Biden pledges executive action after Joe Manchin scuppers climate agenda
Adam Gabbatt and Martin Pengelly in New York and Chris Stein in Washington -
Joe Biden has promised executive action on climate change after Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator who has repeatedly thwarted his own party while making millions in the coal industry, refused to support more funding for climate action.
© Provided by The GuardianPhotograph: Tom Brenner/Reuters
Related:Did Joe Manchin block climate action to benefit his financial interests?
In another blow to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections, the West Virginia senator also came out against tax raises for wealthy Americans.
Manchin’s opposition became clear on Thursday night. On Friday, with Biden in Saudi Arabia, the White House issued a statement.
Biden said: “Action on climate change and clean energy remains more urgent than ever.
“So let me be clear: if the Senate will not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to meet this moment.
“My actions will create jobs, improve our energy security, bolster domestic manufacturing and supply chains, protect us from oil and gas price hikes in the future, and address climate change. I will not back down: the opportunity to create jobs and build a clean energy future is too important to relent.”
Biden and Democrats hope to include environmental measures in a $1tn version of the $2tn Build Back Better spending bill Manchin killed last year in dramatic fashion.
Then, the Biden White House angrily accused Manchin of breaching “commitments to the president and [his] colleagues in the House and Senate”. Bridges were rebuilt but on Thursday night Manchin appeared to reach for the dynamite once again.
Joe Manchin with Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP
According to a Democrat briefed on negotiations, Manchin told Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, he would oppose legislation if it included climate or green energy provisions or higher taxes on the rich and corporations.
The Democrat also said Manchin told Schumer he would support a new spending package only if it was limited to curbing pharmaceutical prices and extending federal subsidies for buying healthcare insurance.
Manchin disputed that version of events in a call to a West Virginia radio show. He said he told Schumer he would not commit to environmental or tax measures until he saw the inflation rate for July, which is due out on 10 August, and the size of the expected interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve at the end of July.
“Let’s wait until that comes out, so we know that we’re going down a path that won’t be inflammatory, to add more to inflation,” Manchin said. “I can’t make that decision … on taxes … and also on the energy and climate because it takes the taxes to pay for the investment into clean technology that I’m in favor of. But I’m not going to do something and overreach that causes more problem.”
Manchin said he asked Schumer for time.
“I said, ‘Chuck, can we just wait. How much more and how much damaging is that going to be?’ He took that as a no, I guess, and came out with this big thing last night, and I don’t know why they did that.”
In Riyadh, Biden told reporters: “I’m not going away. I’m using every power I have as president to continue to fulfill my pledge to move toward dealing with global warming.”
Asked if Manchin had been “negotiating in good faith”, Biden said: “I didn’t negotiate with Joe Manchin.”
In his earlier statement, Biden also promised progress on healthcare.
He said: “After decades of fierce opposition from powerful special interests, Democrats have come together, beaten back the pharmaceutical industry and are prepared to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices and to prevent an increase in health insurance premiums for millions of families with coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
“Families all over the nation will sleep easier if Congress takes this action. The Senate should move forward, pass it before the August recess, and get it to my desk so I can sign it.”
To pass legislation, Democrats are dependent on Manchin’s vote in a Senate divided 50-50 and controlled by the vice-president, Kamala Harris.
In March last year, Manchin backed Biden’s $1.9tn coronavirus relief package after tense negotiations during which, according to the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Biden told him: “Joe, please don’t kill my bill.”
But the senator has since stood in the way of much of Biden’s agenda, from the Build Back Better package to measures which would require reform to the filibuster, the Senate rule which requires a 60-vote supermajority for most legislation.
Democrats and progressives have argued for scrapping or reforming the filibuster in order to legislate on key issues under attack from the right, including voting rights and abortion.
But Manchin and others opposed to such moves, prominently including Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, are in part aligned with Biden, a former senator opposed to abolishing the filibuster entirely.
Manchin will not face re-election as the only Democrat in statewide office in West Virginia, a state with a powerful coal industry lobby, until 2024. His business, Enersystems, has earned millions of dollars as the only supplier of low-grade coal to a high-polluting power plant near Fairmont, West Virginia.
Related: ‘A modern-day villain’: Joe Manchin condemned for killing US climate action
According to campaign finance filings, in 2021-22 Manchin is the senator who has received most money from donors in coal mining, natural gas transmission and distribution and oil and gas. He is second for donations from alternate energy production and services.
Climate advocates reacted angrily to Manchin’s move.
“It’s outrageous that Manchin and the Republican party have killed climate legislation this Congress,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity advocacy group.
