Joe Manchin

As Joe Manchin abandons the climate and tax measures he used to support, those who said he wasn't negotiating in good faith appear to be have been right.

As a political matter, this is bizarre: Tax increases on the wealthy, raising revenue that would pay for domestic priorities, are very popular with voters. Remember, as exasperating as it’s been to watch these negotiations unfold, Manchin was actually rather progressive on tax policy, repeatedly insisting that higher taxes on the wealthy should be part of any agreement. A Washington Post report added today, “Manchin long had called for significant changes to the tax code. Manchin’s move upends lengthy negotiations with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., most likely forcing the party to scrap climate change policies and new taxes and delivering a major blow to some of President Joe Biden’s priorities heading into an already challenging midterm election landscape for Democrats this fall. It was, by any fair measure, a transformative piece of legislation that would have been life-changing for millions of American families. Indeed, for months, many Capitol Hill observers have espoused a specific school of thought: The conservative West Virginia Democrat, they’ve argued, has been relatively consistent throughout the process, appearances notwithstanding.

The West Virginia senator is accused of being a "stooge" for the coal industry for not backing Democrats' climate spending plans.

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. We will not give up." We will not allow a future of climate disaster. This may be our last chance to invest in climate in a decade. Insane and criminal." "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."

Sen. Joe Manchin on Thursday dealt a devastating blow to Democrats' hopes for sweeping legislative action this year, saying he won't support the climate or ...

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) will oppose his party's proposed economic package due to its inclusion of tax increases on corporations and the wealthy and ...

“We can’t come back in another decade and forestall hundreds of billions — if not trillions — in economic damage and undo the inevitable human toll.” “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.” As the Post notes, the move marks the second time Manchin has rejected a Democrat-negotiated economic package, as he famously reneged his support of President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion Build Back Better Act in December of last year. “This is our last chance to prevent the most catastrophic — and costly — effects of climate change,” he said. (It’s worth noting that Biden’s Build Back Better initiative included the provisions Manchin is currently throwing his weight behind.) The senator’s disdain for climate change funding goes beyond his West Virginian roots, however.

Activists and climate hawks on Capitol Hill are now demanding President Joe Biden declare a climate emergency and take much stronger executive action.

“Senator Joe Manchin has written his legacy: blocking our best shot at a transition to affordable, American clean energy and a liveable planet,” Raad said in a statement. That reduction in total price tag essentially brought the package down to a tax title with extensions for a host of wind, solar, energy storage, carbon capture and nuclear energy technologies. “With legislative climate options now closed, it’s now time for executive Beast Mode.” The source said Manchin would only commit to supporting drug pricing and two year extensions of ACA subsidies in a bill next month. “I’m not going to sugar coat my disappointment here, especially since nearly all issues in the climate and energy space had been resolved,” Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement. The $300 billion suite of clean energy tax credits that was in play during the current round of negotiations would have gone a long way toward those targets. We urge him to reconsider — our children’s future depends on it.” President Joe Biden had pledged to decarbonize the power sector by 2035 and halve emissions by 2030. Manchin, the Energy and Natural Resources chair, and Schumer had been negotiating behind closed doors for weeks. It’s basically the drug pricing on Medicare” ( E&E Daily, July 14). Failure, he said, “really is not an option here.” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), perhaps the Senate’s top climate hawk, delivered marching orders last night on Twitter: “Free at last.

Sen. Joe Manchin has said he'll oppose an economic measure he's been negotiating with Democratic leaders if it includes climate or energy provisions or ...

Schumer also said he would back setting aside $375 billion for climate and energy provisions, the official said. “It seems odd that Sen. Manchin would choose as his legacy to be the one man who single-handedly doomed humanity. “Political headlines are of no value to the millions of Americans struggling to afford groceries and gas as inflation soars to 9.1%,” Runyon said. The government reported this week that consumer costs last month grew by an annual level of 9.1%, the highest figure in four decades. However, containing the costs of prescription drugs and extending subsidies for people buying health insurance under former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law are also top Democratic priorities. The official said Manchin told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday that he will only support a new measure if it is limited to curbing pharmaceutical prices and extending federal subsidies for buying health care coverage.

