Joe Manchin isn’t President of the United States, he just thinks he is and has the right to veto vital legislation to combat the worst effects of climate change. West Virginia Senator Manchin has this inflated sense of his own importance because the Untied States Senate is divided 50 Democrats to 50 Republicans. With no Republican willing to support anything that looks like it will help the American people, the Biden Administration and Senate Majority leader Charles Schumer need every Democratic vote to pass legislation. They are going to have to squeeze or “impeach” President Manchin” to secure his vote or replace him.
Manchin just announced he would not support funding for climate or energy programs or raising taxes on the wealthy Americans and businesses, effectively killing the Biden domestic agenda months before the mid-term elections that will decide control of the House and Senate for the next two years. The Democrats had already scaled down the climate saving proposals in an effort to win Manchin’s support, bur as they should have learned from trying to work with the Republicans for the last thirty years, there are no possible compromises with the “Party of NO.” Without Congressional action, the United States will not be able to meet its pledge to cut fossil fuel emissions that are feeding greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and producing record high temperatures, deadly droughts, Super Storms, and wildfires. Joe Manchin and most of the Republican Party are climate criminals putting human civilization at risk.
There are actions that can be taken by President Biden and Senate Majority Leader Schumer to squeeze Joe Manchin and his Republican co-conspirators, but basically they either lack the guts or the will.
Joe Manchin is a wealthy man. The Manchin family made its money through ties with a coal industry that he lobbies for and champions on Capital Hill. Manchin owns a company that markets dirty coal to power plants, highly polluting waste coal that should not be used, and Manchin is the largest recipient of campaign contributions from the coal mining, oil and gas industries in the United States Senate.
President Biden and Senate Majority leader Schumer must threaten to investigate and expose Manchin if he does not support climate legislation. The Environmental Protection Administration can investigate whether Manchin’s Enersystems company that markets waste coal and the Grant Town power plant in West Virginia are producing toxic pollution that violate environmental guidelines. The Labor Department should look into the relationship between Grant Tower and its workers. The Justice Department can investigate ties between Manchin and the fossil fuel industry for inappropriate and potentially illegal pay-to-play campaign contributes. Internal Revenue should make sure the Manchin and his companies pay every penny in taxes that they owe.
If this does not produce enough pressure on Manchin, the Biden Administration should let West Virginia voters know that the state will be punished because of Manchin’s recalcitrance on climate issues and let the people decide. West Virginia is a poor state with the third-lowest gross domestic product per capita in the country. It currently receives $7,283 per person ranking 4th in the nation amongst states receiving the most federal tax dollars per capita although it ranks 38th in among the states in population. Thirty-seven percent of West Virginia’s state government budget comes from federal payouts.
Come to think of it, by threatening to cut federal subsidies, Biden and Schumer might be able to reverse some Republican Senate votes on climate action. Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee are all states that are subsidized by the federal government and have two Republican Senators.
As Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg demanded of world leaders at the Davos World Economic Forum in 2019, “I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”
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