Norm Ornstein, an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said: “Senators have told me and others that negotiating with Joe Manchin is like negotiating with an Etch-a-Sketch. It appears to be a coal-powered Etch-a-Sketch.”
John Podesta, founder of the Center for American Progress, said: “It seems odd that Senator Manchin would choose as his legacy to be the one man who single-handedly doomed humanity. But we can’t throw in the towel on the planet.”
Adam Gabbatt and Martin Pengelly in New York and Chris Stein in Washington -
Joe Biden has promised executive action on climate change after Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator who has repeatedly thwarted his own party while making millions in the coal industry, refused to support more funding for climate action.
© Provided by The GuardianPhotograph: Tom Brenner/Reuters
Related:Did Joe Manchin block climate action to benefit his financial interests?
In another blow to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections, the West Virginia senator also came out against tax raises for wealthy Americans.
Manchin’s opposition became clear on Thursday night. On Friday, with Biden in Saudi Arabia, the White House issued a statement.
Biden said: “Action on climate change and clean energy remains more urgent than ever.
“So let me be clear: if the Senate will not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to meet this moment.
“My actions will create jobs, improve our energy security, bolster domestic manufacturing and supply chains, protect us from oil and gas price hikes in the future, and address climate change. I will not back down: the opportunity to create jobs and build a clean energy future is too important to relent.”
Biden and Democrats hope to include environmental measures in a $1tn version of the $2tn Build Back Better spending bill Manchin killed last year in dramatic fashion.
Then, the Biden White House angrily accused Manchin of breaching “commitments to the president and [his] colleagues in the House and Senate”. Bridges were rebuilt but on Thursday night Manchin appeared to reach for the dynamite once again.
Joe Manchin with Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP
According to a Democrat briefed on negotiations, Manchin told Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, he would oppose legislation if it included climate or green energy provisions or higher taxes on the rich and corporations.
The Democrat also said Manchin told Schumer he would support a new spending package only if it was limited to curbing pharmaceutical prices and extending federal subsidies for buying healthcare insurance.
Manchin disputed that version of events in a call to a West Virginia radio show. He said he told Schumer he would not commit to environmental or tax measures until he saw the inflation rate for July, which is due out on 10 August, and the size of the expected interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve at the end of July.
“Let’s wait until that comes out, so we know that we’re going down a path that won’t be inflammatory, to add more to inflation,” Manchin said. “I can’t make that decision … on taxes … and also on the energy and climate because it takes the taxes to pay for the investment into clean technology that I’m in favor of. But I’m not going to do something and overreach that causes more problem.”
Related video: Dems scramble after Manchin deals blow to climate bill (Reuters)
Manchin said he asked Schumer for time.
“I said, ‘Chuck, can we just wait. How much more and how much damaging is that going to be?’ He took that as a no, I guess, and came out with this big thing last night, and I don’t know why they did that.”
In Riyadh, Biden told reporters: “I’m not going away. I’m using every power I have as president to continue to fulfill my pledge to move toward dealing with global warming.”
Asked if Manchin had been “negotiating in good faith”, Biden said: “I didn’t negotiate with Joe Manchin.”
In his earlier statement, Biden also promised progress on healthcare.
He said: “After decades of fierce opposition from powerful special interests, Democrats have come together, beaten back the pharmaceutical industry and are prepared to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices and to prevent an increase in health insurance premiums for millions of families with coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
“Families all over the nation will sleep easier if Congress takes this action. The Senate should move forward, pass it before the August recess, and get it to my desk so I can sign it.”
To pass legislation, Democrats are dependent on Manchin’s vote in a Senate divided 50-50 and controlled by the vice-president, Kamala Harris.
In March last year, Manchin backed Biden’s $1.9tn coronavirus relief package after tense negotiations during which, according to the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Biden told him: “Joe, please don’t kill my bill.”
But the senator has since stood in the way of much of Biden’s agenda, from the Build Back Better package to measures which would require reform to the filibuster, the Senate rule which requires a 60-vote supermajority for most legislation.
Democrats and progressives have argued for scrapping or reforming the filibuster in order to legislate on key issues under attack from the right, including voting rights and abortion.
But Manchin and others opposed to such moves, prominently including Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, are in part aligned with Biden, a former senator opposed to abolishing the filibuster entirely.
Manchin will not face re-election as the only Democrat in statewide office in West Virginia, a state with a powerful coal industry lobby, until 2024. His business, Enersystems, has earned millions of dollars as the only supplier of low-grade coal to a high-polluting power plant near Fairmont, West Virginia.
Related: ‘A modern-day villain’: Joe Manchin condemned for killing US climate action
According to campaign finance filings, in 2021-22 Manchin is the senator who has received most money from donors in coal mining, natural gas transmission and distribution and oil and gas. He is second for donations from alternate energy production and services.
