US Politics

Trump asks supreme court to block release of 6 January recordsAn appeals court ruled against the former US president two weeks ago but prohibited documents from being turned over Donald Trump turned to the supreme court Thursday in a last-ditch effort to keep documents away from the House committee investigating the 6 January insurrection at the Capitol.A federal appeals court ruled against the former US president two weeks ago, but prohibited documents held by the National Archives from being turned over before the supreme court had a chance to weigh in. Trump appointed three of the nine justices.Michael Flynn sues Capitol attack committee in bid to block subpoenaRead moreTrump is claiming that as a former president he has right to assert executive privilege over the records, arguing that releasing them would damage the presidency in the future.But Joe Biden determined that the documents were in the public interest and that executive privilege should therefore not be invoked.The documents include presidential diaries, visitor logs, speech drafts, handwritten notes “concerning the events of January 6” from the files of former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and “a draft executive order on the topic of election integrity”, the Archives has said.The House committee has said the records are vital to its investigation into the run-up to the deadly riot that was aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.TopicsDonald TrumpUS Capitol attackUS politicsUS supreme courtLaw (US)newsReuse this content More

‘It’s time to take action’: faith leaders urge Biden to pass voting rights legislationA letter organized by Martin Luther King III and his wife comes after Republicans successfully filibustered bills four times this year More than 800 faith leaders have called on the Biden administration and Senate Democrats to pass voting rights legislation next year.“We cannot be clearer, you must act now to protect every American’s freedom to vote without interference and with confidence that their ballot will be counted and honored. Passing comprehensive voting rights legislation must be the number-one priority of the administration and Congress,” faith leaders said in a letter addressed to the president and Senate members on Wednesday.The letter, organized by Martin Luther King III and his wife, Arndrea Waters King, was signed by various faith organizations, including the African American Christian Clergy Coalition, Bend the Arc: Jewish Action and Faith in Public Life.Signatories include those who come from Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities, including Reverend Canon Leonard L Hamlin Sr of the Washington National Cathedral and Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg of National Council of Jewish Women.“The communities we represent will continue to sound the alarm until these bills are passed. While we come from different faiths, we are united by our commitment to act in solidarity with the most vulnerable among us,” the letter added.The letter comes after Republicans successfully filibustered voting rights bills on four different occasions this year. Most recently, on 3 November, Republicans in the Senate blocked the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Acts – one of two major pieces of voting rights legislation that Democrats have championed in Congress in attempts to prevent Republicans from eroding easy access to the vote.Republicans blocking the key voting rights bill in November was a move seen by many as a breaking point in the push to eliminate the filibuster, the Senate rule that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation.Despite numerous Democrats calling for the elimination of the filibuster, they lack the votes to end the rule due to not only a slim majority but also opposition within their own party. Two Democrats, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, are strongly opposed, arguing that the rule forges bipartisan compromise.Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, described the filibuster on 3 November as a “low, low point in the history of this body”.In Wednesday’s letter, faith leaders said, “Nothing – including the filibuster – should stand in the way of passing the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, both of which have already passed the House and await Senate action and leadership.”According to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice, nineteen states have enacted nearly three dozen laws between January and the end of September that make it more difficult to vote.Wednesday’s letter is a reflection of the growing pressure on Democrats to pass voting rights legislation that aims to outlaw excessive partisan gerrymandering and would require early voting, no-excuse mail-in voting, in addition to automatic and same-day registration.“It’s time to stop lamenting the state of our democracy and take action to address it,” the letter said.TopicsUS voting rightsBiden administrationMartin Luther KingRepublicansUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

