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

[Bill Steele]

In article <so1jsm$du4$9...@news.dns-netz.com>
David Hartung <kicking....@Hotmail.com> 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