Climate advocates reacted angrily to Manchin’s move.
“It’s outrageous that Manchin and the Republican party have killed climate legislation this Congress,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity advocacy group.
Norm Ornstein, an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said: “Senators have told me and others that negotiating with Joe Manchin is like negotiating with an Etch-a-Sketch. It appears to be a coal-powered Etch-a-Sketch.”
John Podesta, founder of the Center for American Progress, said: “It seems odd that Senator Manchin would choose as his legacy to be the one man who single-handedly doomed humanity. But we can’t throw in the towel on the planet.”
Biden promises 'strong executive action' on climate change after Sen. Manchin dooms domestic agenda
Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden vowed Friday to take "strong executive action" to address climate change after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., doomed the president's efforts to revive major pieces of his domestic legislative agenda.
Declaring he "won't back down," the president said he would use executive authority after Manchin on Thursday rejected proposals to combat climate change and raise taxes on the wealthy in negotiations for a spending package with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Biden did not specify the potential executive actions, but he said it would seek to create jobs, improve U.S. energy security, bolster manufacturing and supply chains, and address climate change. Whether any executive actions from Biden on climate have the same teeth as legislation remains to be seen.
Biden also called on the Senate to pass legislation before the August recess aimed at lowering prescription drug prices and extending subsidies for the Affordable Care Act – the two areas where Manchin and other Democrats have found agreement.
More: Sen. Joe Manchin cools on spending negotiations, citing fears of an 'inflation fire'
How we got here:
Manchin, a moderate Democrat, told Schumer in a meeting Thursday that "he will not support" a reconciliation bill that has provisions addressing energy and climate or raises taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations, according to a Democrat briefed on the conversation.
Manchin told Schumer "unequivocally," according to the source, that he is only willing to support measures to the prescription drug prices and ACA law measures.
Manchin, appearing on the Hoppy Kercheval radio show in West Virginia on Friday, rejected the suggestion he's blown up talks. He said he wants to wait until August, when July inflation figures are released, to decide what can be passed without further spiking consumer prices.
"I said, 'Chuck can we just wait until the inflation figures come out in July?'" Manchin said. "He took that as 'no', I guess." The senator added: "As far as I'm concerned, I want climate. I want an energy policy."
What it means for negotiations
Schumer is hoping to pass legislation before the Senate leaves for recess in August – which Manchin's timeline wouldn't allow. The stalemate comes after concessions from Schumer on the climate package to eliminate tax credits for electric vehicles and direct pay for clean-energy developers opposed by Manchin, while lowering the price tag of energy components to $375 billion, the source said.
Schumer's final offer would have retained tax credits to support clean energy, a proposal that Democrats have estimated would reduce carbon emissions by nearly 40% by 2030.
Why the setback is crushing for Biden
Biden and Democrats had lofty ambitions to transform the economy and social-safety net, and to engineer the most significant climate provisions in U.S. history. But what began last year as a $3.5 trillion spending bill – dubbed Build Back Better by the president – is now gutted almost entirely. Omitted long ago were proposals for universal pre-kindergarten, free community college, national paid family leave, extending child tax credits, affordable housing and dental and vision coverage for seniors.
After Manchin torpedoed a slimmed-down $2.2 trillion Build Back Better bill last year, Schumer revived talks with the West Virginia senator in a last-ditch push to save some of the president's agenda, particularly addressing climate, before the November midterm elections. The White House hoped to pass legislation via reconciliation, which would allow Democrats to bypass a potential Republican filibuster with a simple majority, but doing so would require all 50 Democratic senators to be on board.
The reaction
Manchin, citing 40-year-high inflation, said he won't support anything "that causes more problems." He also balked at efforts to scale back fossil fuels, characterizing it as unrealistic to shift to renewable energy in a decade. "I'm not going to be part of eliminating what this country needs to run the economic engine and the lives of human beings throughout America."
The White House, which has refrained from talking publicly about the latest round of spending negotiations, declined to comment. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also declined to say whether Manchin gave the administration a heads up about his position.
Progressives blasted Manchin. "It seems odd that Sen. Manchin would choose as his legacy to be the one man who single-handedly doomed humanity," said John Podesta, a former senior advisor to Barack Obama and founder of the Center for American Progress think tank. "But we can’t throw in the towel on the planet. Now it’s more important than ever that President Biden use all his authority to fiercely fight for the future."
Top takeaways
Once again, despite controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, Democrats have proven unable to unify behind a progressive agenda. It has become one of the defining trends of the first years of Biden's presidency. And with November's midterm elections around the corner, time is running out for Democrats to pass major legislation.
