Manchin concedes on plan to fuel new energy projects
WASHINGTON — For once, what Sen. Joe Manchin III wanted didn’t matter.
Mr. Manchin, D-W.Va., who has essentially wielded veto power over Democrats’ agenda as a key swing vote in a split Senate, conceded defeat Tuesday as it became increasingly clear that colleagues from both parties would reject his bid to speed up government approval of new energy projects.
Mr. Manchin asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to remove his permitting proposal — which was coupled with a must-pass government funding bill — setting the stage for Congress to pass the funding bill without Mr. Manchin’s pet project.
For more than a year, the moderate West Virginia Democrat had frustrated both political parties in a 5050 Senate, at times siding with his party to pass big spending bills and other times forcing Democrats to scale back or abandon their ambitions.
After resisting Democrats’ sweeping climate and health care bill for months, Mr. Manchin reached a private agreement this summer with Mr. Schumer to support a smaller domestic-spending package — the Inflation Reduction Act — in exchange for a commitment from Mr. Schumer to hold a vote on permitting reform legislation that would provide special help to a fossil fuel project in his state.
It was thought that many Republicans and moderate Democrats might support a proposal to reduce government bureaucracy and delays. But nearly everyone shared outrage over Mr. Manchin’s tactics, and in the end he couldn’t corral enough support to overcome what he framed as “revenge politics.”
“It is unfortunate that members of the United States Senate are allowing politics to put the energy security of our nation at risk,” Mr. Manchin said in a statement. “A failed vote on something as critical as comprehensive permitting reform only serves to embolden leaders like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin who wish to see America fail.”
Before the permitting provision was pulled, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the floor that Mr. Manchin had no one to blame but himself.
“If tepid Democrat support for this phony fig leaf is all that our colleague from West Virginia got in return for approving yet another taxes and spending spree during an inflation crisis, it’s hard to imagine a worse bargain — for a senator, or for the country,” Mr. McConnell said.
Mr. Manchin’s proposal would have made it easier to build new power plants, dams, pipelines, transmission lines, wind turbines and solar farms. The bill would have set a two-year time limit for environmental reviews for major energy projects and established a 150-day limit for filing court challenges, among other changes.