LEADER: Joe Biden’s gigantic package of measures abruptly stops in the Senate. Because of a Democrat from West Virginia with close ties to the coal industry.
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Senator Joe Manchin III of the state of West Virginia is currently not the most popular person in the White House. On the contrary.
The senator, the Democrat in the United States who receives the most financial support from the coal, oil and gas industries, has consistently opposed the president’s attempt to impose meaningful restrictions on the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. He has also made a fortune on a company that mediates power agreements on behalf of the coal power industry.
But now he has also decided to say no to the major package of social reforms and infrastructure investments that the Biden administration has dubbed Build Back Better.
This weekend, Manchin gave an interview to Fox News in which he said that it is impossible for him to support Biden’s budget proposal, with a framework of 2.2 trillion dollars (about 20,000 billion kroner) spread over a 10-year period. The main reason, according to Manchin, is that he fears that this public spending will lead to inflation, ie inflation.
Economists who have analyzed Biden’s proposal believe that it will not give much price increase, because it is intended to be financed to a large extent with increased taxes for those with the highest income and wealth. This will dampen demand and keep inflation in check, says the White House.
But in a situation where inflation is already higher than in 40 years, many Americans share Manchin’s concern. Residents of the states that currently have many coal mines and coal-fired power plants are also concerned that the promises made by the Biden administration about support for green conversion will not lead to new, secure jobs.
Manchin, who in a sense sits in the Senate as a spokesman for the fossil fuel industry, is obviously very responsive to such attitudes among his own voters.
The Senate is divided exactly in the middle between the Democrats and the Republicans, which places Manchin in a unique tipping position. Biden’s major package of measures, which is the only major political victory the president seems to be able to collect, is now in acute danger of crashing.
New negotiations between the White House and Manchin in the new year may still save a further reduced package, but it is far from certain.
A total breakdown for Build Back Better is a dream result for the Republican Party, which has the prospect of regaining control of both houses of Congress in the by-elections next year. And a disaster for climate policy in the world’s largest economy is of course also a serious blow to the bow for the shaky agreement that was entered into during the climate summit in Glasgow in November.
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