Who is going to step up to save the children, and the globe, from Joe Manchin?

[babylonsister]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/10/18/2058804/-Who-is-going-to-step-up-to-save-the-children-and-the-globe-from-Joe-Manchin


Who is going to step up to save the children, and the globe, from Joe Manchin?
Joan McCarter
Daily Kos Staff
Monday October 18, 2021 · 12:07 PM EDT


The de facto president of the United States, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, had a busy weekend making decrees about the limits he is placing on the actual president, Joe Biden, in passing his big economic agenda plan in the Democrats’ budget reconciliation bill. He has informed the White House that he will not allow the core element of Biden’s proposal on climate change, the Clean Electricity Performance Program, which would accelerate utilities’ shift from coal- and gas-powered plants to renewable technology—wind, solar, and nuclear—to help reach the goal of zero carbon emissions in power generation by 2035. Manchin is having none of that.

Not content to do his damnedest to doom children to living in a future hellscape, Manchin is also reportedly demanding that their present lives are also much harder. According to Axios, Manchin has told the White House that he won’t allow the child tax credit (CTC) to remain in the bill as is. Manchin wants strict limits on the payments, including a “firm” work requirement and means testing, capping payments to families making more than “the $60,000 range.”

Those are the payments that have already sharply reduced child hunger and provided an economic boost to help the nation recover from the pandemic. Biden and Democrats included the expanded CTC in the COVID-19 relief American Rescue Plan, and authorized the payments, which had been annual, to now be delivered in prorated monthly payments. The credit was also increased to up to $3,600 a year per child for children 5 and younger, and $3,000 for ages 6-17 per child. It is a near-universal program, with families making up to $150,000 receiving the credit.

snip//

He is purposefully harming his own constituents. Why he’s opposed to helping families isn’t clear, unless it’s because he is at heart a Republican. Why he’s so committed to destroying the planet is a lot more apparent: money. He’s the No. 1 recipient in Congress—House or Senate—of funding from the coal mining, mining, natural gas, and oil and gas industries. His stock holdings include somewhere between $1 and $5 million in Enersystems Inc., a coal brokerage he founding in 1988. Last year, his dividends from that company totaled $491,949.

Manchin’s stranglehold on the Senate—and thus on everything from saving our democracy to taking this last opportunity to stave off catastrophic climate change—has to stop. He’s not going to change his mind on this out of altruism or enlightenment. It’s got to be raw political power at this point, the kind that only a president can yield. Biden has to stop treating Manchin as just another Senate colleague and start treating him as someone he can break politically.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. I'm starting to think

He's compromised by more than his investment in coal.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Exactly.

Something else going on.

[Hortensis]

2. The Republicans exploit workers by lowering wages as much as possible,

eliminating or exporting jobs,
eliminating employee benefits,
eliminating regulations that once protected workers,
eliminating employee rights in the workplace,
eliminating rights to collective bargaining,
eliminating right to seek legal redress of grievances -- to the point that many employees have virtually no rights. Except to be fired if they don't like it.

The Republican Party has been doing this systematically for decades, and they're going after our right to vote so they can ratchet up their exploitation.

Now, WTF about trying to turn Democrats against Manchin-the-evil-Democrat instead? WHO the fuck is behind this?

Who else BUT the evil right AND the anti-Democratic left? Once again, double teaming to defeat Democrats -- and what we will succeed in accomplishing if they don't stop us.

We have to be smarter. "Fool me twice,...?" If only!

"Hell no" to being fooled every. single. time.

November 2022 is coming fast.

[SunImp]

9. Okay you're not fine with the attacks against Manchin

but you're fine with letting pompous assholes attack Progressive Democrats like AOC and Cori Bush? I think it would be more productive for our party and DU to focus 100% on Conservatives and Magats. They are the ones voting in shitbags and actually doing the damage to our Country. We can't afford to turn away any help we can get over past bullshit.

[Hortensis]

10. Our nation's biggest enemies by far are RW extremists and traitors.

We should never forget for a second, or the enormous danger they have become. Liberalism and progressivism both are in danger of being purged from government.

But to fight them we also can't ignore a dangerous weakness on the let. There are some on the left who, either knowingly or foolishly, would once again oppose our party's ability to serve the people to the best of our ability, once again leading to defeat at the polls. And the election of fascists.

I certainly don't believe Ocasio-Cortez or Bush would want to repeat the enormous tragedy of 2016, but they both woo and get a lot of support from those will never understand, much less agree, that what they did caused enormous harm to our nation and all they claim to believe in. Some well known figures actively campaigned for people to leave the party and many people whose vote meant all the difference (and did!) angrily refused to vote Democratic, under the bizarre delusion that we stole the election. How's that for irony as the RW mobilizes fanatic resistance against us using the same "big lie"? Is that where tRump first got the idea?

Pramila Jayapal scared me when she said it might be preferable to abandon our goals entirely than to compromise further. To my mind, that'd be crazy and also intensely immoral. We MUST do our best to come through with what we promised America we would. Their wellbeing -- everything we CAN achieve for them -- is not ours to trash because some few bizarrely imagine that's the high road. And the majority of Americans who want us to produce know it.