The outsized role of Manchin – as one of the few Democrats willing to break from party ranks – also emerged again. The moderate Democrat, who hails from one of the country's biggest coal-producing states, has taken more than $730,000 in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry during the 2022 election cycle, by far more than any senator, according to Open Secrets.
Schumer and Democrats are left with only bad options. They could put forward a bill to take on prescription drug prices and extend ACA subsidies and claim a victory, but it would come at the expense of many of the priorities that progressives have demanded for years.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden promises 'strong executive action' on climate change after Sen. Manchin dooms domestic agenda
Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden vowed Friday to take "strong executive action" to address climate change after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., doomed the president's efforts to revive major pieces of his domestic legislative agenda.
Here are four things you should know about Senator Joe Manchin
View on Watch
Declaring he "won't back down," the president said he would use executive authority after Manchin on Thursday rejected proposals to combat climate change and raise taxes on the wealthy in negotiations for a spending package with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
What Biden is saying:
"Action on climate change and clean energy remains more urgent than ever," Biden said in a written statement while he is traveling in the Middle East. "So let me be clear: if the Senate will not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to meet this moment."
Biden did not specify the potential executive actions, but he said it would seek to create jobs, improve U.S. energy security, bolster manufacturing and supply chains, and address climate change. Whether any executive actions from Biden on climate have the same teeth as legislation remains to be seen.
Biden also called on the Senate to pass legislation before the August recess aimed at lowering prescription drug prices and extending subsidies for the Affordable Care Act – the two areas where Manchin and other Democrats have found agreement.
More: Sen. Joe Manchin cools on spending negotiations, citing fears of an 'inflation fire'
How we got here:
Manchin, a moderate Democrat, told Schumer in a meeting Thursday that "he will not support" a reconciliation bill that has provisions addressing energy and climate or raises taxes on the wealthiest Americans and corporations, according to a Democrat briefed on the conversation.
Manchin told Schumer "unequivocally," according to the source, that he is only willing to support measures to the prescription drug prices and ACA law measures.
Manchin, appearing on the Hoppy Kercheval radio show in West Virginia on Friday, rejected the suggestion he's blown up talks. He said he wants to wait until August, when July inflation figures are released, to decide what can be passed without further spiking consumer prices.
"I said, 'Chuck can we just wait until the inflation figures come out in July?'" Manchin said. "He took that as 'no', I guess." The senator added: "As far as I'm concerned, I want climate. I want an energy policy."
What it means for negotiations
Schumer is hoping to pass legislation before the Senate leaves for recess in August – which Manchin's timeline wouldn't allow. The stalemate comes after concessions from Schumer on the climate package to eliminate tax credits for electric vehicles and direct pay for clean-energy developers opposed by Manchin, while lowering the price tag of energy components to $375 billion, the source said.
Schumer's final offer would have retained tax credits to support clean energy, a proposal that Democrats have estimated would reduce carbon emissions by nearly 40% by 2030.
Why the setback is crushing for Biden
Biden and Democrats had lofty ambitions to transform the economy and social-safety net, and to engineer the most significant climate provisions in U.S. history. But what began last year as a $3.5 trillion spending bill – dubbed Build Back Better by the president – is now gutted almost entirely. Omitted long ago were proposals for universal pre-kindergarten, free community college, national paid family leave, extending child tax credits, affordable housing and dental and vision coverage for seniors.
After Manchin torpedoed a slimmed-down $2.2 trillion Build Back Better bill last year, Schumer revived talks with the West Virginia senator in a last-ditch push to save some of the president's agenda, particularly addressing climate, before the November midterm elections. The White House hoped to pass legislation via reconciliation, which would allow Democrats to bypass a potential Republican filibuster with a simple majority, but doing so would require all 50 Democratic senators to be on board.
The reaction
Manchin, citing 40-year-high inflation, said he won't support anything "that causes more problems." He also balked at efforts to scale back fossil fuels, characterizing it as unrealistic to shift to renewable energy in a decade. "I'm not going to be part of eliminating what this country needs to run the economic engine and the lives of human beings throughout America."
The White House, which has refrained from talking publicly about the latest round of spending negotiations, declined to comment. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also declined to say whether Manchin gave the administration a heads up about his position.
Progressives blasted Manchin. "It seems odd that Sen. Manchin would choose as his legacy to be the one man who single-handedly doomed humanity," said John Podesta, a former senior advisor to Barack Obama and founder of the Center for American Progress think tank. "But we can’t throw in the towel on the planet. Now it’s more important than ever that President Biden use all his authority to fiercely fight for the future."
