Joe Manchin Folds on His Energy Plan After Senators Tank Permitting Reform Bill

Sen. Joe Manchin, who failed to win enough support for the measure, asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday to remove the energy permitting reform bill from a federal budget agreement.

In a statement, Democratic Senator from West Virginia Joe Manchin stated, it is sad that members of the United States Senate are allowing politics to jeopardize the energy security of our country.

Manchin's Energy Permitting Proposal Stripped From Funding Bill

A vote that fails on something as important as comprehensive permitting reform just gives dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin who want to see America fail more confidence, Manchin and Schumer, a Democrat, struck a compromise last month.

In exchange for Chuck Schumer submitting energy permitting reform for a Senate vote, Sen. Joe Manchin agreed to support the Democrats' social spending and taxes measure last month. They planned to include Manchin's idea for permitting reform in a continuing resolution that would temporarily fund the government until the elections, as per Fox News.

To avoid a lapse in operations, the budget plan, which would finance the government through December 16, must pass the House and Senate by Friday at midnight. Manchin's decision on the permitting matter implies that the legislation should pass through Congress without too much difficulty.

On Tuesday night, the law was approved by a 72-23 vote, with all of the opposition coming from Republicans. In exchange for his assistance in passing President Joe Biden's $740 billion Inflation Reduction Act last month, Chuck Schumer had assured Manchin that his plan would be incorporated into the legislation.

Progressive Democrats, who said the amendment gave too much to energy companies, as well as Republicans enraged by Manchin's backing of the Inflation Reduction Act, both criticized the amendment, according to New York Post.

Republicans Say Manchin Made a Mistake

Manchin made a mistake, according to Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of McConnell's leadership team, by thinking that Republicans would support his permitting reform proposal without the opportunity to negotiate the specifics of the final version.

Republicans were reluctant to give Manchin a political triumph after he shocked them in July by announcing a surprise agreement to set a 15% corporate minimum tax, spend hundreds of billions on climate programs, and give Medicare unprecedented negotiating authority with the pharmaceutical sector.

Manchin did this, according to Cornyn, by supporting the Inflation Reduction Act in August and then anticipating success for his permitting legislation. Given the outcome of the vote on Tuesday, it is unclear whether Congress will have another opportunity to advance permitting reform, a long-standing Republican priority, in the coming years.

Manchin said on Monday that if his bill failed, Congress would not pass permitting reform anytime soon. He also acknowledged that he was taken aback by McConnell's resistance to his bill to overhaul permitting. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), House progressives, and environmental justice organizations, he claimed, would all fiercely oppose it.

Even in the final hours before Tuesday's vote, Manchin tried tirelessly to secure enough Republican support for his measure, but in the end he was unable to free himself from McConnell's control of the GOP caucus. If Manchin is ready to collaborate with Capito on a more robust permitting reform plan, Cornyn claimed Manchin can still pass permitting reform.

The annual defense authorization bill or another piece of legislation that needs to pass before the year ends, he indicated, might include a revised version of the law. Earlier this month, Capito unveiled a more comprehensive permitting reform measure.

It would set up a framework for prompt approvals of energy projects, speed up the permitting and review processes, and codify the National Environmental Policy Act restrictions implemented by the Trump administration. The prospect of a possible government shutdown at the end of the week has been allayed by Schumer's decision to separate permitting reform from the short-term funding plan, The Hill reported.