Stacey Abrams: Biden’s EPA Gave Me $2B to Buy People New Home Appliances to Reduce Electric Bills

HAYES: “One of the ironies of the attack on you, and I’m going to play what he did, was that my understanding is the program at the source of this whole thing is a program to lower costs for people. Do I have that top line correct?”
ABRRAMS: “You — you have it absolutely right.”
HAYES: “Okay. So I’m going to — I’m going to play what he had to say, and then I’m going to ask you to explain what the program is that was such an obvious, ludicrous laugh line for the Republicans there. Take a listen.”

[Clip starts]
Trump: “$1.9 billion to recently created Decarbonization of Homes Committee headed up — and we know she’s involved, just at the last moment the money was passed over — by a woman named Stacey Abrams. Have you ever heard of her?”
(Audience boos)
[Clip ends]

HAYES: “Okay, so what — what is this organization? What is your relationship to it, and what does it do?”
ABRAMS: “In 2023 and 2024, I led a program called Vitalizing DeSoto. We worked in a tiny town in South Georgia to demonstrate that by replacing energy-inefficient appliances with efficient appliances, you can lower your cost. In fact, we accomplished that. For 75% of the community, they got appliances that are lowering their bills right now. We had one woman who saw her electric bill cut in half, from 180 to $98. That’s what we delivered. And based on that program, a coalition of organizations, famous organizations came together and said to the EPA, ‘If we can do this here, we can do this for millions more Americans. Let us invest the money of America in lowering the cost for Americans.’ And the EPA said, ‘Okay, great, go for it.’”