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Oregon Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee and wrote much of the clean energy tax stimulus package, noted that it has been backed by major electricity utilities. “This is our last chance to avert the most devastating effects of the climate crisis, and failure is not an option,” Mr Wyden said on Sunday. “Senator Manchin has long said he will only support tech-neutral incentives, and this package is structured around that.”
Climate activists, particularly from groups led by youth who campaigned for Mr Biden during his presidential nomination, said on Sunday they were outraged and blaming the President and Democratic leadership at least as much as Mr Manchin. “Biden and Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have failed us,” said Paul Campion, 24, who went on a hunger strike outside the White House in November to get the spending package to pass.
“They had Senator Manchin set the terms of the bill and ultimately derail it,” Mr. Campion said. He added that failing to pass the climate law “will have enormous consequences for the Democrats next year, when their tripartite governments have nothing to show for it.”
Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement, a climate advocacy group, accused Mr. Biden of not fighting further for climate provisions, for which he campaigned. “It’s frustrating to see the ways he doesn’t come out and fight for his agenda in any way he can,” Ms Prakash said.
With the prospect of Democrats losing control of the House of Representatives in next year’s midterm elections, hopes for climate action are quickly fading, he said. “From now on, the political map looks more competitive and less promising,” he said. “This is our moment and they are ruining it.”
It may be possible to salvage key elements of the climate package, said Christy Goldfuss, senior vice president of energy and environmental policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. He said that while the $2.2 trillion version that passes the House is unlikely to move forward, some aspect or another version of the bill could still pass.
“Build Better is not dead. “We’ve been on the Manchin roller coaster for a long time and we see her sharing her feelings in public,” he said. “What’s incredibly important right now is that Biden and Manchin start debating what’s acceptable.”
Others were less sure that there was additional room for compromise. “Climate provisions are both historic and urgent and necessary and already a compromise,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for government affairs at the Conservative Voters Union. “There really isn’t much more to give there.”
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