Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) on Thursday reportedly blocked President Biden’s plan to terminate all future offshore oil and gas drilling in Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico waters.
Biden’s $1.9 trillion reconciliation package includes a scheme to terminate future oil and gas leases, but with Manchin’s crucial “no” vote in a split 50/50 Senate, Biden’s radically transformative and costly agenda appears stymied, according to the Washington Post.
While the bill’s provisions do not block currently existing oil and gas leases, Manchin, chair of the Senate Energy and National Resources Committee, “expressed surprise at top Democrats’ decision to include language ending an oil and gas leasing program” within the reconciliation package.
Critics of Manchin accuse him of supporting American fossil fuels at the expense of costly Green New Deal-like energy because he has an interest in the waste coal business.
Manchin’s position against Biden’s war on American energy is his latest objection to the reconciliation package. On Wednesday, Manchin signaled he would oppose Biden’s pleas to support the costly child tax credit and other far-left provisions.
Wednesday’s failed negotiations between the president and the senator resulted in postponing the package until 2022. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) promised to pass the package by Christmas.
Biden’s war on American energy independence, which the White House has waged by reassessing fossil fuel leases and pipelines, along with rejoining the Paris Climate Accords, has culminated in the Justice Department investigating oil companies for allegedly “gouging people” at the pump.
Meanwhile, gas prices reached record highs in November until Biden released the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to reduce prices, despite Vice President Harris slamming Trump in 2020 for refilling the Reserve.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø
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