Video above: Podcasters Clay Travis and Buck Sexton celebrated a big win for our country. Joe Manchin, deemed the "sanest" Democrat in America, announced that he will not support any tax increase and won’t endorse any of the climate provisions Democrats are trying to push.
Biden vows climate action despite economy after Joe Manchin stalls Build Back Better
By: Callie Patteson
July 16, 2022: Joe Biden promised Friday that he would sign executive orders implementing new environmental regulations — despite millions of Americans barely being able to afford food or fuel — after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) put the brakes on a slimmed-down version of Biden’s massive social spending plan, which has been stalled for months.
“Action on climate change and clean energy remains more urgent than ever,” the president said in a statement as he traveled in Saudi Arabia, without mentioning Manchin “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,” Biden added. “I will not back down: the opportunity to create jobs and build a clean energy future is too important to relent.”
Soon after the statement was released, Biden emphasized to reporters in Jeddah that he would use “every power I have as president to continue to fulfill my pledge to move toward dealing with global warming.”
Image above: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre struggles to address concerns over Biden’s stalled social spending plan.
Earlier Friday, Manchin said in a West Virginia radio interview that he was only interested in passing a spending bill if it focused on reducing drug prices rather than implementing new environmental regulations and tax hikes on corporations and big earners.
“I said, ‘Chuck, 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 do that bill,‘” the moderate Democrat revealed, referring to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “‘Write a piece of legislation on reducing drug prices, letting Medicare negotiate.‘”
“And he says, ‘Are you telling me you won’t do the other right now?’” Manchin went on. “I said, ‘Chuck, it’s wrong. It’s not prudent to do the other right now.’”
The lawmaker’s objections came after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Wednesday that the annual rate of inflation reached 9.1% in June, the highest level since November 1981. The price rises included a 12-month increase of almost 60% in the price of all types of gasoline and a 12.2% increase in the price of groceries from this time last year.
Manchin has repeatedly warned that he would not support new spending he sees as inflationary, and used that rationale to justify killing the original version of Build Back Better in December.
However, the West Virginian has left the door open to supporting smaller versions of the bill and has held off-and-on talks with Schumer for months.
Manchin insisted Friday that he was not closing the door completely on legislation, telling West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval that he wants more time, according to Axios.
“Chuck, can we just wait until the inflation figures come out in July and then make a decision?” Manchin recalled asking Schumer. “‘Until basically the Fed rate — the Reserve, are they going to raise interest [rates]? How much more, and how much damage is that going to be? And then make a decision [about] what we can do and how much we can do?’ He took that as a ‘no,’ I guess.”
July’s inflation reading is set to be released on Aug. 10 — when the Senate is on a month-long break. This would give Democrats less than one month to put together a new package by Sept. 30, the last day such a bill can pass with just 50 votes.
Image above: Manchin stated he would only support the bill if it was limited to addressing pharmaceutical prices and extending federal subsidies for buying health care coverage, leaving out environmental regulations and tax increases.
When pressed on whether the White House believed Manchin was “on the level” in the ongoing negotiations, Jean-Pierre again avoided naming the senator or providing details about the discussions.
While Schumer has indicated he would like to push a package earlier, it would face an impossible climb in the evenly split Senate without Manchin’s support.
News that Manchin had walked away from the latest version of Build Back Better leaked late Thursday, which Manchin suggested Friday was a move by Schumer and other Democrats to “try to put pressure on me.
Image above: The remarks from the Biden administration came as Biden is on a foreign affairs trip in the Middle East.
“But they’ve been doing that for over a year now,” he told Kercheval. “It doesn’t make any sense at all. As far as I’m concerned, I want climate, I want an energy policy.”
When asked Friday whether he believed Manchin was negotiating in good faith, Biden told reporters at the end of a hastily scheduled Q-and-A session: “I didn’t negotiate with Joe Manchin. I have no idea.”
This story is developing.
Source: The NY Post