Joe Biden’s Commerce Secretary, Gina Raimondo, admitted today that she is withholding federal money from broadband providers unless they submit plans to mitigate climate change.

Senator Eric Schmitt asked Raimondo what climate change has to do with expanding broadband access throughout the country. More specifically, he wanted to know what congressional statute gave her the authority to demand climate change mitigation in order to receive federal dollars.

Raimondo tried to duck and cover, claiming that congress wants her to be a good steward of the money or something and that she wants broadband efforts to be successful. Schmitt totally called her out for it, telling her that congress has never given her any such authority.

He didn’t go there specifically, but she actually said that some people lose internet access during ‘climate events’. Yeah, that’s called ‘weather’ and unfortunately that happens in some places. But that has nothing to do with ‘climate change’. That’s just about weatherproofing your broadband, so to speak, and she could demand only that. But she’s not, because she’s pushing an agenda that has nothing to do with just losing access because of the weather.