Joe Manchin, the most conservative Democrat in a split Senate, is signaling that he’ll be a check on liberal climate change policies such as a mandate for carbon-free electricity.
“You cannot eliminate your way to a cleaner environment. You can innovate your way. That is the difference in some people’s aspirational goals,” Manchin told the Washington Examiner in an interview.
Manchin, who represents the coal state of West Virginia, is perhaps the most powerful man in Washington, where the Democrats control the Senate but only by the thread of a tiebreak vote from Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Manchin’s control over climate change policy is especially significant because he is set to be the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he was the top-ranked Democrat last Congress.
President-elect Joe Biden, in response to pressure from liberals, proposed the most aggressive agenda ever to combat climate change.
Biden promised to eliminate greenhouse gases from the power
