Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., accusing the Biden administration of pandering to climate activists, is threatening not to support its nominees going forward.
Manchin made his comments in a column posted by the Houston Chronicle on Friday.
"Now, as energy leaders from across the world are gathered in Houston for the annual CERAWeek conference, the issue of America's energy security and the role of the Inflation Reduction Act [IRA] to address this challenge will no doubt be top of mind," he wrote.
"The fact is that the IRA was and is shaped to achieve one goal — energy security — by utilizing all our nation's abundant resources. While the Biden Administration has continued to play political games and incorrectly frame the IRA as a climate change legislation, the truth is that the IRA is about securing America's energy independence for the coming century.
"If implemented as the law as written by those who have been entrusted to follow the law, the IRA will not just bolster the role of fossil fuels and renewables; it will help fuel a new century of progress for American manufacturing — and yes, emissions reductions. "
He maintained the IRA is "critical" to U.S. energy security "because it codifies an all-of-the-above energy policy that invests in energy innovations, rather than energy elimination."
But he said the Biden administration continues to disregard congressional intent in key parts of the IRA.
"Instead of following the legislation designed to ensure America's energy security, they have chosen to illogically advance a partisan climate agenda and appease radical activists," he said. "In fact, over the last few months, both the Department of Treasury and Department of the Interior have explicitly and unabashedly violated the letter of the law, the intent of the law, or both, in an effort to elevate climate goals above the energy and national security of this nation. This is wrong, and it must stop."
Manchin charged that the Treasury department has "grossly mishandled the implementation of the electric vehicle credits, which he noted were aimed at trying to curtail "China's dominance over this critical industry."
"Instead of abiding by the law, the department pandered to climate activists," he said. "With this in mind, I was unable to support Danny Werfel, the administration's nominee to serve as commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service."
And he warned that if the administration continues down its present path, there will be "consequences now and in the future."
"Today, I have also decided, as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, that I will not be moving forward the nomination of Laura Daniel-Davis as assistant secretary of the Department of Interior," he said. "Daniel-Davis approved higher royalty rates for the Alaskan Cook Inlet sale, which were explicitly designed to decrease fossil energy.
"Going forward, each and every proposed nominee I will review will be judged through one prism: Are they political partisans first or Americans first?"
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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