Joe Manchin knifed progressives in the back. They won’t forgive, and won’t forgetAndrew GawthorpeThe senator’s betrayal is devastating for the future of trust and cooperation within the Democratic party On Sunday, Senator Joe Manchin finally said the word that many have expected from him for a long time: “no”. After a year of mammoth negotiations over the Biden administration’s social welfare and climate legislation, called Build Back Better, the senator from West Virginia told Fox News that it was time to stop trying and move on. At the same time, he released a statement blaming inflation, the national debt and Covid-19 – in other words, anything but himself – for the failure to reach a deal.The White House was reported to be “blindsided” by the news. But progressives have long seen this moment coming. All year long progressives in Congress have been negotiating with moderates like Manchin over the Biden administration’s legislative priorities. They agreed to support an infrastructure bill which the moderates badly wanted (and which was, to be fair, a good piece of legislation) in exchange for assurances that Build Back Better would also pass Congress. They stuck by this deal through thick and thin, even when Manchin insisted on defanging many of its climate provisions. They didn’t even balk when asked to drop their demand that both pieces of legislation pass Congress at the same time, which would have prevented Manchin from shirking on the agreement later.In return, progressives got screwed – badly. For all the talk over the last few years of the emergence of a “tea party of the left” or moderate hair-rending over the social media antics of “the Squad”, progressives in Congress approached these negotiations constructively, reasonably, and in good faith. They put aside their concerns about Joe Biden and gave him the wins he wanted on centrist priorities, even when that meant delaying action on their own. And they did this even though the evidence is that the main components of the Build Back Better agenda are overwhelmingly popular with the public at large and might even help to save an administration which the public sees as badly adrift.This outcome is devastating for the future of trust and cooperation within the Democratic party. Progressives can hardly be expected to continue to subordinate their own goals to those of the moderate wing in the future or trust moderate leaders to work towards progressive goals. There’s not likely to ever be a “tea party of the left”, but progressives can be expected to start exerting themselves much more vigorously through public debate, legislative negotiation and launching primary challengers against the centrists who thwart their agenda.Progressives are also likely to be emboldened because Manchin’s betrayal provides additional validation for two important components of their critique of the Democratic party. The first is that the party has been too willing to put corporate interests above tackling social welfare and climate change. Manchin not only represents the coal state of West Virginia but also profits handsomely from the industry personally. This consideration can hardly have been far from his mind when he forced the removal from the Build Back Bill of a provision which would have done more than anything to force energy companies to phase out fossil fuels. With the future of the planet at stake and figures like Manchin blocking the party from doing anything about it, progressives can only conclude that the party itself needs transforming.The second progressive critique which has been vindicated by this turn of events is the charge that the Democratic party’s leadership is too complacent and chummy – some might also add old – to face up to the challenges facing America today. Throughout this year, Biden has barely lifted a finger in public to shepherd Build Back Better through Congress. If activists used to worry about the deals that got done behind closed doors in smoke-filled rooms, then 2021 was the year of the smoke-filled Zoom: a hazy interminable conversation between the president and Manchin which never seemed to yield any concrete results, but which did just enough to keep Biden quiet in public. If the president had seen himself as more of a crusader for progressive goals than a former senator still working the room, there’s no guarantee the outcome would have been different. But one thing is for sure: the approach he did take failed.Trust takes years to build and only a single act to destroy. And unfortunately, there’s no time now to rebuild it, because Manchin’s blow comes as Democrats have only a short time to pass major legislation before campaigning begins for the midterms. This could meanlosing out not only on salvaging some parts of Build Back Better, but also on crucial action on safeguarding voting rights. And without any significant new accomplishments, the party faces dim prospects in 2022 and 2024.As imperfect a vehicle for progressive hopes as it is, the Biden presidency may be the last in a long time with both the desire and the capabilities to tackle social inequality, hold back the rise of the oceans, and safeguard American democracy. Manchin and his enablers may have just killed it. Progressives will never forgive, and they will never forget.
