Energy Elements Part of Senator’s Build Back Better Pushback

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West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin has announced he won’t support the Build Back Better Act, saying his issues with the legislation include that it would risk electric grid reliability and increase dependence on foreign supply chains.

If he does not vote for the bill, it would almost certainly kill the legislation. The $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act faces unanimous opposition from Republicans, meaning it needs support from all 50 Senate Democrats if it has a chance to pass. The act passed the House in November and includes $555 billion toward renewable energy and other sustainability goals.

Manchin says he can’t support adding to a $29 trillion debt with added taxes for his voters, and he specifically called out the energy efficiency element of the Build Back Better Act.

“The energy transition my colleagues seek is already well underway in the United States of America,” Machin says. “In the last two years, as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and with bipartisan support, we have invested billions of dollars into clean energy technologies so we can continue to lead the world in reducing emissions through innovation. But to do so at a rate that is faster than technology or the markets allow will have catastrophic consequences for the American people like we have seen in both Texas and California in the last two years.”

The Build Back Better Act includes allocating more than $110 billion toward clean energy technology and supply chains. Another $105 billion is intended for energy resiliency with $20 billion going toward clean energy procurement.

The senator’s decision caught Democrats and the White House off guard.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki says Manchin was part of talks last week at the White House and while he offered changes to the legislations, there was a sense that details for an agreement could be worked out. She says Manchin promised to work to find common ground on the bill.

“If his comments on FOX and written statement indicate an end to that effort, they represent a sudden and inexplicable reversal in his position, and a breach of his commitments to the President and the Senator’s colleagues in the House and Senate,” Psaki says.

The Hill reported that most talks between President Biden and Machin had been professional for months and there hadn’t been much reason for concern, but Machin said he had not agreed to anything during previous discussions. Now Democrats, according to the Hill, might need to take a tougher stance against him.

According to Politico, the President spoke with Machin after he said he wouldn’t support the bill and that those talks were cordial with a feeling that discussions between the sides would resume in early 2022.

The Build Back Better Act is a big piece of Biden’s ambitious climate goals. A $1 trillion infrastructure plan has already passed, in which billions of dollars in water infrastructure money is currently going out to states. Biden also outlined a roadmap to sustainable transitions and signed an executive order earlier in December to make the federal government carbon free by 2050.