How inflation upended Biden's climate agenda

Rising prices, party infighting and aftershocks from Russia's invasion of Ukraine have hurt the president's plans to accelerate the energy transition.
WASHINGTON — The day after what was left of his legislative agenda to fight climate change appeared to crash and burn in the Senate, the President Biden has flown to Saudi Arabia, ready to pressure the region's oil giants to pump even more crude into global markets.
M . Biden came to power promising to wean the United States off fossil fuels like oil and coal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are on the verge of triggering catastrophic global warming.
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"> He surrounded himself with experienced and aggressive advisers on international and domestic climate policy, setting ambitious goals to accelerate an energy transition that would touch every corner of the US economy. He presented himself as a master negotiator who had spent nearly four decades in the Senate and could form coalitions on major legislation.
A 24-hour period at the end of this week showed just how frustrated Mr. Biden has been in that effort. His climate goals have stalled amid Democratic infighting and shifting economic priorities driven by rapidly rising inflation, including soaring gasoline prices sparked by Russia's war in Ukraine
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">After more than a year of talks, a coal state Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, told party leaders on Thursday that until As he sees more encouraging inflation data from the government, he couldn't support a $300 billion collection of tax incentives meant to help electric utilities and other businesses transition to alternative sources of energy. cleaner energy such as wind and solar power. The provisions were to be part of a larger bill that administration officials said would reduce health care and electricity costs and ease inflationary pressure by reducing the federal deficit. last hope for aggressive climate action ahead of midterm elections in November, jeopardizing the package's prospects.
Mr. Manchin had negotiated with Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, on an energy and climate proposal that was itself a scaled-down version of the climate initiatives Mr. Biden had unsuccessfully tried to sell to Mr. Manchin l last fall. In a taste of the recurring nature of the talks, on Friday, Mr. Manchin told West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval that he was still committed to those negotiations and let the idea float. could back energy legislation in September, but not sooner.
But Mr Manchin also said he was hesitant, for now, to increase taxes on corporations and high-income individuals to offset energy and climate credits, at a time when inflation is rising at its fastest pace in 40 years. He said he had told Mr. Schumer he wanted to see the next set of inflation figures, which will be out in August, before continuing.
World Jul 15, 2022 0 103 Add to Reading List

Rising prices, party infighting and aftershocks from Russia's invasion of Ukraine have hurt the president's plans to accelerate the energy transition.

WASHINGTON — The day after what was left of his legislative agenda to fight climate change appeared to crash and burn in the Senate, the President Biden has flown to Saudi Arabia, ready to pressure the region's oil giants to pump even more crude into global markets.

M . Biden came to power promising to wean the United States off fossil fuels like oil and coal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are on the verge of triggering catastrophic global warming.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0"> He surrounded himself with experienced and aggressive advisers on international and domestic climate policy, setting ambitious goals to accelerate an energy transition that would touch every corner of the US economy. He presented himself as a master negotiator who had spent nearly four decades in the Senate and could form coalitions on major legislation.

A 24-hour period at the end of this week showed just how frustrated Mr. Biden has been in that effort. His climate goals have stalled amid Democratic infighting and shifting economic priorities driven by rapidly rising inflation, including soaring gasoline prices sparked by Russia's war in Ukraine

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">After more than a year of talks, a coal state Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, told party leaders on Thursday that until As he sees more encouraging inflation data from the government, he couldn't support a $300 billion collection of tax incentives meant to help electric utilities and other businesses transition to alternative sources of energy. cleaner energy such as wind and solar power. The provisions were to be part of a larger bill that administration officials said would reduce health care and electricity costs and ease inflationary pressure by reducing the federal deficit. last hope for aggressive climate action ahead of midterm elections in November, jeopardizing the package's prospects.

Mr. Manchin had negotiated with Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, on an energy and climate proposal that was itself a scaled-down version of the climate initiatives Mr. Biden had unsuccessfully tried to sell to Mr. Manchin l last fall. In a taste of the recurring nature of the talks, on Friday, Mr. Manchin told West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval that he was still committed to those negotiations and let the idea float. could back energy legislation in September, but not sooner.

But Mr Manchin also said he was hesitant, for now, to increase taxes on corporations and high-income individuals to offset energy and climate credits, at a time when inflation is rising at its fastest pace in 40 years. He said he had told Mr. Schumer he wanted to see the next set of inflation figures, which will be out in August, before continuing.