Top takeaways
Once again, despite controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, Democrats have proven unable to unify behind a progressive agenda. It has become one of the defining trends of the first years of Biden's presidency. And with November's midterm elections around the corner, time is running out for Democrats to pass major legislation.
The outsized role of Manchin – as one of the few Democrats willing to break from party ranks – also emerged again. The moderate Democrat, who hails from one of the country's biggest coal-producing states, has taken more than $730,000 in campaign donations from the oil and gas industry during the 2022 election cycle, by far more than any senator, according to Open Secrets.
Schumer and Democrats are left with only bad options. They could put forward a bill to take on prescription drug prices and extend ACA subsidies and claim a victory, but it would come at the expense of many of the priorities that progressives have demanded for years.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden promises 'strong executive action' on climate change after Sen. Manchin dooms domestic agenda
Oliver Milman in New York - THE GUARDIAN
Joe Manchin’s decision to kill off sweeping US climate legislation has been called “nothing short of a death sentence” for younger people and a livable climate on Earth, amid an outpouring of anger and despair from activists, scientists and even many of the US Senator’s Democratic colleagues.
Manchin, the centrist West Virginia senator who has become a millionaire through his founding of a coal-trading company in his home state, dealt a crushing political blow to Joe Biden’s agenda on Thursday night when he made clear he would not support any spending to curb the climate crisis in a proposed bill.
The loss of Manchin’s swing vote in an evenly-divided US senate means it’s now probable America will remain without legislation to cut planet-heating emissions for several more years, imperiling national and international climate goals and further escalating deadly wildfires, droughts, floods and heatwaves around the world.
“Given the US’s role as the leading all-time carbon polluter, it is difficult to see global action on climate without US leadership,” said Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University, who called Manchin “a modern-day villain, who drives a Maserati, lives on a yacht, courtesy of the coal industry, and is willing to see the world burn as long as it benefits his near-term investment portfolio”.
Biden and fellow Democrats have spent nearly two years trying to get Manchin to agree to a huge package of support for renewable energy and electric cars but now appear to have run out of time, with November’s midterm elections increasingly likely to see Congressional control switch to the Republicans, who uniformly oppose action on the climate crisis.
“The stakes for this midterm election couldn’t be greater,” said Mann. “We’re talking about the future livability of our planet.”
Activists were scathing of Manchin and Democrats’ failure to pass climate legislation during their control of both chambers of Congress and the White House with the advent of the Biden administration.
“Senator Joe Manchin has written his legacy: blocking our best shot at a transition to affordable, American clean energy and a livable planet,” said Jamal Raad, executive director of campaign group Evergreen Action. “Senator Manchin has betrayed the American public and the mandate given to the Democratic senate to act on climate.”
Varshini Prakash, executive director of the youth-led environmental Sunrise Movement, said: “This is nothing short of a death sentence … It’s clear appealing to corporate obstructionists doesn’t work, and it will cost us a generation of voters.”
Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice-president of government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, added: “There truly aren’t words for how appalled, outraged, and disappointed we are.”
Even some of Manchin’s party colleagues weighed in. Jared Huffman, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, called Manchin a “wrecking ball” and a “very corrupted, compromised man.”
Scientists say the US, and the world, must cut emissions in half this decade, and get to net-zero emissions by 2050, to avoid breaching internationally-agreed temperature limits and push the world into catastrophic climate impacts.
Last month was the hottest June on record globally, US space agency Nasa said on Thursday, while record heatwaves are currently ravaging the US, Europe and China. Meanwhile, huge sequoia trees that are thousands of years old are at risk from burning down in vast wildfires in California.
Biden, who has called the climate crisis “the greatest existential threat of our time”, had hoped to pass a major bill to lower emissions via tax credit incentives for wind, solar and other low-carbon energy, as well as support for electric vehicles amid other measures.
But Manchin, who has received more money in political donations from the fossil fuel industry than any sitting senator, sank the broader Build Back Better legislation last year and now has seemingly halted Democratic efforts to revive the climate measures in a new bill. Analysts say without any new bill, the US will fall around halfway short of its emissions-cutting target.
The West Virginia lawmaker has cited concerns over inflation, now at a 40-year high, as to why he has been reluctant to commit to a new climate package that would have totaled around $300bn and stood as a major long-term strategy to stave off global heating.
“Political headlines are of no value to the millions of Americans struggling to afford groceries and gas as inflation soars to 9.1%,” said a spokeswoman for Manchin.
“Senator Manchin believes it’s time for leaders to put political agendas aside, reevaluate and adjust to the economic realities the country faces to avoid taking steps that add fuel to the inflation fire.”
