SEN. JOE MANCHIN AND HIS WIFE DIRECTED MILLIONS TO THE WILDLIFE AREA SURROUNDING VACATION CONDO

[douglas9]

ON THURSDAY, after months of negotiations, Sen. Joe Manchin said he would not support even a stripped-down version of the reconciliation package to invest billions of dollars in federal funds to combat the climate emergency — a version that was written to appease him. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., believed that he was close to reaching a deal that would satisfy the whims of the senior senator from West Virginia while also passing a vast climate investment package, drug pricing legislation, and new taxes on the wealthiest Americans to pay for the new spending. After the story broke, Manchin backtracked, claiming that July’s inflation numbers would be the deciding factor on whether he could support what President Joe Biden once hoped would be his signature policy achievement. Democratic leaders said Manchin had told them otherwise, and remaining hopes to pass significant climate legislation were dashed.

But while Manchin has sabotaged federal efforts at combating climate change, he has used federal dollars to preserve his own corner of the world. Public records reviewed by The Intercept show that even after Manchin’s decadeslong efforts to upend environmental policy that would undercut the fossil fuel companies funding his political campaigns (and the waste coal industry generating his personal fortune), he and his wife, Gayle Manchin, have directed millions of federal dollars to a small, pristine valley in West Virginia where the couple owns a condo. Hundreds of miles north of the coal communities decimated by the mountaintop removal mining that Manchin fostered in the state, the Manchins’ Canaan Valley residence sits in an unadulterated watershed, surrounded by the Dolly Sods Wilderness, the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, and Blackwater Falls State Park.

https://theintercept.com/2022/07/18/joe-gayle-manchin-condo-climate-canaan-valley/

[PuraVidaDreamin]

1. sneaky greedy hypocrite

Oh but he's the wv Senator we tolerate.Hmmmmm
When do we get serious about saving Democracy and the planet?

[LittleGirl]

2. How much more BS are we Dems going to take

From this turncoat? Honestly, can’t we throw him out of the party? He’s not representing anybody anymore. Oh wait, because he’s just like 45! Damn it.

[Wounded Bear]

3. We need to elect 2-4 more Dem senators before we can reconcile with Manchin...

and not lose any seats along the way. It's an unfortunate political reality.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

22. The more I learn, the more I think there are quite a few senators who are grateful for

Manchin and Sinema taking the heat, so they don't have to. If we get a couple more progressive senators, I believe we'll see more centrists speak up to keep popular legislation just...out...of...reach.

[Wounded Bear]

23. IDK about 'quite a few' but there are other conservadems hiding behind him...

I think it's only a handful, but they are real, and there.

And yes, we could use a few more progressives in the Senate, for sure.

[Mr.Bill]

58. That is a real possibility. n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

5. If he is kicked out or switches parties now

then Turtle will take over as Majority Leader and will control ALL legislation coming to that chamber from the House (which would mean it all gets DOA'd) and Schumer will be the Minority Leader.

Also at that point EVERY Democratic Chair of EVERY Senate Committee will be removed from their Chair positions to be replaced by Republican Chairs.

So for example, Lindsey Graham will become Chair of the Judiciary Committee again and that will be the end of any more Biden judges.

I hate him and what he is doing as much as everyone else on DU but when we took control of the Senate by a hair - having the unbelievable but fortunate circumstance of 2 Democrats elected to the Senate from GA and having the Presidency (where VP Harris "counts" as #51 to break a tie and allowed us to claim "the majority" ) we knew that we had to tread carefully until we can bolster those numbers.

[LittleGirl]

11. I understand and appreciate your reply

But I’m Fed the F* up with this!

Thanks

[BumRushDaShow]

17. I join with you in being fed up

I was fed up with Max Baucus (D) when he bounced around the Senate with Joe Lieberman (I) doing side shows of torpedoing the "Public Option" when the ACA was being marked up, and then watching DU BLAME Obama for "getting rid of the Public Option" as if he were suddenly a member of Congress writing the legislation instead of being POTUS.... and then going on to blame him for not "pounding the podium and stomping his feet hard enough".

