Climate crisis: White House is apparently weakening its climate protection plans

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Senator Joe Manchin: Skeptical of Joe Biden's plans

Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

The political dispute over Joe Biden's big social package is raging in Washington.

As the "New York Times" reported, citing insiders, the US government's climate protection plans are threatened with a serious setback Replacing nuclear energy could therefore be removed from the trillion dollar package, it is said.

The White House made no comment on the article on Friday night.

According to research by the newspaper, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, whose vote Biden needs, has raised concerns in the White House about that $ 150 billion portion of the clean electricity package.

White House employees are now trying to write a version of the reform plans without the climate protection provision, writes the New York Times.

Attempts are being made to put together a mix of other measures that could also help reduce emissions.

Joe Manchin represents coal-rich West Virginia and also has financial ties to the local energy industry.

The senator has concerns that taxpayers' money is being used "to pay private companies for things they are already doing," said Manchin's spokesman Sam Runyon in a statement.

But he "continues to support efforts to combat climate change while protecting American energy independence."

The other West Virginia senator, Republican Shelley Moore Capito, said she was vehemently against the energy program because it "aims to ultimately eliminate coal and natural gas from our electricity mix."

This would be "absolutely devastating to my state."

Coal is considered to be the most harmful energy source for the climate.

It's about trillions of dollars and the next ten years

Joe Manchin had also spoken out against the originally planned total of $ 3.5 trillion for Biden's spending plan, which is primarily about social programs.

In addition to Manchin, Biden is also making it difficult for Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona to implement his plans.

The president is faced with a delicate balancing act: he must try to cut the cost of the package without angering the progressive Democrats, who are also important for the passage of the law.

In the Senate, every vote of the Democrats is needed for the passage.

Joe Biden said Friday he would prefer to cut the duration of programs in his package rather than cut some entirely.

The president also said that he expected the package to shrink.

At the same time, however, he announced for the time after a goodbye: "We will come back and get the rest." A reduction in costs to a good two trillion dollars is currently being discussed.

Joe Manchin was recently criticized publicly by Bernie Sanders for not wanting to support the package so far.

Sanders spoke of "an historic opportunity to support working families in West Virginia, Vermont and across the country."

Manchin said on Friday evening: "It is not the first time that a foreigner has tried to tell the citizens of West Virginia what is best for them."

For Joe Biden, developments in Washington are making an upcoming business trip more complicated: a world climate conference is due in Glasgow in about two weeks.

There Biden would probably like to introduce the other top politicians to those American climate protection measures that are now apparently threatened with being cut.

mbö / AP / Reuters