Biden invokes Defense Production Act to manufacture heat pumps

History shows that central planning always fails.

Congress passed the War Powers Act in 1941, giving President Franklin D. Roosevelt sweeping authority to control the domestic economy during World War II. The WPA gave the President broad powers, including setting wages and prices and rationing consumer goods.

In July 1950, President Truman warned Congress that the seemingly inevitable war in Korea would cause supply shortages and inflation at home and asked the nation to ramp up defense spending. Modeled on the War Powers Act, Congress passed the Defense Production Act in September 1950 at the start of the Korean War. “While not as sweeping as the executive powers granted during World War II,” wrote historian Paul G. Pierpaoli, “the Defense Production Act, DPA, was nonetheless an unprecedented foray into government planning and control during a time when no formal war had been declared.”

The DPA has been amended over 50 times since its enactment and has been used to address other emergencies like terrorist attacks and natural hazards. The last time it was used was by President Donald Trump when he invoked the DPA on March 18, 2020, to manufacture 187,000 ventilators by the end of that year.

Out of the blue, on October 6, 2023, and for no stated reason, the Congressional Research Service issued a report clarifying the powers that the Defense Production Act conferred on the President of the United States. Oddly enough, just six weeks later, on November 17, 2023, President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to use federal money to force the manufacture of heat pumps.

Perhaps feeling the need to explain the legality of their actions, the Department of Energy issued a statement that tried to justify President Biden’s unprecedented use of the Defense Production Act:

Today’s Defense Production Act funds for heat pump manufacturing show that President Biden is treating climate change as the crisis it is,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation. These awards will grow domestic manufacturing, create good-paying jobs, and boost American competitiveness in industries of the future.

The President is using his wartime emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to turbocharge U.S. manufacturing of clean technologies and strengthen our energy security, said President Biden’s National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi. This acceleration of electric heat pump manufacturing also shows how President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is advancing American innovation, cutting energy bills for hardworking families, and tackling the climate crisis – a win, win (sic) for our economy, our workers, and our planet.

Anticipating questions about the legality of using a war powers act when the United States is not in an active war, Deputy Secretary of Defense Dr. Kathleen Hicks issued this statement:

Reducing America’s dependence on gas and oil is critical to U.S. national security. In conflict, fossil fuel supply lines are especially vulnerable. The actions President Biden announced today will help strengthen our supply chains and ensure that the United States is a leader in producing the energy technologies that are essential to our future success. They will also help accelerate DoD’s transition toward clean energy technologies that can help strengthen military capability while creating good jobs for American workers.

My take: The contorted logic to justify using the Defense Production Act to manufacture 169 million dollars worth of heat pumps by saying that “fossil fuel supply lines are especially vulnerable” during times of conflict is telling. How these air conditioners will “strengthen military capability” and “accelerate DoD’s transition toward clean energy technologies” is a big stretch of logic.

Even worse, according to an article in Bloomberg, the Energy Department also warned that it plans to use the Defense Production Act for another round of spending in 2024:

The Energy Department said it plans to use the law for another round of spending in 2024 to secure domestic manufacturing supply chains and that last year it was considering using the emergency powers to boost production of solar panels, transformers and hydrogen fuel cells.

The Bloomberg article said the war-time law funding is justified because it is “key for energy independence, according to the White House.”

But wait. The U.S. is already energy-independent and is the world’s largest crude oil and natural gas producer. This power grab has nothing to do with energy independence and everything to do with eliminating fossil fuels by forcing the use of intermittent wind and solar power.

The Biden Administration is quickly moving toward instituting command and control over the U.S. economy by invoking the Defense Production Act to force the manufacturing of heat pumps. The next step is to force them on U.S. citizens. History has shown that central planning always fails.

This abuse of power will also fail, but the pathway to failure and its negative impacts on the U.S. economy will be severe and long-lasting.

Post Script: As I was preparing to post this article, David Blackmon posted a great piece in his “Energy Transition Absurdities” on Substack about how Germany is forcing its citizens to buy expensive heat pumps they don’t want. Tom Shepstone reposted David’s article on his Substack, “Energy Security and Freedom.”

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