It's all "politics" and being a "politician" requires thick skin, lots of money, and a good source of legal and illicit meds to continue to be engaged in what can amount to all sorts of fuckery.

[LittleGirl]

39. Lol, exactly. Completely! Nt

[ariadne0614]

30. Robert Reich's take on (possibly) losing a Senate seat is worth consideration.

Thom Hartmann changed his thinking on he risk of losing a Senate seat after reading this:
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/manchin-democrats

“I’m told the Democrats don’t dare take this step for fear Manchin would leave the Democratic Party and switch his allegiance to the Republicans.

Why exactly would this be so terrible? Manchin already acts like a Republican.

Oh, no! they tell me. If Manchin switches parties, Democrats would lose control over the Senate.

Well, I have news for Democrats. They already lost control over the Senate.

In fact, the way things are right now, Biden and the Democrats have the worst of both worlds. They look like they control the Senate, as well as the House and the presidency. But they can’t get a damn thing done because Manchin (and his intermittent sidekick Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema) won’t let them. So after almost two years of appearing to run the entire government, Democrats have accomplished almost nothing of what they came to Washington to do...

(snip)

By kicking Manchin out of the party, Democrats could at least go into the midterms with a more realistic pitch: “It looked like we had control of the Senate, but we didn’t. Now that you know who the real Democrats are, give us the power and we will get it done.”

[BumRushDaShow]

31. No attack on you but what Reich wrote is BULLSHIT

You want to know why? Aside from it being the same crap as those promoting the "burn it all down" mentality, it completely leaves out the fact that the SENATE does CONFIRMATIONS.

You lose control of the Senate and every fucking nominee that Biden has submitted that hasn't been voted on yet, WILL BE deep-sixed. Here is the running tally - https://ourpublicservice.org/performance-measures/political-appointee-tracker/ (original source is WaPo that also offers free access to their tracker here - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2020/biden-appointee-tracker/)

There will be NO MORE JUDGES confirmed.

We sat in limbo from 2014 - 2021 under the thumb of fucking Mitch McConnell blocking EVERY FUCKING OBAMA NOMINEE and then making sure that the RW Christofascists were installed in the SCOTUS.

Reich needs to go sit in the corner with Michael Moore.

[ariadne0614]

33. Believe me, I respect the intensity of your well-informed reply.

IMHO, Robert Reich doesn't belong in the same category as the "burn it all down" crowd. In any event, his argument will fall on deaf ears by the deciders on our side. Personally, I feel helpless to do anything but wait it out and see what happens. That said, I'm doing my best to maintain an open mind on possible options for our desperate situation, especially when they come from people I trust and respect.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

35. I did not used to think that Robert Reich belonging in that crowd.

After reading this bullshit, and his recent ageist attacks on Joe Biden, he no longer has the benefit of the doubt.

Making McConnell the Senate Majority leader would be a fucking insane move in my estimation.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

32. Are you kidding with this?

Robert Reich wants to make Mitch McConnell the Senate Majority Leader and thinks that it won't matter?

For fucks sake, has no one learned the lesson of the recent past???

This is insane.

[ariadne0614]

34. Please refer to my previous reply, #33. n/t

[IronLionZion]

16. He's the 50th vote in the Senate that gives us a razor thin majority with VP to break ties

so he's loving the influence that he has over us. It's time to elect more Dems

[LittleGirl]

40. Yeah, you're right.

I’m just so tired of Congress not doing Anything! It’s just obstruction, broken!

[BumRushDaShow]

41. It's not that Congress is "not doing anything"

Democrats are DOING quite a bit. The House has passed a number of bills and Democrats in the Senate have actually drafted/marked up "companion" bills that match or are close to what the House has. Many of these have come up for votes and because of that 60-vote cloture rule (filibuster) in the Senate, some of these bills get stalled. Those that have been done by the mechanisms that require a simple majority (utilizing the "reconciliation" tools) have generally moved forward and have become law.