Andrew Gawthorpe is a historian of the United States and host of the podcast America Explained
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Could Chile show the United States how to rebuild its democracy?Tony KaronThe US once helped destroy Chilean democracy. Now, a constitutional reform movement in Chile could teach the US how to fix its own Chile always gave the lie to the cold war claim that the United States stood for democracy. When its voters in 1970 showed the temerity (“irresponsibility”, Henry Kissinger called it) to elect socialist Salvador Allende as president, Washington helped orchestrate the coup that toppled him, and backed the resulting dictatorship.It seems those “irresponsible” Chilean voters are at it again – on Sunday, they elected leftist Gabriel Boric as president by a 12-point margin, on the back of a campaign for a new constitution. But if Chilean democracy seems on the road to recovery from its Washington-backed disfiguration, prospects for democracy in the United States look rather bleak.Sunday also saw Joe Manchin brandish the veto power the US system grants a senator representing fewer than 300,000 voters to tank the agenda of a president chosen by 80 million. And that was but the latest reminder that Americans are not governed by the democratic will of the citizenry. The US supreme court looks ready to strike down abortion rights supported by about two-thirds of the electorate, while Democrats in office seem unable or unwilling to deliver on basic social programs supported by a majority of voters, whether on drug prices or childcare or public health, and much more – or to prevent Republicans brazenly reengineering state-level laws and procedures to prevent voters of color from ever again making the difference they made in 2020.Minority rule is a feature, not a bug of the US constitutional system.Donald Trump was legitimately elected president in 2016 despite losing by 3m votes. And 6 January notwithstanding, the Republican party needs no coup to lock itself into power for the foreseeable future, even if it represents a diminishing minority of voters. The US constitution provides all the tools they’ll need: the electoral college; the US Senate (two seats per state means it can be controlled with less than 20% of the national vote); the supreme court the Senate effectively picks; and the state houses empowered to set voting laws and rules, and even redraw districts to partisan advantage.The framers of the constitution never intended that every American would have a vote, much less a vote of equal value. They created a system to regulate a society ruled by and for wealthy white male settlers engaged in the conquest and subordination of the country’s Indigenous and Black populations.Decades of bitter struggle on the streets have won Black and Brown people far more access to the US political system than the founders ever intended. Still, even the gains codified in the civil rights era are being consciously rolled back by a billionaire-funded white nationalist party looking to cement its hold on power for the foreseeable future against any demographic headwinds.Ineffectual appeals to “save our democracy” reflect the paralysis of mainstream Democrats in the face of the Republican offensive that has weaponized a minority-rule constitutional system.Nor is a majority of citizens easily able, within its rules, to change these anti-democratic provisions of the US constitution: even minor changes require agreement by two-thirds of each house of Congress, and three-quarters of the 50 states.Democratizing the United States – creating a system of government shaped by every citizen having the right to a vote of equal value – would require a different constitution, democratically adopted by a national community quite different from the one imagined by the founding fathers. But that’s what Chileans are attempting.Boric is a product of a student rebellion a decade ago that fed into a broader social justice movement focused on issues ranging from austerity, a failing social safety net, healthcare and economic inequality to gender violence and Indigenous rights. While even center-left governments were stymied from delivering on voter expectations, many in this parliament of the streets recognized that their grievances were products of the democracy deficit built into the dictatorship’s 1980 constitution to ensure continuity of its economic model.Although it allowed Chileans to elect their president and lower house of parliament, that constitution built in minority vetoes, such as appointing one-third of senators and much of the judiciary, as failsafe mechanisms to prevent democratically elected politicians from enacting the systemic changes demanded by voters. Thus the emergence of a democracy movement based outside formal political parties, which in late 2019 won a referendum to have a new constitution democratically drafted. That movement’s energy also propelled Boric to power.So, does Chile have lessons to teach US progressives? It’s a question worth investigating. Sure, the US is nowhere near a point where public opinion recognizes the need for a new constitution. But it’s equally clear that the US fails as a democracy – and the morbid implications of US minority-rule-with-a-democratic-face can’t credibly be avoided.Curiously enough, US conservatives have never been shy to follow Chilean examples: the shrink-government campaign that began in the Reagan era was road-tested by Chile’s dictatorship under the tutelage of US “free-market” ideologues. And President GW Bush, in his 2005 effort to privatize social security, cited Chile as the model to emulate.But the Chilean popular rebellion against that same neoliberal model, and the potential it has raised for a democratic reordering of power and of that country’s social contract, suggests that the right are not the only Americans who may have something to learn from Chile.
