Opinion by Greg Sargent: Joe Manchin’s trail of destruction is about to get much worse
to reviving an ambitious suite of those tax credits, but here again, we have no idea how serious he is.
If nothing happens, notes Wallace-Wells, the consequences could be dire. Drawing on studies, he concludes that inaction could mean 5 billion additional tons of carbon emissions are added to the atmosphere and that we fallThe final hammer blow is that Republicans are all but certain to win the House and possibly the Senate this fall.
With climate, every year of delay eats into our carbon budget, raises global temperatures, and makes the future path to any hoped-for target that much more vertiginous. And a GOP takeover of the House and/or Senate means no progress toward universal health care for years, and probably a fair amount of backsliding.
Manchin’s defenders will insist that as a senator representing conservative constituents, he’s not required to vote with the party. If he opposes those ACA subsidies and climate provisions, then by golly, he should vote against them. But what makes this so puzzling is that on principle, he has been supportive of both