Biden will now have to face the consternation of other governments, with a major United Nations climate conference set to take place in Egypt in November, and try to craft a series of executive actions to make up the shortfall, although a recent supreme court ruling, in a case out of West Virginia, has limited the scope of his government’s response.
“Manchin’s decision is a bitter pill, for both US and global climate action,” said Paul Bledsoe, a former Clinton White House climate adviser, now with the Progressive Policy Institute.
“Ironically, the bill he rejected would have created millions of new American jobs, jumpstarting the US clean energy economy while reducing both emissions and long-term inflation, goals Manchin claims to embrace.”
Fredreka Schouten - CNN
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s long-standing financial ties to the coal industry face scrutiny after sources familiar with high-level negotiations told CNN he would not support the climate provisions of his party’s proposed economic package.
The senator has not yet issued a public statement about his opposition, though his spokesperson said Thursday evening that Manchin wished “to avoid taking steps that add fuel to the inflation fire.”
But climate advocates on Friday morning were quick to point to Manchin’s ties to the coal industry. Manchin, whose vote is crucial to passage of President Joe Biden’s domestic policy priorities in an evenly divided 50-50 Senate, has holdings valued at between $1 million and $5 million in Enersystems, Inc., the coal brokerage business he founded, according to his most recent financial disclosure form that covers 2020 activity.
In 2020, he made more than $491,000 from his Enersystems holdings, the filings show. That’s more than twice his $174,000 annual Senate salary.
“Manchin is a walking conflict of interest,” Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the liberal watchdog group Public Citizen, previously told CNN. “And what makes it all the more troubling is that he’s the 50th Democratic senator, which gives him enormous sway over climate change policy.”
The debate over Manchin’s coal interests also highlights what critics say are lax congressional ethics rules that give federal lawmakers broad leeway to regulate industries in which they have financial interests. In addition to his pivotal role on the domestic policy bill, Manchin helps set US energy policy as chairman of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He has served on the panel since entering the Senate in November 2010, after he won a special election to replace the late West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd.
Congressional rules also permit federal lawmakers to trade individual stocks – as long as they disclose the transactions and do not financially benefit from insider information.
“We have a system where a member of Congress can be invested heavily in, for example, the coal industry and then be responsible for overseeing climate policy,” Delaney Marsco, senior legal counsel for ethics at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, said in 2021. “It doesn’t make sense.”
In a written statement in October, a Manchin spokesperson said the senator “is and has been in full compliance with Senate ethics and financial disclosure rules.”
“He continues to work to find a path forward on important climate legislation that maintains American leadership in energy innovation and critical energy reliability,” the statement added.
The fresh attention to Manchin’s energy interests comes as Biden and Democrats are racing this week to complete a framework for a domestic policy bill that includes many of the President’s priorities on the economy and climate. To avoid a filibuster by Senate Republicans, Democrats are relying on a budget process that requires the support of all 50 senators who caucus with them. That gives Manchin, a moderate member of the caucus, enormous sway over the negotiations.
Manchin has resisted climate provisions since the earliest days of work on the bill – including the so-called Clean Energy Performance Program, which had been a cornerstone of Biden’s climate plan, aimed to reward utilities for switching to clean energy sources, such as wind and solar, and penalize those relying on coal and gas.
Manchin signaled in October he wouldn’t support that program, saying he didn’t support a program that would push utilities to move to clean energy faster than they were already doing. Manchin had also cited concerns that switching to clean sources of energy could mean energy would be more unreliable than continued use of fossil fuel.
“The transition’s already happening,” Manchin told CNN recently. “So I’m not going to sit back and let anyone accelerate whatever the market’s changes are doing.”
Even without the clean electricity program, Manchin could not get behind the climate provisions in the latest version of an economic package – including tax credits for clean energy and electric vehicles – citing increased federal spending as a main driver of inflation.
Energy interests
Manchin has never made any secret of his ties to coal. He’s a former governor of the country’s second-biggest coal-producing state, and he founded Enersystems before entering politics.
The senator also has a stake in another firm run by his son, Farmington Resources Inc. Its services include “support activity” for coal and metal mining and drilling oil and gas wells, according to corporate filings with the West Virginia secretary of state’s office.
Between 2011 and 2020, the Democrat made between $4.9 million and $5.1 million from coal-related enterprises, according to an analysis by Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics.
The organization also estimates Manchin’s net worth at anywhere from $4.3 million to $12.8 million. Lawmakers are only required to disclose their assets and liabilities in broad ranges, making it impossible to determine precise values.
