Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday just how much he values Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin. “He’s in a really challenging position and a party that is dominated by sort of East Coast elitism views of what America should look like,” McConnell said. “I pull for him every day and pray for him every night.”
Isn’t that special. It’s a widespread feeling among Republicans, apparently, that appreciation for Manchin. So much so that the Coalition to Protect American Workers, a Republican group led by Marc Short, former Vice President Mike Pence’s former chief of staff, is spending in the large six figures on an ad campaign to thank Manchin for fighting against President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
They’re running three ads in the next few weeks. “West Virginians are struggling as out of control inflation is driving up the cost of everything—from gas to groceries,” claims one ad. Ah, inflation. Of course they are using Manchin’s most bullshit argument for opposing helping people. Just like McConnell does. “Fortunately,” the ad continues, “Joe Manchin’s got our backs. He understands the importance of putting West Virginia people ahead of Washington politics. Tell Manchin—keep fighting for us.”
By “us” the Coalition to “Protect” American Workers means the Republican mega-donors, not West Virginians. And by “fighting” they mean stopping this economic and climate agenda that will help people and maybe save the globe.
Starting with helping people, just one part of it is massive. The bill would continue the expanded child tax credit sent out every month, payments that will end with the end of the year unless this bill passes. Here’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifying on what this Biden policy has done:
“[T]he American Rescue Plan’s expanded Child Tax Credit has been sent out every month since July, putting about $77 billion in the pockets of families of more than 61 million children,” Yellen said in a Tuesday hearing in the Senate Banking Committee. “Families are using these funds for essential needs like food, and in fact, according to the Census Bureau, food insecurity among families with children dropped 24 percent after the July payments, which is a profound economic and moral victory for the country.”
Manchin is threatening the continuation of that program by refusing to say whether he’ll back the bill, presumably doing so at the behest of those Republican megadonors who’ve been filling his campaign coffers. It’s hard to see why else Manchin would be opposing policies that are unequivocally good for the people of West Virginia, one of the poorest states in the union.
It’s also hard to see why Manchin doesn’t want his state to receive the investment it needs to transition from being a coal-dominated state, or in fact for the nation to avoid another $100 billion climate disaster year. Or save the hundreds of people who were killed in those disasters.
That’s what this year in climate change cost, so far. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association estimated more than $100 billion in costs for the first nine months of 2021 and the 18 weather and climate disasters. More than 500 people lost their lives—the seventh year in a row in which there were at least 10 climate-related disasters that cost more than $1 billion.
In just September, NOAA said, there were “devastating impacts from four of the 18 disasters: flooding from Hurricane Ida, landfall of Hurricane Nicholas, and ongoing drought and wildfires tormenting communities in the West.” They count: “nine severe storms, four tropical cyclones, two flooding events, one combined drought and heat wave, one wildfire event, and one combined winter storm and cold wave” resulting in 538 deaths, so far. That’s “more than twice the number of fatalities than from all the events that occurred in 2020,” NOAA reports. “Total losses due to property and infrastructure damage is up to $104.8 billion so far—eclipsing $100.2 billion incurred last year (adjusted for 2021 inflation),” the report says.
The largest chunk of the BBB is $550 billion to address climate change—tax credits for electric vehicles and clean technology in homes, and for clean energy production, and the manufacture of clean energy technology components. It includes a fee for oil and gas operators per metric ton of released methane. It also includes the sweetener of $775 million in grants, rebates, and loans to oil and gas operators to help reduce and monitor methane emissions. There’s $55 billion for climate-friendly agricultural and forestry research, $29 billion worth of incentives in a “green bank” to help communities transition to renewable energy, as well as $10 billion for rural cooperatives to make that switch. There’s $30 billion for the Civilian Climate Corps, funding good jobs in doing all the climate remediation work.
Oh, yeah, and there’s this: it will cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month, for insured people, anyway. That’s for everyone with insurance, both Medicare and private insurance. It would take effect immediately. In addition to that, it includes a cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare enrollees at $2,000/year, with a smoothing proposal that will allow seniors to pay a monthly installment to cover those costs, rather than each time they fill their prescriptions.
