Re: Screw you Joe. 71 House Democrats warn Pelosi against including Manchin's permitting deal in government funding bill

In article <[email protected]>
David Hartung <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Joe is going to get fucked.
>

Democrats say Manchin's bill will force them to choose between 
more pollution or government shutdown

Nearly a third of House Democrats warned Speaker Nancy Pelosi on 
Friday against tying this month's must-pass government funding 
bill to legislation spurring oil and gas drilling that is 
desired by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.

Seventy-one House Democrats penned a letter to Pelosi, D-Calif., 
warning that the bill's inclusion will force them to seriously 
consider voting against the short-term government funding 
measure, known as a continuing resolution.

"In the face of the existential threats like climate change and 
MAGA extremism, House and Senate leadership has a greater 
responsibility than ever to avoid risking a government shutdown 
by jamming divisive policy riders into a must-pass continuing 
resolution," said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman 
Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who spearheaded the letter. 
"Permitting reform hurts already-overburdened communities, puts 
polluters on an even faster track, and divides the caucus."

Signing on to the letter was a wide cross-section of the House 
Democratic Conference.

Signatories included not just progressive firebrands, like 
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, but also 
leadership allies. The latter included Reps. Joe Neguse of 
Colorado and Debbie Dingell of Michigan, whom Pelosi has tasked 
with leading the House Democratic Policy and Communications 
Committee.

Neither Manchin's nor Pelosi's offices returned requests for 
comment.

Earlier this year, Manchin struck a deal with Senate Majority 
Leader Chuck Schumer to pass legislation streamlining the permit 
approval process to drill for oil and gas by the end of 
September. In exchange for the commitment, Manchin agreed to 
back the White House's $739 billion climate change and tax hike 
package.

Schumer, D-N.Y., confirmed earlier this week that he would 
attach the permitting legislation to the government funding 
bill, which must pass by Sept. 30 or risk a shutdown.

"Our intention is to add it to the [continuing resolution], 
absolutely," said Schumer.

House Democrats say the decision is fraught with risk, however.

"Such a move would force Members to choose between protecting 
[environmental justice] communities from further pollution or 
funding the government," the lawmakers wrote in their letter.

Progressive Democrats have long argued that Manchin's side deal 
was with Schumer and not with them.

"We will be united in defeating the separate Manchin ‘permitting 
reforms’ that will accelerate climate change and pollute Black, 
brown, Indigenous and low-income communities," said Rep. Rashida 
Tlaib, D-Mich. "Manchin went back on his word to get [Build Back 
Better] done, and we owe him nothing now."

The permitting bill, which has yet to be made public, would set 
timelines by which environmental agencies must conduct reviews 
for proposed projects. It would also require the federal 
government to hold more leasing auctions for the right to drill 
on federal land.

Manchin's biggest prize, however, is provisions of the expected 
bill that would catalyze approval of a natural gas pipeline 
running for more than 300 miles through Virginia and West 
Virginia. The $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline was started 
in 2014 and is nearly 90% complete, but has stalled in recent 
months among environmental lawsuits.

"The Mountain Valley Pipeline is the only project in the entire 
country that can bring 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per 
day onto the market in just six months," Manchin said in August 
when news of the deal first broke.

The opposition by House Democrats to the oil and gas permitting 
bill has put the pipeline at risk. Manchin's GOP critics say the 
senator gave up any leverage to get the permitting bill through 
when he agreed to vote on the $739 billion climate change and 
tax package first.

"Joe Manchin sold out West Virginia for a signing pen from 
President Biden," said Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va. "He single-
handedly restarted the Biden administration’s inflation-causing 
spending binge."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/71-house-democrats-warn-pelosi-
against-tying-manchins-permitting-deal-government-funding-bill