The West Virginia senator, a fossil-fuel millionaire, has refused to support any spending to curb the climate crisis.

Analysts say without any new bill, the US will fall about halfway short of its emissions-cutting target. “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.” The West Virginia lawmaker has cited concerns over inflation, now at a 40-year high, as to why he has refused to commit to a new climate package that would have totaled about $300bn and stood as a crucial long-term strategy to stave off global heating. Even some of Manchin’s party colleagues weighed in. “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 the campaign group Evergreen Action. “Senator Manchin has betrayed the American public and the mandate given to the Democratic Senate to act on climate.” “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”.

Senator Joe Manchin told Democratic leaders Thursday he would not support new spending on climate measures or tax increases, delivering a potentially fatal ...

Manchin denied telling Majority Leader Chuck Schumer he would not support climate and tax measures that Democrats have been negotiating.

- The outsized role of Manchin – as one of the few Democrats willing to break from party ranks – also emerged again. - Once again, despite controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, Democrats have proven unable to unify behind a progressive agenda. 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. - Schumer and Democrats are left with only bad options. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also declined to say whether Manchin gave the administration a heads up about his position. 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. He also balked at efforts to scale back fossil fuels, characterizing it as unrealistic to shift to renewable energy in a decade. - But Schumer is hoping to pass legislation before the Senate leaves for recess in August – which Manchin's timeline wouldn't allow. 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. "He took that as 'no', I guess. I want an energy policy."

Sen. Joe Manchin's vote is key in the evenly divided Senate, and he already rejected President Biden's larger spending package in December.

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On Thursday Manchin “unequivocally” rejected July or August approval of Democrats' proposed energy investments and tax increases in a meeting with Senate ...

But Manchin rejected it in December. In March he laid out a blueprint of a potential deal: “The revenue producing [measures] would be taxes and drugs. Democrats may decide to take Manchin’s slim offer given the insurance premium hikes that will occur this fall without action on health care and the party’s long-sought goal of lowering drug prices. This February, Manchin laid out what he might be able to support: investments in energy, lowering prescription drug costs, reducing the deficit and tax reform. Last year they laid out a package costing trillions of dollars and reshaping the country’s education, tax, climate and housing policies. Democrats were willing to make severe concessions for Manchin to try and get something more expansive done this summer. He balked privately at sending money to the EV industry and the Direct Payment program. On Thursday Manchin “unequivocally” rejected July or August approval of Democrats’ proposed energy investments and tax increases in a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, according to a person briefed on the meeting. “It’s important that every young person, every activist, the majorities of this country who are demanding climate action understand very clearly this is not the Democrats,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) in an interview. Take 40 billion of that and extend the Affordable Care Act, the discounts that people were getting,” Manchin said. Manchin’s rejection of Schumer’s offers for broader legislation sparked deep frustrations from progressives, particularly those who saw Democrats’ control of Congress and the White House as a long-sought opportunity to rein in carbon emissions. Health care premiums are typically set in the summer, so if Democrats waited until September they’d risk infuriating voters before the midterms — with no ironclad assurance from Manchin that he’d agree to a larger proposal. “If you’re on a political deadline, and it has to be done in July, the one thing you know you can get done is basically … reducing drug prices, letting Medicare negotiate, that saves about $280 billion.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin's long-standing financial ties to the coal industry face scrutiny after sources familiar with high-level negotiations told ...

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. 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. Those appointees also must abide by additional ethics rules established by the President -- such as not engaging in decisions involving their former employers. "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. Investments in widely held funds, such as mutual funds, and Treasury bonds would be exempted. Appointees in the executive branch can and do seek and receive waivers of ethics rules in limited circumstances. 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 organization also estimates Manchin's net worth at anywhere from $4.3 million to $12.8 million. 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. 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. "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. 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.

The senator has refused to support more funding, crushing his party's hopes to pass meaningful measures before November.

