Fighting climate change has been a main component of the president’s „Build Back Better“ agenda.
Democratic lawmakers are scrambling to negotiate alternative climate change proposals for President Joe Biden ’s massive budget plan, following West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s strong opposition to the plan’s core climate change strategy. Manchin, a moderate Democrat who can sink the bill provisin the 50-50 split Senate, said he will not vote for more than $1.5 trillion in spending and told the White House he’s opposed to a clean electricity plan, a key part of the president’s climate agenda. The clean electricity program would require some of the country’s electricity to come from zero-carbon sources like wind and solar power and impose financial penalties on utilities that don’t meet clean energy standards. The $150 billion plan is critical for Biden’s commitment to cut emissions in half by 2030 and put the U.S. on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The president, in an attempt to salvage what had once been his $3.5 trillion budget plan, is meeting with members of the two warring factions of Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday. The outcome of this week’s negotiations could determine whether the budget bill gets through Congress and whether the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill already passed by the Senate receives a majority in the House.
