It is something that continues to be proven over and over again: Democrats come up with goofy ideas but can only see them “working” in the here and now. They are incapable of seeing those ideas implemented beyond next week. We have all been treated to hearing endlessly about Vice President Kamala Harris’ favorite things, Venn diagrams, and electric school buses. But one super-blue county is experiencing this lack of foresight regarding one of those favs of the VP firsthand, and it is costing taxpayers a lot of money and is coming at the expense of the county’s students.
Kamala Harris Touted a $5B Electric School Bus Program. Three Years Later, It’s Produced Just 60 Buses.https://t.co/DL88LwBSP7
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) July 29, 2024
The Montgomery County, Maryland Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report last month that showed that the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) push to use electric school buses in the district resulted in what was deemed millions of dollars in “wasteful spending” due to several operational issues with the buses. The MCPS’s experience with electric school buses is illustrative of most things touted by Democrats and the left included in the Green New Deal.
The whole boondoggle began in February of 2021 when the district decided to replace 326 diesel buses with electric buses as part of a sustainability initiative. The grand total for taxpayers for these new buses: around $170 million. What did taxpayers get for their money? The buses were not delivered to the district on time, and there were continual mechanical issues. Because of this, the district was forced to partially revert to the diesel buses, but because there were not enough of the old buses, the report showed that the district was forced to spend an additional $14 million on extra diesel buses to compensate for the inoperable electric buses.
The OIG report continued, saying that many of the electric buses were unusable for prolonged periods, and concluded that “MCPS should have assessed the [electric bus] contractor approximately $372,000 for failing to provide serviceable buses between FYs 2022 and 2024.” The now-former MCPS Superintendent (wonder why?) Dr. Monifa McKnight was totally on board with electric school buses. During a 2022 press conference, she claimed “We are going to be saving upwards of 6,500 gallons of diesel fuel per day. Immediately this is going to cut costs by 50%.”
The Green New Deal is an extreme socialist wish list to ban gas vehicles, drastically restrict energy production, and provide government housing and healthcare to all.
Kamala Harris backs abolishing the filibuster to push her extreme agenda on Nebraskans.https://t.co/sIUDgCTBrQ
— Pete Ricketts (@PeteRicketts) August 2, 2024
Montgomery County Maryland is not the only place where people are rethinking the whole electric bus idea. Since July of 2022, there have been reports in Wichita, Kansas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Hamden, Connecticut of electric buses catching fire. In September of 2023 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, eight electric buses became unusable indefinitely after the company the city purchased them from, Proterra, went bankrupt.
So, would a Harris presidency include support for the ridiculous Green New Deal? Absolutely. Do not let the media’s repackaging of Harris fool you. Not only does she support the Green New Deal, she was an original Senate co-sponsor of it. She has also been an active participant in the Biden administration’s increasingly aggressive push for all things Green New Deal by shelling out approximately $10 billion to encourage states to purchase electric and low-emission buses. Then there are those bright yellow electric school buses Kamala loves so much. In May, the administration gave out $900 million to pay for “green” — a.k.a., electric — school buses nationwide. Never mind the fact that the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that just 31 percent of the nation’s eighth graders met or exceeded grade-level efficiency in reading. In the Biden and a possible Harris administration, it’s all about priorities.
By now, the good people of Montgomery County, Maryland, should have a healthy dose of buyer’s remorse over these useless electric paper weights disguised as school buses.
Montgomery County Public Schools’ District in Maryland Turns to Diesel After Attempt to Convert Bus Fleet to Electric Proves Disastrous https://t.co/WmMo7leg4w
— 🇺🇸The REAL Lady De’Plorable🇺🇸 (@LadyRedWave) August 1, 2024