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. 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. I will not back down: the opportunity to create jobs and build a clean energy future is too important to relent.” Manchin disputed that version of events in a call to a West Virginia radio show. “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. In Riyadh, Biden told reporters: “I’m not going away.

On March 6, 2021, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia delivered the decisive 50th Democratic vote to help pass President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion American ...

Even the prescription-drug reform that Manchin is now offering to support would fulfill a long-standing priority for the party. That moment briefly raised hopes on the left that Manchin, a centrist if not conservative Democrat, would back Biden’s fledgling effort to usher in a progressive economic transformation not seen since the New Deal. The $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill for which Manchin did provide the crucial vote was a big deal; in dollar terms, it roughly equaled the stimulus package and the Affordable Care Act that became Barack Obama’s singular first-term accomplishments. Manchin has backed all of these efforts and even helped negotiate several of them, but his vote has been decisive for none of them. The West Virginian, according to a Democrat briefed on the talks and granted anonymity to describe them, said he would support only a bill that reduced prescription-drug costs by allowing Medicare to negotiate prices and extended subsidies in the Affordable Care Act for another two years. (The Washington Post first reported Manchin’s ultimatum.) Democrats need Manchin’s backing because to skirt Republican opposition, they are using a Senate budget process known as reconciliation that is not subject to the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is a key vote crucial to President Joe Biden's agenda with Capitol Hill bitterly divided along partisan lines.

But Manchin has maintained a base of support in the state, and despite facing attacks from all sides, he has managed to keep winning reelection to the Senate, most recently in 2018. "We sat together and had a great relationship ... and still do. We've had a good friendship and relationship for a long time. Manchin represents the deeply red state of West Virginia, where voters turned out strongly in support of former President Donald Trump in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Manchin has long been in the spotlight in Washington as a pivotal swing vote unafraid to break with his party over high-profile issues. Facing GOP opposition to key Democratic priorities, many Democrats have intensified calls for the elimination of the filibuster, which sets a 60-vote threshold for most legislation and can be wielded by Republicans to block liberal agenda items.

His demand would jeopardize the measure's fate and delay a showdown over the party's top priorities until the cusp of November's congressional elections.

It would also push congressional action until just weeks before the November elections, when any votes can be quickly spun into a damaging campaign attack ad. Delaying action until after the break would leave Democrats facing a dangerously ticking clock. That would mean excluding other top goals the party has pursued under Biden. Those include prompting a shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources and paying for its priorities by taxing the wealthiest Americans and companies.

The donations arrived as Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia who isn't up for reelection until 2024, engaged in negotiations over climate change ...

The group lists gas and oil giants as members, including Hess, Chesapeake Energy and ConocoPhillips. The trade association and the energy companies that donated to Manchin's campaign did not respond to a request for comment. PACs for energy companies such as Coterra Energy, NextEra Energy and Xcel Energy all donated to Manchin's campaign in the past quarter. His son, Patriots President Jonathan Kraft, gave the same amount to Manchin that month. That latest fundraising haul from wealthy business leaders and corporations came in the second quarter, which concluded a little over two weeks ago, at the end of June, according to Federal Election Commission records. Calls to Langone's and Druckenmiller's offices were not returned. Business and Wall Street leaders have heaped praise on Manchin as he holds up his party's agenda.

Manchin reportedly told Schumer that he could not support any energy or climate investments in the comprehensive Democratic bill meant to enact President Joe ...

