Sen. Joe Manchin's refusal to back a climate change package that is the centerpiece of Joe Biden's plan to shift away from carbon-based energy production and dramatically reduce emissions to meet global objectives is endangering passage of a bipartisan infrastructure bill already passed in the Senate as well as the president's larger $3.5 trillion social spending measure.
"Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer.'s two-track strategy for passing Biden's agenda was based on the expectation that Manchin would give ground to progressives in exchange for their support of the hard infrastructure bill that he and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. negotiated with Republicans," The Hill reported Tuesday.
"But Manchin's infrastructure bill, including billions of dollars in new money for West Virginia's needs - such as the Appalachian Development Highway System - has passed the Senate and he's still not signing on to the climate investments that are a key demand of progressive Democrats," the outlet added.
Manchin is staunchly opposed to the $150 billion clean energy measure considered to be the backbone of Biden's attempt to transition the country to clean energy, and now that puts in danger the "Grand bargain" infrastructure measure in its entirety, a $1.5 trillion package negotiated by both Democrat and Republican senators including Manchin's West Virginia colleague.
"But gutting the bill's climate provisions risks Democrats losing the votes of progressives in the Senate for the reconciliation bill and in the House for the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package," The Hill reported.
The clean energy measure has no place for fossil fuels, but Manchin has regularly defended his state's coal-mining industry as well as its natural gas production, which is one of the country's most prolific.
Asked if the measures would be passed by an Oct. 31 deadline which has been set by party leaders, Manchin responded: "I don't know how that would happen."
https://conservativebrief.com/manchin-pushback-53027/?utm_source=CB&utm_medium=PP
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