Manchin Suggests He’s Ready to Start Talks on Climate, Tax Bill

(Bloomberg) -- Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has told climate activists and clean-energy executives that he is interested in restarting negotiations on a slimmed-down version of the Build Back Better Act that would focus on climate change, prescription-drug prices, and deficit reduction, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

The remarks, made earlier this week at a dinner held by the American Clean Power Association, dovetail with comments Manchin made earlier this month to supporters of the legislation -- about working on a deal after the April recess, another person said. 

The American Clean Power Association didn’t respond to a request for comment on the remarks, which were earlier reported by Axios.

“Senator Manchin is always willing to engage in discussions about the best way to move our country forward,” his spokeswoman, Sam Runyon, said in a statement. “He has made clear that we can protect energy independence and respond to climate change at the same time.”

Manchin, a conservative Democrat from a coal-and natural-gas-rich state, has played on outsized role in the fate of President Joe Biden’s signature spending plan, which appeared doomed after he announced his opposition -- on the conservative Fox News Channel -- in December.

Summer Timeline

But Manchin earlier this month outlined to reporters what a revised Biden economic agenda could look like. He said a new package could include tax increases on the wealthy and savings from prescription drugs to pay for climate-change initiatives as well as significant deficit reduction.

Manchin has indicated to other senators he could start serious discussions on such a package, which would also feature domestic fossil-fuel provisions, beginning in late April or early May. That could lead to a measure passing Congress by the August recess.

Legislation along the lines that Manchin outlines would forgo many elements sought by Democratic progressives, including universal pre-kindergarten, paid family leave, expanded child tax credits and expanded Medicare. There could be some room for Affordable Care Act subsidies or other heath measures, depending on the size of the tax increases and deficit cuts.

While there are no talks with the White House and no draft bill, ideas are being passed back and forth among Democrats in the Senate.

A key element of the original Build Back Better proposal was $550 billion in energy and climate spending, including more than $300 billion in new and expanded tax credits for wind and solar power, nuclear plants, biofuels and advanced energy manufacturing. 

In recent weeks, Manchin has expressed a desire to renew work on the package while also also invoking the need for Biden to act on Equitrans Midstream Corp.’s Mountain Valley Pipeline. The construction of the 303-mile natural gas pipeline crossing through his state stalled after a federal court in January rejected its permit to cross a national forest after a challenge by environmentalists.

Manchin earlier this month publicly called on the administration to move forward with a litany of energy requests including increasing oil-and-gas production on both federal and private lands, a new five-year Gulf of Mexico oil-and-gas leasing plan from the Department of Interior to replace one expiring in June, and the construction of new natural-gas pipelines and export terminals. 

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