Kat Cammack sees common theme in Biden administration: Agenda over security
Julia Johnson
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EXCLUSIVE — Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) claimed that an adherence to political agenda in the Biden administration spans policies across the board, affecting farmers and the public and putting national security at risk.
She told the Washington Examiner in a Wednesday interview that “they’re 100% chasing a political narrative,” referring to President Joe Biden’s administration.
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In response to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry’s recent claim that farmers can expect to see “crops ripped away or their homes destroyed” as a result of climate change, Cammack, who sits on the House Committee on Agriculture, chuckled.
“I think the biggest concern that our farmers and ranchers have is an overbearing government, which the Biden administration certainly is a behemoth of one,” she said.
Instead, she pointed to a different concern for agricultural producers. “When you have an [Environmental Protection Agency] that is following a political agenda rather than the science, that’s concerning,” Cammack said.
The congresswoman then recalled questioning EPA Administrator Michael Regan weeks prior. “They had made suggestions and certain requirements that our producers would need things like vegetative filter strips, contour terracing, and other means by which to prevent species and farmers from encroaching on certain wildlife,” she explained.
But, according to her, “When I asked him if he knew what that exactly meant, and what vegetative filter strips were, and what contour terracing was, and what it cost, he couldn’t answer me.”
“The biggest threat to our producers across America is the Biden administration,” she said. “It’s clear that they aren’t following the science, that they have no idea the economic impacts that the regulatory regime they’re imposing on our producers has — and that’s really dangerous.”
Asked about recent concerns over China and its entities’ drastically increased ownership of American farmland over the last decade, the congresswoman said, “I think it’s absolutely ludicrous that we haven’t recognized that the CCP is no friend of ours.”
China owns just under 1%, or 383,935 acres, of all foreign-held U.S. agricultural land, a relatively small percentage. However, this is a significant increase from its ownership just one decade ago, when it held just 69,295 acres of farmland, according to the Department of Agriculture.
“In my district alone, we had a shell company that was traced back to the CCP purchase 1,400 acres to do what they called ‘Primate Research.’ And at the local level, we were able to stop the zoning that would be required for them to actually start operation. So, it’s a small victory in a very large war that is being waged on our critical land,” Cammack said.
“When you think of a nation that can’t produce its own food supply, that is a nation that is not secure,” she said. “Part of what my goal is on the [Agriculture] Committee — but also as a member of Congress — is to make sure that people see food security as national security.”
“Whether it’s through the Thousand Talents programs, the Confucius Institutes, or actually buying up critical industries or our farmland, they’re waging war on everyday Americans. And it’s time that the government woke up,” she added.
According to Cammack, the Biden administration’s dedication to political goals rather than feasibility and security extends to more than just China and agriculture.
When it comes to the administration’s concerted effort to increase electric vehicle ownership, she said, “The Biden administration is very much putting the cart before the horse and failing to recognize the carbon miles that go into a lithium battery by itself.”
On Wednesday, the Senate passed a resolution to cancel a new EPA rule that would have ushered in the strictest tailpipe emissions ever for new vehicles. By a 50-49 vote, with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) joining Republicans, the vote to pass the resolution was successful.
According to the White House, “In the first year of his Administration, President Biden set a goal that at least 50 percent of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in 2030 be zero-emission vehicles.”
However, the Florida representative said, “if they’re serious about a clean, safe, environment, they would be looking at an ‘all of the above’ approach when it came to our vehicle companies and production. But instead, again, they’re 100% chasing a political narrative,”
“The administration cares more about a political agenda than they do the science,” she added.
“The United States has been reducing carbon emissions for years,” she said. “But yet they still want to do business with countries like China, which are major emitters of carbon emissions.”
Cammack further said, “Not only is the technology that is required to produce these EVs incredibly dirty — think about the EVs that we have on the market and that are out in the streets today deployed. We would need 300 mines in order to keep up with the maintenance of the vehicles that we have on the streets today.”
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“We certainly don’t have the grid capacity in order to sustain electric vehicle growth in the market,” she continued.
And, she said, in order to reach Biden’s goals, “we need to have an industry here, a manufacturing and mining industry here that can sustain that type of development.”