WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-West Virginia, pulled the plug Thursday on talks to save key parts of President Biden’s agenda, informing his party leaders that he would not support funding climate or energy programs or raising the taxes on wealthy Americans and corporations.
The decision by Mr. Manchin, a conservative Democrat whose opposition effectively stalled Mr. Biden’s economic package in the evenly divided Senate, dealt a crushing blow to his party’s efforts to enact a broad social safety net, climate and tax package.
In recent months, Democrats have scaled back their ambitions for such a plan to win over Mr. Manchin, hoping he will agree to support even a fraction of the sweeping initiative they once envisioned. His sudden change seems to have thwarted those aspirations.
The change ended weeks of painstaking negotiations to put together a package that would win Mr. Manchin’s support. It comes seven months after West Virginia abruptly pulled out of negotiations and rejected a much larger plan.
“Political headlines mean nothing to the millions of Americans struggling to afford groceries and gas as inflation soars to 9.1 percent,” said Sam Runyon, Mr. Manchin’s spokesman. “Senator Manchin believes it is time for leaders to put political agendas aside, reassess and adjust to the economic realities facing the country to avoid taking steps that add fuel to the fire of inflation.”
“Senator Manchin has not walked away from the table,” she added.
As of Thursday morning, Democrats remained cautiously optimistic that a deal could be reached, provided they follow through on Mr. Manchin’s repeated calls to tackle the national debt, tax reform and drug prices.
The Washington Post previously reported details of the conversation, which were confirmed by two people briefed on the discussion.
With Democrats holding only a 50-50 majority in the Senate, Mr. Manchin was able to effectively veto the domestic policy package that the party planned to move under a special fast-track budget process that would have allowed it to bypass a filibuster and passage by a simple majority. As Democrats brace for losses in midterm elections this fall, the package could be the party’s last chance to pass significant spending and tax legislation while still holding the White House and both houses of Congress.
By rejecting any climate and energy regulations, Mr. Manchin appeared to single-handedly scuttle Mr. Biden’s ambitious climate agenda and what would have been the largest single federal investment in American history to address the effects of climate change. .
His decision came just days after a report showed prices jumped as much as 9.1 percent in June, heightening existing fears about inflation and rising costs for everyday Americans. But while Mr. Manchin has long sounded the alarm about inflation and the national debt, he has also maintained a willingness to overhaul the tax code, a position he appears to have reversed.
That stunned Democrats who had worked hard to win Mr. Manchin’s vote. As recently as Friday, Democrats said they were united on a plan to use the proceeds from tax increases on some high-income Americans to expand the solvency of a key Medicare fund.
But it was particularly devastating for those who championed climate and energy regulations. In conversations with various climate activists Thursday night, Mr. Schumer and his team sounded shocked and said they had believed until a few hours ago that a deal was still possible, said a person who has spoken with Mr. Schumer.
Without action by Congress, it will be impossible to meet Mr. Biden’s goal of cutting US emissions roughly in half by the end of this decade. This goal was intended to keep the planet climate-stabilized at about 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming compared to pre-industrial levels.
The Earth has already warmed by about 1.1 degrees Celsius, or about 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Lawmakers and activists who have led the charge for action on climate change expressed outrage Thursday night.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat my disappointment here, especially since almost all the problems in the climate and energy space have been solved,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “This is our last chance to prevent the most catastrophic — and costly — consequences of climate change. We cannot go back in another decade and prevent hundreds of billions—if not trillions—in economic damage and undo the inevitable human toll.”
“If we can’t move forward as we’d hoped, we need to salvage as much of this package as possible,” he added. “The phrase failure is not an option is overused, but failure really isn’t an option here.”
Leah Stokes, a professor of environmental policy at UC Santa Barbara who has advised congressional Democrats on climate legislation, sobbed Thursday night as she described the months of work she and other activists, scientists and legislative staff have put into the negotiations.
“The stakes are so high,” she said. “It’s just infuriating that he’s judging our own children.
Many seethed with anger against Mr. Manchin. They criticized him for engaging negotiators while softening a package that at one stage would have been enough to set a sharp drop in emissions and also adding fossil fuel projects that run counter to climate goals. In the final days of the talks, tax breaks for clean energy were scaled back and Mr. Manchin was working to include approval for an offshore oil and gas lease and a permit for a fossil fuel project in his state, congressional aides said.
Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president of government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, a nonprofit group, said Mr. Manchin has condemned future generations.
“There really are no words, at least words fit to be printed in The New York Times, for how horrified and outraged we are,” she said.
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