They control enough state governments and enough of the courts that they might succeed. That will mean that Biden’s ambitious climate goals will be left to the Environmental Protection Agency, which just saw the scope of its potential powers limited by the Supreme Court, and to state and local governments. The Senate has been blocking climate legislation for nearly as long as most Americans can remember. It is also the collective responsibility of the Republican Party, whose 50 senators are even more resolutely against investing in clean energy than he is. If Democrats want to pass a bill before the August recess, he said, then they have to give up on the climate provisions. The country’s failure on this front underlies its greater abdication of moral leadership in the world. It is extraordinarily bleak for the climate, putting America’s targets under the Paris Agreement out of reach and throwing a wrench into international efforts to hold back emissions. I have been somewhat sympathetic to Manchin’s concerns in the past, criticizing Schumer earlier this year for ignoring his worries about inflation and the deficit. It is a spectacular act of bad faith, a breach of trust so severe that it casts doubt on the entire cryptocurrency community, so-called. An earlier version of the package would have saved U.S. consumers hundreds of dollars in energy costs over the next eight years, according to an independent analysis from researchers at Princeton. But this reversal has burned through any remaining goodwill for Manchin among the press corps and, I suspect, the rest of his caucus. For its many flaws, the world of cryptocurrency has bequeathed to the English language a vivid new verb: rug-pulling.

The United States, the world's No. 2 producer of greenhouse gas pollution, may find itself with little ability to address the problem.

But one senator who clearly is in bed with the fossil fuel industry is condemning generations of Americans on this planet to a broken Earth, including his own grandchildren.” But the path is a lot harder,” said Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president for energy and environment policy at liberal Center for American Progress. Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement Thursday night that “nearly all issues in the climate and energy space had been resolved.” Manchin said in the radio interview Friday that talks had been “good,” with staffs working diligently for the past few months. “Given the chance to address the pressing needs for the country you can always count on Sen. Manchin not to decide and punt a decision to later. “It is hard to feel optimistic there is a way to getting to yes with Sen. Manchin on emissions reductions and clean power given the last year-and-a-half,” Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said in an interview. But that would require the cooperation of Republicans, an unlikely prospect. Without action from Congress, however, Biden’s goal for curbing U.S. greenhouse gasses 50 to 52 percent below 2005 levels by the end of this decade appeared to be slipping away. What largely remained intact was a broad package of clean energy tax incentives designed to expand and extend long-term subsidies for renewable energy and emerging technologies such as hydrogen, carbon capture and small nuclear reactors. “I struggle to contemplate what single elected official in American history will do more to cause more massive suffering,” Sam Ricketts, co-founder and co-director for the environmental group Evergreen Action, said after news of Manchin’s rejection broke Thursday night. Manchin had already killed an earlier, larger iteration of the party-line package late last year, even after other Democrats had begun dismantling it to meet the senator’s demands. “Sen. Manchin is joining every single Republican in stopping the efforts to cut emissions and speed up this transition to clean energy.

Democrats are sounding dire warnings after Sen. Joe Manchin tanked their hopes of acting on climate change. "We're all going to die,” said Rep.

In the local radio interview, Manchin said Democrats are trying to "put all this pressure on me," but added: "I am where I have been. Jayapal said Manchin’s recent demand to shelve climate change funding and tax increases on the wealthy didn’t surprise her after he nixed the Build Back Better Act in December, stunning the White House in the process. Notifications of those premium increases are slated to land just before the midterm elections. "Obviously, the ACA subsidies are critical," Maloney said. I’d rather win two more seats in the Senate.” House Ways & Means Committee Chair Richard Neal, D-Mass., said he remains “ever so hopeful” for a larger deal, but that he believes drug pricing and ACA funding would represent progress. “These are the costs that would have been controlled for people to be able to deal with some of the other inflationary costs around gas prices in the supply chain. But Manchin rejected that deal, said the Democrat, who discussed sensitive negotiations on condition of anonymity. Around Washington, some Democrats were befuddled by Manchin citing inflation as a reason to hold off on the package. “It has already hurt Democrats,” Jayapal said. The Senate’s the Senate. It doesn’t matter what any of us do. Apparently, it doesn’t matter what the administration does.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., dashed Democrats' hopes of major climate spending in the budget reconciliation. Here's what that means for the country's ability ...

And he says since Biden took office, the sum of congressional action on climate change has basically barely moved the needle. They caused about a third of the price increases we've all seen in the last year and a half, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. But the Democrats who wanted climate action say that means Manchin just blew a chance to do something about inflation by rejecting policy that would have subsidized energy. I talked to Jesse Jenkins, who leads a team at Princeton University which models the impact of federal policy on climate goals. And the idea behind the climate spending that was in both the Build Back Better bill last year and reconciliation negotiations this year was to speed up that transition and make it more affordable, make it more attractive to invest in. Most recently, the size of that federal subsidy was reported to be as much as $300 billion, with Democrats trimming and tailoring the package to keep Manchin on board. So what was even on the table at this point when it came to climate policy?

