It looks like the House GOP has cried “uncle” on using the debt ceiling as leverage to enact massive social spending cuts. Perhaps. But even in the immediate aftermath of a banking crisis that is still not contained, the most radical House Republicans want to play fast and loose with the global economy by threatening a default. This time, however, they’re narrowing in on something they think they can get a Democrat—Sen. Joe Manchin (WV)—to help them with.
This is while the international banking system is shaky. Germany’s Deutsche Bank is the latest problem bank, with shares falling on the world exchanges last week. That’s just after Swiss bank Credit Suisse was forced into a sale to UBS last week. Bond markets are in turmoil, and a recession might be just around the corner. So no, this isn’t the best time for the GOP to flex its “burn it all down” ethos.
Nonetheless, they’re still making hostage demands. The latest “mainstream” idea goes beyond budget demands to incorporate a “reform” in the energy permitting process, speeding up gas and oil projects by limiting environmental review. It’s being pushed by a big chunk of GOP lawmakers, including the chair of the Republican Policy Committee, Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL), who’s on Barely Speaker McCarthy’s leadership team. “I think permitting’s got to be part of the debt limit discussion,” he told Politico.
The hard-right Republican Study Committee (RSC), with 175 members, has it at the top of their list of priorities in the debt limit demands. “It has tons of momentum,” Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), the chair of the RSC said. “That’s certainly pro-growth to keep our jobs here, and have less dependency on foreign governments and don’t send money elsewhere.”
One very big motivator for this is the opportunity it provides for trolling President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats because of Manchin, who made his own permitting threats last year to a must-pass government funding bill. He lost that round of the fight and gave himself a petulant self-pity party in a statement that accused his colleagues of helping Putin. “[A] failed vote on something as critical as comprehensive permitting reform only serves to embolden leaders like Putin who wish to see America fail,” he complained.
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That was when Senate Republicans were still mad at Manchin for helping pass the Inflation Reduction Act just a few weeks earlier. They had been counting on him to help them scuttle the IRA reconciliation bill, which could pass with just Democratic votes, and when he didn’t, Mitch McConnell got his retribution by helping block his pet project of permitting reform.
Manchin’s proposal would have put limits on the review process for new projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), limiting the process to just two years. It would also provide a deadline for opponents of projects to bring court challenges, and to prioritize fossil fuel energy projects. He also tried to force the Biden administration into approving completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a controversial 300-mile natural gas pipeline that extends from West Virginia to Virginia.
Of course, Manchin isn’t going to drop the issue. He’s been working with Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR), the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, about including his proposals in the GOP’s big energy bill—the bill the Senate won’t take up and the White House has promised to veto.
So here’s the GOP’s chance to troll some more, using Manchin. He’s already given McCarthy an assist, meeting with him to talk debt ceiling back in January, after Biden and other Democrats made clear that they would not be negotiating. A few weeks later, Manchin wrote a scolding op-ed in the Washington Post, blaming both sides and playing the deficit peacock.
He’s running for reelection this year, so his pipeline and his permitting reform bill are high on his priority list. That makes him, once again, a useful tool for the House GOP. Whether the Senate GOP is willing to forgive and forget isn’t so clear. Nor is whether Manchin is egotistical enough to threaten the global economy over his own self-interests.
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It's just barely springtime in an off year, but there's been loads of election news lately, so co-hosts David Nir and David Beard have a super-sized roundup on this week's episode of The Downballot. The Davids recap the first round of voting in the race for Jacksonville mayor (which saw Democrats do unusually well) and the collapse of an effort to recall New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell before turning to big batch of 2024 updates.
On tap for the Senate: The GOP's desperate effort to compete with Democratic fundraising enthusiasm by recruiting self-funders; why Republicans are afraid the guy who succeeded John Boehner in Congress will try to challenge Sherrod Brown; and how Democrats' plans to clear the field in Michigan may not succeed. Plus developments in the battle for New Hampshire's governorship, a key House seat in Wisconsin, and the saga of Tennessee's answer to George Santos.