Virginia Foxx Berates a 4th Grader

The 10-year-old should have known better than to suggest tax rebates for a green, sustainable future. What a commie.

By: Austin Abbring

May 31, 2026

I meant to get to this wild story sooner, so I apologize. A couple of weeks ago, North Carolina Representative Virginia Foxx made national headlines after responding to a 4th grader’s letter in a rather petulant manner. Virginia Foxx, 82, has served in Congress for 21 years and is considered a Trump MAGA loyalist, a badge she wears unashamedly. As part of a class civic assignment, a 4th-grade boy wrote a persuasive letter to Representative Foxx about reinstating $5,000 tax rebates for purchasers of electric vehicles. Mrs. Foxx’s response was, of course, loving and encouraging towards the bright, young pupil who took his assignment seriously and made a great argument. Not!

Her response was filled with vitriol. She immediately rejected the proposal, arguing that federal tax rebates would not work this way, as they could punish other taxpayers who cannot afford electric vehicles. She carried on about the national debt and how his classmates would be the ones burdened with paying off such subsidies. She then proceeded to assault the child’s educators by suggesting they were indoctrinating the child and that he should ask his teacher to “explain propaganda” before wrapping up her lovely response by recommending he check out news articles from Fox and the Wall Street Journal that she linked in her response on this issue.

Talk about a good way to encourage discourse in government and politics from young minds in America. She could not have been warmer in her reception. For starters, I think the suggested $5,000 tax rebate for electric vehicles is a fantastic idea. We must transition away from our reliance on fossil fuels, not only from an environmental standpoint but also from a national security standpoint. Anything that drives people to switch to green vehicle alternatives is a net positive in my book. In fact, any tax credits, tax rebates for green energy sources, or investment in renewable energy sources is an absolute must. We probably needed to address climate change issues at least five decades ago, so starting now would be imperative. We have some serious ground to make up.

We have just lived through the hottest decade in human history. Since the 1980’s, the Earth’s average temperature has risen nearly 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit every decade. Clearly, we need a change. While the initial manufacturing and production of EV’s (electric vehicles) may have a high carbon footprint, that same footprint is quickly offset by the fact that over an EV’s lifetime, they produce nearly 70% fewer carbon emissions than a standard gasoline-driven vehicle. Any investment in further developing EV production and the technology would only improve efficiency, in turn, further reducing overall carbon footprints.

From a national security standpoint, cutting our dependence on fossil fuels is clear. Any oil and gas supply shock from, say, a pandemic, a global conflict, or a Republican Administration hurling us into a war with a country in the Middle East, perhaps not being so oil-dependent as a country, would combat the risks to our security. We would have a populace not so severely impacted by a sudden, long-term surge in gasoline and oil prices. Any investment in renewable energy projects would also keep us safer. Our energy grid is already overworked and outdated. Climate change is only exacerbating that. We must diversify our energy sources rather than relying almost entirely on one source that is already non-renewable and finite.

Now, I am in no way suggesting that we get to a point where we have a modernized energy grid, a diversified energy infrastructure, and a consumer population not as fossil fuel dependent as an excuse to go to war in the Middle East or anywhere else on the planet, but our country desperately needs further development and investment in green energy as a global climate change effort and a means of maintaining our country’s security. The national debt, as Virginia Foxx contends with this child, is not going to matter if we have a country that would fall apart should we face a massive energy crisis, or when we reach a point where human life is no longer feasible because man-made climate change has driven our species to extinction.

Additionally, if Congresswoman Foxx is not going to subscribe to tax incentives to drive EV purchases and other alternative energy sources because climate change is a “liberal hoax invented by intermediate school teachers”, then do it for selfish economic concerns. She can put her capitalist thinking cap on. There is an entire market, an entire industry, that is not truly being tapped. We could build a massive electric vehicle market that could bring American manufacturing back to life. There would be mass construction projects, infrastructure projects, and tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of jobs created across the country. We will not have a competitive auto industry in this country in probably two or three decades if we continue at this pace. Chinese production and sales of EV’s absolutely clobbered Ford’s last year. We have got to start taking this seriously and genuinely compete in this market, or we will become antiquated. Climate change is real, and alternative energy is dire for our viability. So no, Mrs. Foxx, schools are not indoctrinating children at any age. You have been indoctrinated into the fossil fuel industry’s capitalist-driven and, at this point, humanity-destructive propaganda.