A day after the West Virginia senator scuttled plans to pass a climate and tax package, many in his party blamed him for the demise of their ambitions and ...

“I will try to dissuade Joe on many of these,” Mr. Schumer scrawled on the document, which enraged many Democrats when it became public. And they are eager to give themselves as much time as possible to campaign on whatever they pass before the November elections. On Capitol Hill, Mr. Manchin is something of a unicorn — the only national Democrat from his ruby-red state — and acts and votes accordingly. But Mr. Schumer appeared to have grown exasperated and convinced that Mr. Manchin’s vote was not obtainable. Barely three months into the Biden administration, he prompted the longest open vote in modern Senate history by raising a last-minute objection to the size of unemployment benefits in the $1.9 trillion pandemic aid plan. The document outlined Mr. Manchin’s much narrower parameters for a $1.5 trillion package, including income thresholds for social programs and accommodations for fossil fuel tax credits and natural gas. That has given Mr. Manchin leverage to accomplish his own policy goals — including holding firm against moving entirely away from oil and gas — and resist what he considers his party’s lurch toward its liberal base. “It’s been a really, really terrible day,” Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota and a key champion of the climate provisions, said in an interview. This is Senator Manchin’s deal for the taking, and if it doesn’t happen, it is on him.” Mr. Manchin’s abrupt withdrawal left Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, jilted after months of courting a colleague whose demands and red lines seemed to shift by the day, or the latest economic projection. Democrats have toiled to win his vote on any piece of their once-ambitious domestic agenda, tailoring their policy moves so as not to alienate him. Perhaps, he suggested, in another month or so, he might see his way clear to salvaging the last bits of President Biden’s domestic agenda.

The centrist senator has seemingly sunk Biden's hopes of passing a major bill, and among climate activists the despair is palpable.

He could direct the Environmental Protection Agency to establish national limits for greenhouse gases or enact new curbs on power plant pollution, in line with the Supreme Court edict. The opportunities are tenuous, however – not only do Democrats face defeat in November, any presidential rule making would take time and could be struck down by a rightwing Supreme Court that has already limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to limit coal plant emissions. For Manchin’s part, he has said he may change his mind when new inflation figures come out next month, elongating the saga even further. Manchin has now indicated he won’t do so – at least not yet – further jeopardizing Democrats’ agenda before the midterm elections in November, which are likely to result in the party losing control of Congress to the Republicans. Republicans have shown no interest in passing any meaningful climate legislation, even when it involves handing tax breaks for companies, so analysts expect this ongoing status quo will mean the US misses its emissions reduction goals. Backing a $300bn bill to offer tax credits and other support to clean energy would, he argues, push costs higher for Americans, although several experts have disputed this.

They seem to have all made the same mistake: Hearing the nice tones that the West Virginia Democrat said in their private meetings, while dismissing his ...

“Suggestions that a reconciliation deal is close are false,” Sam Runyon, a spokesman for Manchin, said at the time. As the Schumer-Manchin talks started to heat up, the majority leader played the “good cop” role and voiced continued optimism. So I’m open to finding out what the senator really wants,” Neal said. She came away believing him and threw her support behind pushing a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan that her caucus felt insufficient to addressing climate issues, but she trusted Biden’s own word that he would deliver Manchin for the more ambitious legislation. As Manchin said Friday on a West Virginia radio show, Democrats could take a small deal now that would lower prescription drug costs and shore up health-care premiums, or wait until September to see whether inflation had cooled down enough for him to support a bigger plan. Schumer took on this assignment after the disastrous end to talks that Biden and his senior advisers led last year with Manchin and other Democratic holdouts on the full $2 trillion agenda that included expanded child tax credits, universal pre-K education and more. I’m done.” I’m done. But in private, Manchin often allows other negotiators to hear what they want to hear. I’m done. “Senator Manchin still has serious unresolved concerns, and there is a lot of work to be done before it’s conceivable that a deal can be reached.” “I’m very, very cautious.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is the most conservative Democrat in the Senate — and perhaps the most controversial, at least with the rest of his party.

