Five Climate Moves by the Biden Administration You May Have Missed
Although the Build Back Better package is in limbo, the president is incorporating climate action and environmental justice into government decision-making. Critics say he should be doing more.
The U.S. Congress is beset by one party that totally rejects climate (and maybe all) science and resists any sane action to protect the livability of the planet for future generations – including their children and grandchildren, and a ruling party that includes two Senators who are equally as culpable as the entire other party. But, despite the QAnonsense insanity of too many Senators, the President is trying to do something….
Marianne Lavelle, Nicholas Kusnetz, Inside Climate News, January 1, 2022
President Joe Biden’s first year in office, which began with the launch of the most ambitious climate action plan of any administration, ended with its derailment due to harsh political reality.
Up against a Senate that gives outsized power to members from sparsely populated states who are allied with the fossil fuel industry, Biden wasn’t able to get his $1.7 trillion Build Back Better legislation through Congress in 2021.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) argued that the energy transition that the bill sought to spur was “at a rate that is faster than technology or the markets allow.” Despite ample evidence to refute Manchin’s claims—including that the Texas power crisis was caused by renewable energy—the bottom line is that Biden and other supporters of Build Back Better will need to dramatically alter the legislation to win the votes of all 50 Senate Democrats. And the clock will be ticking, as the Democrats may lose their slim hold on Congress in the 2022 election.
