Manchin said no. Now what?

NOT THROWING IN THE TOWEL YET: Despite the blow to morale, backers of the climate portions of BBB aren’t calling it game over. Activists and lawmakers who worked directly with Manchin and his staff said the West Virginian had appeared receptive to the clean energy portions of the bill during their talks. Leah Stokes, a UC Santa Barbara professor who worked with Democrats on climate provisions of the reconciliation package, pointed to Manchin’s posturing ahead of the Covid rescue package early this year and said maybe the path forward means “returning in January to figure out what he is on board with."

"You know, that's the optimistic take,” she added.

"This was never the only iron in the fire on climate but it was a huge opportunity," said House climate hawk Rep. Jared Huffman, who also attended COP26. "The difference between climate and all of these other [policy areas] that Manchin’s statement mentioned is more than a political setback, it's existential. And when an issue is existential, you don't just walk away. You fight harder."

But what a future vehicle for the climate items would look like remains a big question mark. If the climate items are split from the rest of the package as a standalone bill outside of reconciliation, it could still be stopped by filibustering Republicans in the Senate. And if Democrats do use reconciliation, that’s one less reconciliation package at their disposal for other priorities next year.

By:  Matthew Choi
Source: Politico Pro

• Print
• Email
• Tweet