[SunImp]

11. I get that the leftists like Sarandon/Jimmy Dore have influenced people to think twice about Dems

But the people that they have successfully convinced are mostly people who probably would have never voted for Democrats anyways. You will never convince them. Before them, people seemed to have this aura of distrust towards politicians and goody two shoe type people for years thanks to Fox News and Hate radio, who both never had today's level of pushback and scrutiny. Most of Sarandon's and Jimmy Dore's followers have probably also listened and agreed somewhat with what these media outlets have been pushing against Democratic party politicians and thus helped shape the way they see our Democratic Leaders. We lost in 2016 thanks to these types of people, sure, but they really are a small portion of disillusioned voters that we can overcome and we did just that in 2020. I still believe that most of the blame should lie on Conservatives and apathetic Libertarians who only care about their xboxs/getting high. They couldn't stop us from beating Trump in 2020 because we really convinced people to give a shit for once. I'm sure if we had this much drive back in 2016, we could have won that one too.

Jayapal is just concerned that progressive needs will be tossed to the side, just like it often seems to happen with these types of negotiations. Maybe President Biden can convince her it will be alright.

[Hortensis]

12. Regarding Jayapal, to be liberal is to be progressive. Ours is a

liberal progressive party. Denying, refusing to understand or appreciate that core truth that underlies all we are and do is the root of the problem I'm talking about. WE are not the opposition.

As for loss of voters, we will never know how many people believed the tsunami of lies promoted over the 2015-2016 electoral period alone and didn't vote because of them. You're right that the already Hillary deranged and other hostiles who'd never voted for us wouldn't have now. But many others were affected by the combined efforts coming from all directions -- from the RW, which includes most MSM, Russia and other foreign governments, and the anti-Democratic LW who claimed our goals were really theirs and we were corrupt, lying corporatists and election thieves.

We'll never know how many who originally supported us were persuaded not to vote, but remember that we were always far ahead for most of that period, until their combined efforts replaced belief in us with disillusionment and disgust.

[betsuni]

15. [phone]

[betsuni]

14. [phone]

[Walleye]

3. Work requirement? Sounds a lot like a mandate to me

[kelly1mm]

4. What exactly can President Biden do to 'break' Senator Manchin? nt

[Celerity]

5. Manchin and Sinema each have effective veto power over all legislation that has no Rethug support.

Biden will have to TRULY think outside the box to do this:

Biden has to stop treating Manchin as just another Senate colleague and start treating him as someone he can break politically.

I cannot see a way to 'break' him, nor break Sinema. IF they go full stop obstructionist and decimate the BBB Act, they will have a large deleterious effect on out 2022 and 204 election chances.

Manchin seems to be sticking to his $1.5 trillion (maybe he 'compromises' and goes to $1.75 trillion or so) top line number, BUT Sinema has her own, separate parts she wants to cut out, so if you subtract those, we could end up under the already MASSIVELY slashed $1.5 trillion figure.

All 8 of these BBB Act elements are in the firing line:

• expanded child tax credits;
• child-care assistance;
• expanded Medicaid coverage [for those on low incomes], and Medicare [for the elderly] to include eye, hearing and dental care;
• allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription-drug prices with drug companies;
• home health-care coverage;
• two tuition-free years of community college;
• universal pre-kindergarten for three and four year-olds; and
• aggressive efforts to combat climate change.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. The CPC could hold the debt ceiling hostage and demand climate legislation

4 strategically selected members of the CPC in safe seats, along with Sanders in the senate, could refuse to approve lifting the debt ceiling and passing a continuing resolution to keep the government open unless the CEPP section of the BBB is passed.

If the climate tipping point is as close as 2025, with so many lives at stake, holding the world economy hostage is not unreasonable.

Crashing the world’s economy would hurt billions, but the billionaires would not be able to escape the pain. The fossil fuel industry and others who have been donating to Manchin and Sinema to get them to block BBB would not escape the misery.

This move by the CPC would get EVERYONE’S attention- it would dominate the news cycle completely, especially once the markets start crashing in anticipation. Nothing else short of war or a terrorist attack would be able to push this conversation about the criticality of climate legislation from dominating the media.

It wouldn’t take long to justify paying a $160 billion ransom (the cost of the CEPP program in BBB) to save the world economy and the share values of the fossil fuel companies.

The only way to stop a move like this by the CPC would be for enough Republicans to cross over and support lifting the debt ceiling, which would damage the power of Mitch and Kevin…so, a win/win.

Just making a point the Manchin and Sinema aren’t the only ones in Washington who can wield power with impunity.

[lagomorph777]

8. Pay off the fossil fuel companies to convert to renewables. He'll take his cut.

Then buy him a yacht and tell him to cruise around the world and never come back.

[Kaleva]

13. Manchin has little power to prevent us as individuals to prepare for what climate change will bring.