Manchin’s Senate campaign also benefited from of a flood of political contributions from the energy industry in recent months. He took more than $400,000 from energy interests during the July-to-September 2021 fundraising quarter, according to a CNN review of that filing with the Federal Election Commission.
Donors in that period included billionaire oil tycoons Harold Hamm, the chairman of Continental Resources; Richard Kinder, the executive chairman of energy infrastructure company, Kinder Morgan; and Trevor Rees-Jones, who founded Chief Oil and Gas.
He also received donations from an array of energy-related political action committees in those months, including those affiliated with ConocoPhillips; utility companies such as Exelon and Dominion Energy; and Texas oil producer Pioneer Natural Resources.
Manchin, who isn’t up for reelection until 2024, raked in nearly $1.6 million in the third quarter of 2021 – as he and another centrist Democrat, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Simena, emerged as key players in the negotiations over their party’s sweeping domestic policy proposals.
Patchwork of ethics laws
Manchin’s energy holdings – and his actions that benefit the coal industry – are legal under rules that police potential conflicts of interest in the Senate.
The rules differ dramatically, depending on the branch of government.
Executive branch employees, for instance, are generally required to recuse themselves from decision making when their financial interests conflict with their official duties. They face potential criminal and civil charges for failing to do so. Those appointees also must abide by additional ethics rules established by the President – such as not engaging in decisions involving their former employers. Appointees in the executive branch can and do seek and receive waivers of ethics rules in limited circumstances.
It is against the law for federal judges to hear cases in which they have any legal or financial interests, but the law doesn’t impose penalties for violations.
In Congress, meanwhile, lawmakers only must recuse themselves from taking official actions in a narrow set of circumstances: If they or their immediate family members are in a small group that would benefit from the legislative action.
But a lawmaker who owns a dairy farm, for instance, can still make policy decisions that affect the entire dairy industry because those actions “also have a broad, general impact on his state or the nation,” according to the Senate’s ethics manual.
And requiring lawmakers to recuse themselves from decisions that benefit certain industries could end up hurting their constituents “who are entitled to have their elected representatives represent them by voting and fully participating in all aspects of the legislative process,” the manual adds.
Watchdog groups are urging Congress to revisit its conflict-of-interest standards.
One bipartisan measure, authored by Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, would require House members, for example, to place a broad array of holdings in blind trusts. Investments in widely held funds, such as mutual funds, and Treasury bonds would be exempted.
“The rules are currently insufficient to meet the challenges, particularly if you take into consideration that the American people really view corruption as a huge problem,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette of the Project on Government Oversight. His group supports the blind trust bill.
“The appearance of impropriety is just as bad as the real thing,” he added, “because that drives the way people feel about politics and government.”
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Joe Manchin is a Never-Ending Nightmare for the Democratic Party
Brendan Cole - NEWSWEEK
Democrats have reacted angrily to Senator Joe Manchin's reported refusal to back his party's spending plans to tackle climate change.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on July 07, 2022 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The West Virginia lawmaker told his party leaders on Thursday that he would not support a spending package with either climate provisions or raising taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations to finance the legislation, The Washington Post reported.
After rejecting last December his party's $2 trillion Build Back Better (BBB) package which included environmental provisions, Manchin had been at the negotiating table with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and a bipartisan group of senators.
The talks aimed to get the support of Manchin, who effectively wields veto power in the 50-50 split upper house, as the legislation requires the backing of every senator who caucuses with the Democrats to bypass a filibuster and pass with a simple majority.
But Manchin said he would only support a package that would include a plan to lower the cost of prescription drugs and extend expanded Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, but not the climate provisions, according to the Post.
It has spurred prominent Democrats and environmental groups to condemn Manchin following his latest move to oppose the agenda of President Joe Biden.
Representative Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, tweeted that the conservative-leaning senator "is forcing a deal that would abandon our obligation to act urgently on climate, strengthen social services, and prevent mass suffering.
"We must organize inside and outside of Congress—together—to ensure Manchin does not get away with this outrageous, failed leadership," she added.
Former California Governor Jerry Brown tweeted that it was a "tragic day for America—and the world."
"Oblivious to science and our common future, the dinosaurs of coal and their compliant stooge, @Sen_JoeManchin, have now torpedoed an absolutely vital climate initiative. Insane and criminal."
Adviser to former Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Julian Castro, Sawyer Hackett, tweeted: "People are going to die because of this. This may be our last chance to invest in climate in a decade. Decoupling infrastructure from reconciliation was a disastrous decision."
Lori Lodes, who worked in the Obama administration, said that Manchin "has taken more money from oil and gas than any other member of Congress in the last year.
"Now, he's condemned our kids and grandkids to a worse future. Just as the oil and gas companies hoped he would."
