Top Republican moves to force Biden energy secretary to disclose meetings with CCP-tied groups

FIRST ON FOX: A top Republican congressman introduced a resolution Tuesday to require Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm to disclose her meetings with a wide variety of non-governmental organizations.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., who chairs the House Financial Services Committee's oversight subcommittee, would force the Department of Energy to make public Granholm's meetings with groups tied to the Chinese Communist Party that have argued for bans on any energy type or have applied for federal funding. Huizenga introduced the resolution as an amendment to the Save Our Gas Stoves Act.

"The American People deserve to know if the Biden administration’s energy policy decisions are being influenced by entities with ties to the CCP," Huizenga told Fox News Digital in a statement.

"My transparency amendment shines a light on the elevated access given by this White House to any groups pushing China-backed, anti-energy, America-last policies," he added. 

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The Michigan lawmaker's bill comes in response to a Fox News Digital report in February that Granholm met in June 2021 with Jules Kortenhorst, the CEO at the time of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a lead group pushing gas stove bans. Granholm's calendar listed Kortenhorst as the only participant and didn't include the agenda for the meeting, which lasted for approximately an hour.

Over the past two years, the federal government has awarded RMI millions of dollars in federal funding for various green energy projects.

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RMI has also collaborated with the Chinese government to study transitioning away from traditional fossil fuels, and the group's only office outside the U.S. is located in Beijing, China's capital city. RMI is a member of the China Clean Transportation Partnership, a green group with significant ties to the Chinese government. 

The group worked with the National Development and Reform Commission, a Chinese government entity, to create a roadmap for "China's revolution in energy consumption and production to 2050."

"From the start, the Biden administration has not been honest with the American people about its desire to ban gas stoves," Huizenga told Fox News Digital in February.

"Now, as we learn more, I remain deeply concerned that the Biden administration has granted elevated access to an entity with Chinese ties in pursuit of a radical energy agenda that will raise costs on American families and small businesses," he added. "These actions cannot go unchecked, and the American people deserve honest answers."

Huizenga's latest resolution is part of a broader effort by Republicans to push back against the Biden administration's attempts to regulate gas stoves. In January, a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission floated a gas stove ban and, a month later, the Department of Energy proposed standards that would prohibit 50% of current gas stove models.

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The Save Our Gas Stoves Act introduced by Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., would block the Department of Energy from enacting tougher conservation standards on stoves. 

That legislation and the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, which would bar federal dollars from going toward regulatory efforts to ban gas stoves, are expected to soon receive floor votes.

Separately, in January, Huizenga and Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., introduced the Stop Trying to Obsessively Vilify Energy Act, which would prohibit federal agencies from banning gas stoves or other gas-powered appliances.