Joe Manchin has out-of-date vision of West Virginia

President Joe Biden’s policy agenda is hanging by a thread. And the reason can be summarized in two words: Joe Manchin.

Manchin, the Democratic senator from West Virginia — whose vote is essential given scorchedearth Republican opposition to anything Biden might propose — is reportedly against the Clean Energy Payment Program, the core of Biden’s attempt to take action on climate change, and wants to impose work requirements on the child tax credit, a key element in plans to invest in the nation’s children.

Manchin appears ready to veto policies that would be in the interests of his own constituents.

At first glance, West Virginia might seem less exposed than many other states to the effects of climate change. It’s landlocked, so rising sea levels aren’t a threat; it’s relatively rainy, so it’s not in danger of sharing in the disastrous droughts afflicting the U.S. West.

But climate change is bringing more severe weather in general, including more heavy rain — and West Virginia turns out to be extremely vulnerable to flooding, in part because of the damage done by past coal mining.

Still, doesn’t West Virginia’s economy depend on continued use of coal, whatever the environmental effects? The answer is that coal is far less important to the state than it used to be, and its significance is doomed to dwindle no matter what we do about climate change.

There was indeed a time when the West Virginia economy ran on coal.

Back in 1982, when Manchin began his political career as a member of the state Legislature, wages and benefits paid to coal miners accounted for 16% of the state’s total labor income. But the industry’s payroll shrank rapidly during the Reagan and Bush I administrations, falling to around 7% of compensation by the mid-1990s. It has declined even more since then, but basically West Virginia stopped being coal country a generation ago.

Oh, and the small industry that remains is on its way out given dramatic technological progress in renewable energy.

What about other fossil fuels? Thanks to fracking, West Virginia has become a significant oil and gas producer. But this industry generates little income for West Virginia workers. In general, the returns to fracking in the Appalachian region seem to have gone overwhelmingly to outside investors, with hardly anything trickling down to local economies.

So West Virginia has a lot to lose and little to gain if the Biden climate plan goes down.

In addition to blocking climate action, Manchin seems determined to cut back aid to children, in particular by imposing a work requirement for the child tax credit.

There are many negative things to be said about this piece of stinginess. One way to think about it is that it’s an attempt to force adults into work by holding their children hostage. Is that where we want to be as a country?

What’s really striking, however, is to hear these demands coming from a senator who’s supposed to be representing West Virginia — a poor state that has far more to gain from expanded aid to children than wealthier parts of the country.

In particular, making child allowances contingent on parents finding work, while a bad idea in general, is an especially bad idea for a state like West Virginia, where jobs are hard to find.

The problem is that Manchin seems to have a decades-out-of-date vision of what his state needs. And that distorted vision is now endangering America’s future.