Manchin's opposition could end any chances of new climate spending for the rest of Biden's presidential term, as it comes only four months before the 2022 midterms which could see Democrats lose their majority in one or both houses of Congress.
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley tweeted the article about Manchin's stance, adding that Biden "must immediately use the full scope of his executive powers to address climate chaos, starting by declaring a climate emergency."
Meanwhile, Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund, said that the Senate failed "because Joe Manchin and the Republicans blocked Senate action" and that "the consequences will be profound— at home and abroad."
"This was a squandered chance to respond with strategic investment to confront the climate crisis in a way that would strengthen the economy, create a more equitable society and make the country more secure."
Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey tweeted: "Rage keeps me from tears. Resolve keeps me from despair. We will not allow a future of climate disaster. I believe in the power of the Green New Deal. The power of young people. I am with you. We will not give up."
Newsweek has contacted Manchin's office for comment.
It comes as Americans face soaring levels of inflation which on Wednesday rose to 9.1 percent in June, its highest level in four decades. Manchin's spokesperson Sam Runyon told the Post that the senator believed leaders must "reevaluate and adjust to the economic realities the country faces to avoid taking steps that add fuel to the inflation fire."
"Political headlines are of no value to the millions of Americans struggling to afford groceries and gas as inflation soars to 9.1 percent," Runyon added.
Brendan Cole - NEWSWEEK
Democrats have reacted angrily to Senator Joe Manchin's reported refusal to back his party's spending plans to tackle climate change.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on July 07, 2022 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The West Virginia lawmaker told his party leaders on Thursday that he would not support a spending package with either climate provisions or raising taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations to finance the legislation, The Washington Post reported.
After rejecting last December his party's $2 trillion Build Back Better (BBB) package which included environmental provisions, Manchin had been at the negotiating table with Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and a bipartisan group of senators.
The talks aimed to get the support of Manchin, who effectively wields veto power in the 50-50 split upper house, as the legislation requires the backing of every senator who caucuses with the Democrats to bypass a filibuster and pass with a simple majority.
But Manchin said he would only support a package that would include a plan to lower the cost of prescription drugs and extend expanded Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, but not the climate provisions, according to the Post.
It has spurred prominent Democrats and environmental groups to condemn Manchin following his latest move to oppose the agenda of President Joe Biden.
Representative Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, tweeted that the conservative-leaning senator "is forcing a deal that would abandon our obligation to act urgently on climate, strengthen social services, and prevent mass suffering.
"We must organize inside and outside of Congress—together—to ensure Manchin does not get away with this outrageous, failed leadership," she added.
Former California Governor Jerry Brown tweeted that it was a "tragic day for America—and the world."
"Oblivious to science and our common future, the dinosaurs of coal and their compliant stooge, @Sen_JoeManchin, have now torpedoed an absolutely vital climate initiative. Insane and criminal."
Adviser to former Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Julian Castro, Sawyer Hackett, tweeted: "People are going to die because of this. This may be our last chance to invest in climate in a decade. Decoupling infrastructure from reconciliation was a disastrous decision."
Lori Lodes, who worked in the Obama administration, said that Manchin "has taken more money from oil and gas than any other member of Congress in the last year.
"Now, he's condemned our kids and grandkids to a worse future. Just as the oil and gas companies hoped he would."
Manchin's opposition could end any chances of new climate spending for the rest of Biden's presidential term, as it comes only four months before the 2022 midterms which could see Democrats lose their majority in one or both houses of Congress.
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley tweeted the article about Manchin's stance, adding that Biden "must immediately use the full scope of his executive powers to address climate chaos, starting by declaring a climate emergency."
Meanwhile, Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund, said that the Senate failed "because Joe Manchin and the Republicans blocked Senate action" and that "the consequences will be profound— at home and abroad."
"This was a squandered chance to respond with strategic investment to confront the climate crisis in a way that would strengthen the economy, create a more equitable society and make the country more secure."
Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey tweeted: "Rage keeps me from tears. Resolve keeps me from despair. We will not allow a future of climate disaster. I believe in the power of the Green New Deal. The power of young people. I am with you. We will not give up."
Newsweek has contacted Manchin's office for comment.
It comes as Americans face soaring levels of inflation which on Wednesday rose to 9.1 percent in June, its highest level in four decades. Manchin's spokesperson Sam Runyon told the Post that the senator believed leaders must "reevaluate and adjust to the economic realities the country faces to avoid taking steps that add fuel to the inflation fire."
"Political headlines are of no value to the millions of Americans struggling to afford groceries and gas as inflation soars to 9.1 percent," Runyon added.
