Manchin deals major blow to Biden’s climate agenda – live

Let’s take a trip down the long and frustrating road Joe Biden’s marquee spending bill has journeyed over the past 14 months. Just over a year ago, Biden was fresh in the White House and proposed an expansive plan meant to fix many of the ills plaguing the United States: expensive housing costs, the lack of support for financially-strapped parents, dilapidated infrastructure, tax rates that favor the rich and, crucially for both the country and the world at large, climate change.

Months of talks ensued and Congress managed to pass the provisions overhauling the nation’s infrastructure, but negotiations over tax reform, social services and steps to mitigate rising temperatures stalled, in part due to the opposition of Joe Manchin, West Virginia’s Democratic senator who has extensive ties to the fossil fuel industry and is a crucial swing vote in the chamber that requires the agreement of all 50 Democratic lawmakers if the legislation was to pass (since no Republicans support it). By the end of 2021, he had rejected the legislation entirely – but Democrats weren’t finished.

Quietly, they have spent this year attempting to craft a bill that would pass his muster. But The Washington Post reported last night that Manchin has now said he won’t back any measures to combat America’s substantial greenhouse gas emissions, nor any changes to the tax code, citing the country’s high rate of inflation. He would, however, vote for lowering prescription drug and health care costs.

Varshini Prakash, executive director of climate change activist group the Sunrise Movement, described Manchin’s opposition as “nothing short of a death sentence”.

“Biden must declare a climate emergency, and do everything in his executive power to stop the climate crisis immediately. That’s the only way he can salvage his presidency and save our generation. And we must uproot this broken system and rebuild it to work for us,” Prakash said.