Isn’t that special. It’s a widespread feeling among Republicans, apparently, that appreciation for Manchin. So much so that the Coalition to Protect American Workers, a Republican group led by Marc Short, former Vice President Mike Pence’s former chief of staff, is spending in the large six figures on an ad campaign to thank Manchin for fighting against President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
They’re running three ads in the next few weeks. “West Virginians are struggling as out of control inflation is driving up the cost of everything—from gas to groceries,” claims one ad. Ah, inflation. Of course they are using Manchin’s most bullshit argument for opposing helping people. Just like McConnell does. “Fortunately,” the ad continues, “Joe Manchin’s got our backs. He understands the importance of putting West Virginia people ahead of Washington politics. Tell Manchin—keep fighting for us.”
By “us” the Coalition to “Protect” American Workers means the Republican mega-donors, not West Virginians. And by “fighting” they mean stopping this economic and climate agenda that will help people and maybe save the globe.
Starting with helping people, just one part of it is massive. The bill would continue the expanded child tax credit sent out every month, payments that will end with the end of the year unless this bill passes. Here’s Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifying on what this Biden policy has done:
“[T]he American Rescue Plan’s expanded Child Tax Credit has been sent out every month since July, putting about $77 billion in the pockets of families of more than 61 million children,” Yellen said in a Tuesday hearing in the Senate Banking Committee. “Families are using these funds for essential needs like food, and in fact, according to the Census Bureau, food insecurity among families with children dropped 24 percent after the July payments, which is a profound economic and moral victory for the country.”
Manchin is threatening the continuation of that program by refusing to say whether he’ll back the bill, presumably doing so at the behest of those Republican megadonors who’ve been filling his campaign coffers. It’s hard to see why else Manchin would be opposing policies that are unequivocally good for the people of West Virginia, one of the poorest states in the union.
It’s also hard to see why Manchin doesn’t want his state to receive the investment it needs to transition from being a coal-dominated state, or in fact for the nation to avoid another $100 billion climate disaster year. Or save the hundreds of people who were killed in those disasters.
That’s what this year in climate change cost, so far. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association estimated more than $100 billion in costs for the first nine months of 2021 and the 18 weather and climate disasters. More than 500 people lost their lives—the seventh year in a row in which there were at least 10 climate-related disasters that cost more than $1 billion.
In just September, NOAA said, there were “devastating impacts from four of the 18 disasters: flooding from Hurricane Ida, landfall of Hurricane Nicholas, and ongoing drought and wildfires tormenting communities in the West.” They count: “nine severe storms, four tropical cyclones, two flooding events, one combined drought and heat wave, one wildfire event, and one combined winter storm and cold wave” resulting in 538 deaths, so far. That’s “more than twice the number of fatalities than from all the events that occurred in 2020,” NOAA reports. “Total losses due to property and infrastructure damage is up to $104.8 billion so far—eclipsing $100.2 billion incurred last year (adjusted for 2021 inflation),” the report says.
The largest chunk of the BBB is $550 billion to address climate change—tax credits for electric vehicles and clean technology in homes, and for clean energy production, and the manufacture of clean energy technology components. It includes a fee for oil and gas operators per metric ton of released methane. It also includes the sweetener of $775 million in grants, rebates, and loans to oil and gas operators to help reduce and monitor methane emissions. There’s $55 billion for climate-friendly agricultural and forestry research, $29 billion worth of incentives in a “green bank” to help communities transition to renewable energy, as well as $10 billion for rural cooperatives to make that switch. There’s $30 billion for the Civilian Climate Corps, funding good jobs in doing all the climate remediation work.
Oh, yeah, and there’s this: it will cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month, for insured people, anyway. That’s for everyone with insurance, both Medicare and private insurance. It would take effect immediately. In addition to that, it includes a cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare enrollees at $2,000/year, with a smoothing proposal that will allow seniors to pay a monthly installment to cover those costs, rather than each time they fill their prescriptions.