A statement from Janet Redman, Climate Campaign Director at Greenpeace USA:
“Senator Manchin is a fossil-fueled sociopath on a Maserati joy-ride while he lets the world burn. When negotiations got tough, Manchin chose to walk away rather than pass a bill that would help millions of families put food on the table, make life-saving medicine affordable, and build a livable future because it threatened the fossil fuel industry that sends him dividend checks.
“The reasons for which Manchin claims he does not support the Build Back Better Act don’t add up. West Virginians support the legislation. The headline of the WV Gazette on Sunday read “We need this so bad”. Manchin’s constituents even kayaked up to his yacht to make their support for the bill known. Goldman Sachs cited Manchin’s position on the Build Back Better Act as one reason for its cuts to the U.S. GDP projections. No matter how Manchin tries to skew the facts, this bill is good for West Virginian families and the country’s economy.
“At the end of the day, Manchin cares less about his constituents than he does about the fossil fuel industry. This looks a lot like the strategy a now-former Exxon lobbyist seemed to layout on video in the summer – “stick to the roads and bridges and a lot of the negative stuff comes out.” For Manchin and his corporate overlords, the “negative stuff” he’s vaguely decried is the investment in climate solutions, renewable energy, and environmental justice our planet and communities need to survive. This will be his defining legacy and history will not forget his selfishness and casual disregard for the American people.
“President Biden now has a mandate to pull out all the stops to confront a rogue fossil fuel industry in 2022. We expect a full-court press of executive actions to end fossil fuel expansion – the source of the industry’s power in Washington, DC. Power it uses to fund political agents of chaos like Manchin and derail climate policy. While disappointing, Manchin laying his cards on the table is also a liberating force. Biden must go all-in with executive authority to address the climate emergency and do what he promised.”
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