Schumer declared the protection of voting rights, and of elections themselves, to be a “top priority.” We invite you to join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter. In the eyes of the left, Manchin never really had any intention of backing a broad social spending bill, no matter how many concessions he was offered. But Manchin denied Democrats even the claim that they were unified behind the proposal. Wade abortion decision, Manchin said he was “alarmed” by the actions of Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch, the other Trump nominee for whom he voted. Even the White House was furious. But progressives, always suspicious of Manchin, believed he led them and the president down the garden path. “This more than 800-page bill has garnered zero Republican support. He won reelection to a second full Senate term in 2018, just two years after President Trump carried his state by more than 40 points. For complicated procedural reasons, such legislation would likely have to pass by Sept. 30. “Manchin is not particularly concerned about President Biden succeeding. “I’ve tried everything humanly possible.

After four decades of gridlock in Congress, the Democrats were poised to finally pass a major climate bill, with agreement from 49 Senators. But yesterday, one ...

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. The climate crisis is getting worse, and Congress is one vote short of saving us. Many of the people and places we hold dear will face the consequences of his moral corruption. The climate investments in the bill ranged from incentives for clean power like wind and solar, to support for electric vehicles. If more Democrats are elected this fall, especially to the Senate, we may find ourselves with a window for federal climate legislation next year. This will make a serious dent in the glaring gap we now face in meeting his crucial climate goals. Over the last 10 years, the largest climate and weather disasters have cost Americans more than a trillion dollars — far more than the Democrats had hoped to spend to stop the climate crisis. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California signed a budget bill this month with a historic $54 billion in climate investments. But one thing I have never understood about Mr. Manchin is how he looks his grandchildren in the eye. Last summer, while the climate negotiations dragged on, record-breaking heat waves killed hundreds of Americans. Hurricanes, wildfires and floods pummeled the country from coast to coast. When Build Back Better passed the House last fall, it included $555 billion in clean energy and climate investments. Since early 2021, congressional Democrats and President Biden have worked relentlessly to negotiate a climate policy package.

West Virginia senator Joe Manchin is more a consequence of the Democratic Party's failures than he is the cause. Democrats' missed opportunities to defend ...

As a Democrat running in a state his party is bound to lose in a landslide, his career will probably end, with another conservative Republican sliding in to replace him. The Cunningham campaign was a milquetoast, insipid endeavor, offering little in the way of a compelling policy or vision. A different kind of senator, even a so-called centrist, could hold Chuck Schumer and the rest of the Democrats hostage for a New Deal for West Virginia, revitalizing the state with green manufacturing jobs and sweeping anti-poverty programs. In the last two election cycles, Democrats lost winnable races with flawed candidates or struggled, in the case of Bill Nelson of Florida, to defend an incumbent in a blue-wave year. Gideon’s uninspiring and overtly nationalized campaign was an ill fit for Maine, emblematic of all the ways Democrats in D.C. have failed to connect in rural America. While Florida has become, since 2020, a foreboding state for left-of-center candidates, 2018 was a rare opportunity for Democrats to at least defend their gains. The 50-50 Senate could have been a 51-49 Democratic Senate or even 52-48. Manchin is the last prominent Democrat in a state Donald Trump carried by almost 40 points. Manchin left the door open to further negotiations on a reconciliation package, claiming he wants to see if inflation worsens in the next months. No one in his stead would have voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, as Manchin did earlier in the year. A senator and former governor, he is wholly beholden to the fossil-fuel industry, Big Pharma, and just about every pernicious lobby imaginable. His latest move — to reject Democratic proposals to raise taxes on the wealthy and plow hundreds of billions into the existential fight against climate change — rightfully enrages much of the left.