The Centerpiece of Biden’s Climate Agenda Is All But Dead. So Now What?
by Kara Voght
October 22, 2021
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... -now-what/
Introduction:
(Mother Jones) By the time a group of progressive lawmakers entered the Oval Office to meet with President Joe Biden on Tuesday, the centerpiece of his climate agenda was all but dead. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) refused to back the Clean Energy Payment Program, a $150 billion initiative that would incentivize utilities to transition to clean energy. Democrats had pinned their hopes for cutting the country’s carbon emissions in half by the end of the decade to that program, which would have contributed to a third of that goal.
So progressives came bearing a stark warning: Replace the program with measures that achieve the same carbon reductions or lose their votes. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) conveyed that point with “spirited but respectful” remarks to the president, in the words of a fellow lawmaker who was also present at the meeting. Huffman told the group he couldn’t support a deal that didn’t meet that target, and that some of the alternatives floated would be unacceptable. “It can’t just be throwing money at carbon capture and advanced nuclear and calling that a climate solution,” he told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday night. “It’s not.”
As Huffman warned, not all investments are created equal. On Friday, 60 Democratic lawmakers from the House and Senate sent a letter to the president demanding his “unwavering support for significant additional investments in climate priorities to close the resulting emissions gap” in the absence of the Clean Energy Payment Program. Now, the pressure is on Biden and Democratic congressional leaders to find a suitable replacement.
This wasn’t where things were supposed to stand roughly a week out from Biden’s appearance at the UN international climate summit in Glasgow. Had Democratic lawmakers lined up behind their initial $3.5 trillion domestic spending bill, Biden would be on the world stage touting the passage of a legacy-sealing domestic agenda that would reverse the toll climate change is expected to take in the absence of swift, bold, international action. But centrist Democratic lawmakers have insisted that the price tag drop significantly, down to roughly $2 trillion, and have voiced concerns over the climate provisions. So instead, he is left with what amounts to an aspirational vision as protracted negotiations over the details continue in Washington.
caltrek: Of course, finding a "suitable replacement" will be made all the more complicated by Senator Manchin. As you probably recall, Manchin represent the great state of West Virginia, a state whose economy is highly dependent upon the coal industry. As noted earlier in this thread, Manchin also receives a lot of out of state campaign contributions from other carbon-based fuel industry types. With the U.S. Senate split fifty-fifty, Manchin enjoys a position of leveraging his vote by potentially allying with the otherwise uncooperative Republican senators. In addition to campaign donations from the fossil fuels industry, Republicans also complain about increasing the tax burden on the rich and on corporate America, as well as possible effects on inflation. Gotta protect those bottom line quarterly profit margins (screw future generations).
In addition to climate action, slashing the budget will also gut a lot of social infrastructure type programs. Community college subsidies and student debt relief are likely to be casualties. Steps toward a Universal Basic Income (UBI) will also be slowed down. Better to keep the wage slaves on a near starvation diet to force them to work in all of those low-wage high-risk jobs.
Policies toward implementing a UBI are also complicated by the immigrant labor question. Would a UBI be available to immigrant workers? If so, how about the subset of undocumented immigrant workers? If no UBI for that subset, would that be just?
So, now, everybody is playing a game of chicken. Progressives to protect against the existential threat of climate change, Manchin to protect the West Virginia coal industry (including holdings which he is reported to hold in that industry), and Republicans to protect their God given right to pursue nihilistic policies that pose a long term existential threat to civilization as we know it. What could go wrong?
Don't mourn, organize.
-Joe Hill