For example, the "American Rescue Plan", that people have apparently completely forgotten about like they "forgot" the "American Recovery Reinvestment Act" back in 2009, when many infrastructure projects were funded and completed. That latter initiative even included the "Cash for clunkers" provision where one of my BILs actually bought a new car back then using that (and he just replaced it this year with a hybrid).

The abuse of cloture has been well documented since Obama was elected - https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/problem-gop-s-hypocrisy-complaints-about-filibuster-n1262328



When Democrats regained the House in 2018 and started sending bill over, the cloture went into overdrive thanks to Turtle.

It's the unfortunate circumstance of the de-evolution of what was once considered "the deliberative body" due to the election of RW loons (thanks to their funders), with the expressed purpose not to promote some kind of "traditional conservative" set of policy ideas, but to implement an extremist agenda promoted through CTs and far right fringe organizations. And those in the GOP who don't subscribe to that nonsense, have been cowed into submission through violent threats to their families.

I.e., they "created a monster" and can no longer "control that monster".

Meanwhile as long as voters keep sitting out off-term elections and refuse to vote EVERY YEAR - not just every 4 years or every 2 years, then this is the result, where eventually they will no longer be able to vote because their states will "change the rules" to exclude the participation of all but their own loons, 4 Constitutional Amendments for voting and multiple Voting Rights Acts, be damned.

[LittleGirl]

49. Yes, Stalled rather than broken

I appreciate your informative post and it details the history I remember well. The turtle has blocked so much. He has to go. Unfortunately he’s not up for re-election for 4 more years.

[mopinko]

4. strip this fucker of his committees.

rfn.

[Novara]

6. He should be forced to live here with this view:

He supports coal mining so much.

[Wounded Bear]

24. It's not that he supports coal mining, it's that coal mining supports him...

[Hermit-The-Prog]

7. Will WV see this? Will they tell Sen. Mansion (sic) to pass the bill?

Hillary had a $30 billion plan to put former coal miners back to work. What has Mansion (sic) done other than feather his nest?

[The Jungle 1]

8. Do the wealthy really believe they will not be affected by the climate disaster.

What is wrong with these people.

[LiberalArkie]

13. There was a Writers Prompt on reddit last night that kind of fits.

https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/w274r1/wp_nuclear_holocaust_is_imminent_the_rich_and/

Nuclear holocaust is imminent. The rich and powerfull are hiding away in their bunkers, but when the countdown was finished the world was still there. One message was sent around the world via satellites: "Now They have imprisoned Themselves what shall We do?" With coords of all the bunkers..


The grand vault doors were impenetrable, designed to withstand the fury of a nuclear blast. It had taken a team of twenty engineers and two thousand work-hours just to design the thing, let alone the countless thousands of laborers who had turned it from idea into reality.
There was just one problem.
They locked from the outside. All two hundred and seventy-three of them, spread around the surface of the Earth.
"You should always listen to the people you hire to build your nuclear bunkers," Ada mused, broadcasting her words across the globe. "And you should definitely avoid saying that you'd leave us all in a radioactive wasteland, if push comes to shove."
"That conversation was held in private!" Sleve McDichael shouted from within his bunker, on camera stream six. Ada wrinkled her lip. He had a controlling share in the global water supply—emphasis on had. Ada suspected the livestreams of the wealthy weren't going to help his stock portfolio.
"And that's an admission," Ada said. "But don't worry; even though I hold a grudge, it's not my voice that really matters. You see, we're going to try out a little experiment. Bottom-up democracy, as it were. Some of my more astute viewers—and there are three billion of you watching this livestream right now, so there've got to be some real good thinkers in there—may have noticed that a new app has been installed on all of your mobile devices. The Bottom-Up Policy Tree."
Onson Sweemey paled on camera stream four. "You madman. You can't possibly be suggesting—"
"For the past century and a half, the individuals you see here have decided the course of the world," Ada said. "We will suffer this no longer. Every human on Earth will be given one vote, which they can use to endorse their own proposal, or boost someone else's. Do try not to cheat; we've been planning this for the past thirty years, and I assure you, anything you can think of in the next seventy-two hours, we already have. When the time is up... well. Your fate will be decided."
"You who would leave humanity to burn while you lived out the rest of your miserable lives, I put you on trial. A trial of ten billion jurors, united in deciding your fate. I would wish you luck, but it's just one of the many, many resources you've exhausted on this planet."
And with that, Ada leaned back in her chair, interlacing her fingers as she watched votes begin to roll in.
A.N.

