With only 34 days until the 2024 presidential election, vice presidential candidates Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democrat, and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican, squared off Tuesday night on the debate stage.
CBS News hosted the vice presidential debate in New York City, with “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell and “Face the Nation” chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan moderating.
Walz, Kamala Harris’ running mate, and Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, are both relatively new to the political limelight.
Walz was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006. After serving half a dozen terms in the House, Walz was elected Minnesota governor in 2018. Vance won his Senate election in 2022 after his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” became a New York Times bestseller.
The microphones will be live during the entirety of the debate, but moderators reserve the right to mute the microphones at their discretion.
Tuesday’s debate is expected to be the last major debate of the 2024 election.
Vance Says Solar Panels Made in China
JD Vance criticized the Harris-Walz plan for remedying climate change with solar panels.
“Issue is that if you’re spending hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars of American taxpayer money on solar panels that are made in China,” Vance said. “Number one, you’re going to make the economy dirtier.”
Vance said we should be making more solar panels in the United States, as their components are made overseas in China.
Vance is correct, according to Erin Walsh, senior research fellow for international affairs at The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center.
The development of solar energy began in America, and then the Chinese developed it further, and now China controls the “entire supply chain, so you can’t be involved unless you’re purchasing some goods from China to make your solar panels,” Walsh said.
China has “taken advantage of the United States, because we’ve had this very driven climate agenda,” Walsh said.
The more the U.S. and other nations move toward use of wind and solar energy, and electric vehicles, the further China’s economy benefits and the more America’s economy and national security are put at risk, according to Walsh.
Vance’s statement came after Walz bragged that the largest solar manufacturing plant in North America is in Minnesota. Last month, the Biden-Harris administration announced $40 million in investments across the solar energy supply chain.
This article will be updated throughout the night.
The post Fact-Checking Claims Made in Vance-Walz Debate appeared first on The Daily Signal.
