do as President. Chinese companies pose a threat to our national security, hurt our economy and our workers – President Trump wants to put Michigan back to work.”

In late October, Moolenaar cited recent incidents in Michigan involving charges against Chinese students at the University of Michigan for spying on military training at Camp Grayling, Michigan’s National Guard base, and another Chinese UM student voting illegally in the 2024 election to a call on Whitmer and other officials to take action to limit CCP influence.

“Governor Whitmer must cancel the state’s $715 million giveaway of taxpayer money to CCP-affiliated Gotion and end its plans to build near Camp Grayling,” Moolenaar said. “U-M President Santa Ono needs to shut down his university’s institute with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which collaborates with China’s military.

“Until these actions happen, our state’s security, elections, universities, and auto supply chains will remain vulnerable to CCP influence,” he said.