Tony Karon is a South African-born journalist and former anti-apartheid activist. He is currently the Managing Editor of AJ+
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‘Nothing’s been good enough’: Biden addresses US Covid testing shortage before holidaysPresident tells ABC that country is in better position than last Christmas but is struggling with testing Pressed about US testing shortages amid the omicron surge, Biden conceded in an interview that “nothing’s been good enough”.In an interview with ABC’s David Muir on Wednesday, the president signaled that the country was in a better shape now than last Christmas but said he wished he had ordered free at-home tests earlier than this week. A surging demand for tests, driven by the new variant and the winter holidays, has led to long lines and shortages around the country.Meanwhile, hospitals in many parts of the US are once again strained or struggling as Covid patients crowd emergency rooms and intensive care units.“We’re nearly two years into the pandemic and a year into your presidency. Empty shelves and no test kits in some places, three days before Christmas … is that good enough?” asked Muir.“No, nothing’s been good enough,” said Biden. “I wish I had thought about ordering” the 500m at-home tests two months ago, the president later added.The interview comes on the heels of Biden’s announcement of a plan to send half a billion at-home coronavirus test kits to Americans. The president has also instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assess and expand hospital bed capacity in anticipation of a winter surge.However, the president reiterated that he would not be requiring travelers to be vaccinated before getting on flights to the US, nor was he considering vaccine requirements for domestic air travelers. As he did at the White House on Tuesday, the president emphasized that 200 million residents have already been vaccinated.Biden announces half a billion free home Covid tests to fight OmicronRead moreEarly studies suggest that vaccinated people will need a booster shot to avoid contracting the Omicron variant.The White House also announced on Wednesday that it was purchasing more treatments, seeking to double the supply of sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment. The administration is also procuring half a million doses of AstraZeneca’s newly authorized drug to prevent Covid in people with weakened immune systems. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday also authorized Pfizer’s antiviral pills for Covid.“Last Christmas, we were in a situation where we had significantly fewer vaccinated — people vaccinated, emergency rooms were filled. You had serious backups in hospitals that were causing great difficulties,” Biden said in the interview.The president himself was exposed to the virus; the White House announced Monday that a staffer who traveled aboard Air Force One with the president had tested positive. However, Biden tested negative for the virus on Wednesday. Kamala Harris was also exposed. The White House said on Wednesday that a staffer who was in close contact with her this week tested positive. The vice-president has tested negative so far.Biden told ABC that if he is “in good health” he would run for president again, especially in a rematch against Donald Trump. “Why would I not run against Donald Trump for the nominee?” the president said. “That’ll increase the prospect of running.”TopicsJoe BidenOmicron variantUS politicsCoronavirusnewsReuse this content More

Republicans woo Joe Manchin as senator clashes with DemocratsCentrist senator has rejected the idea of joining GOP but has indicated openness to being an independent For many Democrats, Joe Manchin has become an unshakeable problem. The centrist senator is at odds with other Democrats on everything from filibuster reform to climate policy, and he recently announced his opposition to the Build Back Better Act, the lynchpin of Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.But Republicans think Manchin now represents an opportunity to boost their numbers.As Democrats have leveled fierce criticism at the West Virginia senator in the past few days, Republicans have resurrected their campaign to recruit him to their party.The stakes of this charm offensive could not be higher. With the Senate split 50-50, Manchin’s party change would give Republicans the majority. If Republicans take control of the Senate, they would have the ability to block Biden’s nominees and quash Democratic bills.Speaking to the New York Times on Tuesday, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, reiterated his invitiation to Manchin to join the Republican caucus. “Obviously we would love to have him on our team,” McConnell said. “I think he’d be more comfortable.”Why the collapse of Biden’s Build Back Better would be a major blow to the climate fightRead moreThe Republican senator John Cornyn said he also texted Manchin on Tuesday to tell him: “Joe, if they don’t want you we do.”Cornyn told the NBC affiliate KXAN that he had not heard back from Manchin, but he said a change in Senate control would be “the greatest Christmas gift I can think of”.Manchin has not given any indication that he is seriously considering switching parties. In a Monday interview with West Virginia Radio, Manchin said he believed there was still room in the Democratic party for someone with his views.“I would like to hope that there are still Democrats that feel like I do,” Manchin said. “I’m socially – I’m fiscally responsible and socially compassionate.” He added: “Now, if there’s no Democrats like that, then they’ll have to push me wherever they want me.”Manchin has been even more pointed in the past when asked about his party identity. After a report emerged in October that he was seriously considering leaving the Democratic party, he dismissed the news as “bullshit”.But he acknowledged he had previously offered to change his party affiliation to “independent” if his views ever became an “embarrassment” for Biden or other Senate Democrats.