Washington: During a speech in Maryland on Friday, US Vice President Kamala Harris mentioned population control as one of the Biden administration's green investment areas. Since then, the White House has claimed that she misspoke.

To thunderous applause, Harris told the crowd at Coppin State University in Baltimore, "More of our children can breathe clean air and drink clean water when we invest in clean energy and electric vehicles and reduce population." 

Although Harris did not correct herself while speaking, the word "population" was changed to "pollution" in a White House transcript of the speech. 

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As part of Washington's efforts to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050, the vice president made the strange remark as she announced the Biden administration had made $20 billion available for "community-based climate projects," with $12 billion of that earmarked for historically underprivileged areas. 

The money will be used to "fund tens of thousands of climate and clean energy projects across America," according to Harris, by "a national network of nonprofits, community lenders, and other financial institutions." Under the Inflation Reduction Act, it was designated for green energy programs as a portion of the Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. 

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Critics of Harris' alleged gaffe on social media claimed she was "saying the quiet part out loud," while detractors of the theory of man-made climate change contended population control was its true goal.  

Are you among the people she wants to eliminate? Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) posed the question to his supporters.

Several commentators, including Megyn Kelly and Harris Faulkner of Fox, questioned Harris' suitability to succeed Vice President Joe Biden earlier this week after the VP stumbled through several public appearances. 

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She said to the assembled experts during a Wednesday White House panel discussion on AI that the technology was "kind of a fancy thing," adding, "First of all, it's two letters. Before starting a convoluted attempt to explain machine learning, the speaker clarifies, "It means artificial intelligence. The same day, she made the statement during a roundtable discussion on transportation for those with disabilities:

"The issue of transportation is fundamentally just about making sure that people have the ability to get where they need to go." Both remarks received a lot of social media satire.