Governors, Lawmakers Infuriated Over Manchin’s Reluctance to Include Climate Funds in Senate Proposal

Governors and environmental advocates who had been hoping for hundreds of billions in federal climate funds for state and local governments Friday expressed not only disappointment but anger after Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia put the prospects of the windfall in severe doubt.

Manchin, a moderate Democrat, is a crucial vote in President Biden’s hopes of passing even a scaled-down version of his $1.75 trillion progressive Build Back Better proposal.

Democrats have been hoping to pass the measure, which included $555 billion in climate funding, despite unanimous opposition from Senate Republicans through a budget procedure called reconciliation. However, it would require all 50 Democrats to go along, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote.

Manchin, however, severely dampened hopes of passing the measure before Congress leaves for its August break. As The Washington Post first reported Thursday night, Manchin told Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, that he is not willing to include the climate funding, fearing passing another massive federal spending bill would worsen inflation. 

“The combination of 50 Republicans, the Republican Supreme Court, and this guy have knee-capped the U.S in fighting climate change,”  Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, tweeted on Friday referring to Manchin and the court’s recent decision to block Biden's regulations on power plants emissions.

“Inaction in the face of record drought, heat, wildfires, and flooding fueled by our changing climate is absolutely inexcusable,” tweeted Casey Katims, executive director of the U.S. Climate Alliance,  a bipartisan group of 24 governors who have pledged to take action on climate change.

“I’m having a bad day. I’m pretty appalled and disgusted,” John Reuter, the League of Conservation Voters’ vice president for state and local strategies, told Route Fifty in an interview.

Until news of Manchin’s stance broke, Reuter and pro-climate governors had been excited about the possibilities. While it was clear that the overall package would have to be slimmed down for there to be any chance of getting Manchin’s support during his negotiations with Schumer, environmentalists had hoped much of the $555 billion in climate funding passed in the House’s version of the Build Back Better proposal could survive.

That version would have been a boon for states and cities. Among other things, the House bill called for creating $250 million in grants to help states, local governments and tribes develop plans to reduce greenhouse gas air pollution, and an additional $4.75 billion to actually implement those plans.

The House’s proposal would have also funded an array of grants aimed at areas like retrofitting buildings, increasing electric vehicle purchases, removing lead pipes and helping communities deal with air pollution from wildfires—all with an emphasis on helping disadvantaged communities.

The proposal also had the support of groups representing local governments like the National League of Cities and the National Association of Counties (although both groups declined to weigh in on Friday). 

Reuter said Friday that the state and local officials he had spoken with since the news broke about Manchin’s stance were committed to continuing to address climate change. 

“But we need help from the other levels of government, '' he said. “We need the federal government to stand with the states.”

In addition to the funding for states and localities, Reuter said in an interview earlier this month that the House bill contained hundreds of billions of clean energy tax credits for businesses and individuals. The credits would go toward converting power plants to cleaner energy, reducing electric vehicle costs for consumers and incentivizing homeowners to upgrade major appliances and electrical panels.

The credits, he said, have built on states' efforts to lower prices for people using clean energy technologies, like Illinois’ new $4,000 electric vehicle tax credit. The House bill would have added another $12,500 credit for buying an electric vehicle. 

Reuter, however, saw a glimmer of hope when Manchin said on a West Virginia radio Friday that he is still open to negotiating including climate funding. He said, however, that while he would be willing to support a smaller package that would only lower drug prices and continue Affordable Care Act subsidies for lower-income people now, he wasn’t sold on including other provisions Democrats want. 

In addition to the climate funding, Manchin said he does not support a proposal to raise taxes on the top 1% of wealthy Americans.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the Democratic chairwoman of the House appropriations committee, also held out some hope. “I heard that they’re still talking,” DeLauro told Route Fifty in an interview.

Democratic Lawmakers Furious

But others were less hopeful and infuriated. Manchin and Schumer had already dropped other major parts of the House’s proposal supported by state and local governments, including billions for housing and child care.

“Sen. Manchin either doesn't know how to close a deal or doesn't want to close a deal. He has shown over and over again that he's not an honest negotiator,” an infuriated Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat and chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told Route Fifty in an interview. “And it's at the threat of our climate, our planet, our leadership on the global stage,” she said.

“Disgusting,” said Rep. Andy Levin, a Michigan Democrat, in an interview of Manchin’s refusal to support climate funding at the moment.

“It's infuriating. It's frustrating. But it's kind of predictable when you have a senator that has been so beholden to the fossil fuel lobby for so long,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat, told reporters. 

“It befuddles me that we continue to not be as aggressive as we need to be when it comes to climate,” he said. “We have more consistent severe storms in our country. Now when it rains it rains too hard that homes are flooded. That's because the earth is warming at a rapid rate. We're not doing enough to stop it.”