“I said, me being a moderate centrist Democrat — if that causes you a problem, let me know and I’d switch to be independent,” Manchin said in October.At the time, none of Manchin’s Democratic colleagues took him up on the offer, although some may now be tempted to do so. When Manchin announced he would oppose Build Back Better, after he had already demanded major changes to the spending package to limit its size and scope, some congressional Democrats sounded ready to abandon their colleague.“It’s unfortunate that it seems we can’t trust Senator Manchin’s word,” Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on Monday. “We’re not going to wait for one man to decide on one day that he’s with us, and on the other day that he’s not.”For McConnell, that is an opening to try to wrest back control of the Senate.“Why in the world would they want to call him a liar and try to hotbox him and embarrass him?” McConnell told the Times. “I think the message is, ‘We don’t want you around.’ Obviously that is up to Joe Manchin, but he is clearly not welcome on that side of the aisle.”TopicsJoe ManchinDemocratsRepublicansUS politicsUS SenateUS CongressfeaturesReuse this content More

Capitol attack committee seeks appearance by Trump ally Jim JordanPanel writes to Republican congressman from Ohio, calling for meeting next month The House committee investigating the events around the 6 January attack on the US Capitol has asked the congressman and close Trump ally Jim Jordan to make an appearance before the panel.Jordan is a conservative Republican from Ohio who is seen as a close confidant of the former US president.“We write to seek your voluntary co-operation in advancing our investigation,” the committee said in a letter to Jordan, asking for an appearance early in January.The letter revealed that the panel was seeking to ask Jordan about the role Trump might have played as the attack unfolded. The mob of pro-Trump supporters had stormed the Capitol in a bid to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.“We understand that you had at least one and possibly multiple communications with President Trump on January 6th. We would like to discuss each such communication with you in detail,” it said.The letter also revealed its interests were wider than the attack itself and included the activities of Trump allies and aides holed up in a Washington hotel. “We also wish to inquire about any communications you had on January 5th or 6th with those in the Willard War Room, the Trump legal team, White House personnel or others involved in organizing or planning the actions and strategies for January 6th,” the letter read.The request is the second by the nine-member panel this week to go after a sitting Republican congressman and launches a new phase for the panel.Michael Flynn sues Capitol attack committee in bid to block subpoenaRead moreScott Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican, has also been asked by the panel to provide documents and sit for an interview. But on Tuesday Perry said he would not comply with the panel.Perry’s refusal to appear set up a potentially fraught battle if the panel decides to subpoena him and he – like other Trump allies – decides to ignore that, too. Jordan is widely expected to decline to cooperate.Jordan, a staunch Trump ally, has been identified as the Republican lawmaker who sent a message to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows the day before the Capitol attack outlining a plan to stop Biden from reaching the White House.The panel has been looking at numerous messages sent to Meadows, many of which were urging Trump to call off a mob of his supporters as they ransacked the Capitol building.Jordan forwarded a text message to Meadows on 5 January, one of the congressman’s aides has confirmed, containing details of the plot to block Biden.The message was sent to Jordan by Joseph Schmitz, a former US defense department inspector general, who outlined a “draft proposal” to pressure the then vice-president, Mike Pence, to refuse to certify audited election returns on 6 January.A portion of the message was revealed by the Democratic committee member and congressman Adam Schiff. It read: “On January 6, 2021, Vice-President Mike Pence, as president of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all.”TopicsUS Capitol attackUS politicsHouse of RepresentativesUS CongressDonald TrumpnewsReuse this content More

Why the collapse of Biden’s Build Back Better would be a major blow to the climate fightIt would be almost impossible for the US to comply with its greenhouse gas reduction pledges without the $1.75tn package that Manchin refuses to support The collapse of Joe Biden’s Build Back Better legislation would have disastrous consequences for the global climate crisis, making it almost impossible for the US to comply with its greenhouse gas reduction pledges made under the Paris accords.Dire end to Biden’s first year as Manchin says no on signature billRead moreThe US president’s sweeping economic recovery and social welfare bill is in serious trouble after the Democratic senator Joe Manchin announced his opposition to the $1.75tn spending package that includes the country’s largest ever climate crisis investment.The shock move by the fossil fuel-friendly West Virginia lawmaker came after a year of record-breaking fires, floods, hurricanes and droughts devastated families across America, and amid warnings that such deadly extreme weather events will intensify unless there is radical action to curb greenhouse gases.The Build Back Better (BBB) legislation earmarks $555bn to tackle the US’s largest sources of global heating gasses – energy and transportation – through a variety of grants, tax incentives and other policies to boost jobs and technologies in renewable energy, as well as major investments in sustainable vehicles and public transit services.It is by far the largest chunk of federal funding for Biden’s climate crisis initiatives, without which experts say it will be impossible to meet the administration’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.Globally, the US is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China, and scientists warn that even halving emissions by 2030 may not be enough to avoid a catastrophic rise in atmospheric and oceanic temperatures.But BBB would be a major step forward towards the US meeting the goals laid out by Biden at last month’s UN climate talks in Glasgow, with no time to waste given the regression during the Trump administration. Without it, the Biden administration would be forced to rely on a web of new regulations and standards which could be overturned by future presidents.Lawmakers, climate experts and labor groups have voiced intense anger and frustration over Manchin’s refusal to support the bill, which would leave the Democrats without the necessary votes to get it through the Senate.Raúl Grijalva, chair of the House natural resources committee, said the concentration of political power in a few hands had caused nothing but “gridlock and frustration”.“Our country has serious economic and environmental problems that demand government action. If we don’t take that action, we’ll look back at this moment as a decisive wrong turn in the life of our country,” Grijalva said in a statement.“Who died and made Joe Manchin king, how is this a democracy?” said Mary Annaïse Heglar, climate writer and co-host of the podcast Hot Take. “There’s been a dereliction of duty by politicians for decades who’ve failed to make the case for climate action … climate math won’t reset just because the political math did.”Writing on Twitter, Jesse Jenkins, an energy professor at Princeton University who leads a group analysing the potential of BBB, said Manchin’s decision was “devastating” given the high stakes. “Passing #BuildBackBetter would lower energy costs and secure both the US’s climate goals and its global competitiveness in some of the most important industries of the 21st century. Failure would cost Americans dearly.”BBB would build on a bipartisan infrastructure bill, signed into law last month, which contains important steps towards transforming America’s fossil fuel fired transport system by incentivizing zero emission public transit, a national network of electric vehicle chargers and a renewables energy grid.But BBB goes much further. For instance, homeowners would get incentives to install rooftop solar systems and insulate their homes.It also provides significant funding to address a range of environmental injustices which have led to Black, Latino, Indigenous and other marginalized Americans being disproportionately exposed to the harmful effects of fossil fuel pollution, ageing infrastructure like lead pipes, emerging toxins and the climate crisis.The bill includes billions of dollars in grants and other schemes to clean up pollution and create toxic-free communities, healthy ports and climate-resilient affordable housing, as well as research and development infrastructure at historically Black colleges and universities.So if Manchin move finally scuppers the BBB act – as is widely feared – frontline communities in the US, and across the world, would bear the brunt of the inaction.“Build Back Better is our once-in-a-generation opportunity to combat the climate crisis and advance environmental justice through transformative investments that only the government can provide,” said Abigail Dillen, president of the legal non-profit Earthjustice. “The urgency couldn’t be greater. As communities across our country are displaced by weather disasters and others breathe polluted air and drink poisoned water, political leaders like Senator Manchin cannot continue denying the crisis before us.”The climate crisis is undeniably causing havoc and misery across the world, with 2021 one of the deadliest ever years for weather disasters in the US. This year’s death toll includes at least 200 people killed by extreme heat in the Pacific north-west over the summer and 125 deaths caused by the extreme freeze in Texas in February.After years of scepticism, the majority of Americans now want government action to tackle the climate crisis but the majority of republicans – and a handful of democrats – continue to obstruct meaningful policy initiatives.Manchin, whose family profits from the coal industry in West Virginia, has already pushed out key climate policies during the BBB negotiations including a program to incentivize electricity utilities to use renewable power sources.Yet even some of Manchin’s core supporters are urging him to reconsider his opposition to the current bill, which includes several policies that would directly benefit large numbers of West Virginians including the state’s struggling coal miners.In a statement, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), which named Manchin as an honorary member last year, warned that benefits to coalminers suffering from black lung disease will expire at the end of this year unless BBB is passed. The union also supports the bill’s tax incentives that encourage manufacturers to build facilities on abandoned coalfields that would employ thousands of unemployed miners.Cecil Roberts, the union’s president, said: “We urge Senator Manchin to revisit his opposition to this legislation and work with his colleagues to pass something that will help keep coalminers working, and have a meaningful impact on our members, their families, and their communities.”TopicsUS politicsClimate crisisJoe BidenJoe ManchinUS CongressDemocratsfeaturesReuse this content More