[Sympthsical]

26. This is a really clever idea

I would read a novel with this premise.

[The Jungle 1]

43. Interesting contemplation tweeks.

I will do better after three fingers but right off the bat. No way would anyone go into a bunker that locked from the outside. Me, being one of the peons, I would go weld the door shut. Now we have the rich man trapped in a bunker. Do we let them out?
.
The vote is also interesting because the rich would never allow us to vote. They are working to take away the vote right now. The wealthy have never wanted us to have a say on important matters that affect their bag of gold. Democracy will only be allowed if we do what they want. But how would they control us from a bunker

The bottom line question concerning climate is As a person with wealth do you want to live in a world of hungry poor people. I don't think anyone would but then how do we explain Manchin. Joe Manchin is evil.

[Samrob]

9. When is Manchin next up for re-election?

Dems should be exposing his hypocrisy now. Even folks in W.VA. who are suffering right now because of climate change are not informed enough about what Joe does or does not do. If this were Bill and Hillary doing something like this for their NY home the papers and the GOP would be all over this. Really sad how much coverage was given to "her emails" than all other news that really matters.

Voters, please give us two more Dem Senators so we can nullify Joe Manchin!

[FBaggins]

14. 2024 - but he'll probably run for governor

The current governor is term-limited and might take the senate seat.

The only certainty is that we won't get a more progressive senator out of WV. We'll have to look elsewhere.

[shrike3]

27. He'll probably win. He's popular in WV.

[The Jungle 1]

44. WV still believes coal will return.

It is nuts.
Manchin has massive coal interests.

[shrike3]

48. They believe in something.

In the spring, Manchin's approval rating was 57 percent, higher than when Biden got into office. IOW, they like his obstructionism. SMH.

[Samrob]

57. W.VA is still one of the poorest, least educated, most sickly states in the nation. nt

[shrike3]

61. I know. Which makes his popularity even sadder.

[Handler]

10. A greedy, pathetic excuse for a human being.

[Paladin]

12. At some point I want this evil greedy little man to pay. And pay big. (nt)

[onecaliberal]

15. Grifter just like all cons.

[Rebl2]

18. Take that

money away from that area and direct it elsewhere.

[moonshinegnomie]

19. wait til after the november elections

if the dems pick up senate seats then boot him from every comittee and start invetigating his personal life
if the dems lose seats have the justice investigate him

in either case crack down heavily on his energy interests.
have states pass laws based on the texas abortion law allowing citizens to file lawsuits against coal companies for pollution.

[AllaN01Bear]

20. @#$%&*()_+ . hem

[dalton99a]

21. Greedy, hypocritical, sadistic, narcissistic, grifting scumbag

[czarjak]

25. Gayle Manchin is an enabler? She probably likes being rich too.

[Snackshack]

28. The Dems need to kick this

Phuker to the curb right now. Enough with his bullshit. He did exactly what the GOP wanted him to do, delay delay delay on this. He acted like he was interested to string along the Dems as long as he could.

Manchin has been doing this for years. He pulled the same BS with President Obama and the ACA. Dems should strip him of any important assignments and let him twist in the wind…if he switches parties so be it, Then Dems can push back on him in a very deservedly hard way.

Many assume that he would automatically switch to the GQP I am not convinced of that. He would be a gop star for a short time and then he would no longer be of use to the GQP. He would not have the power of being a pivotal vote. Also todays GQP would ultimately be unfriendly to Manchin. Switching would be the end of his political days.

[Demsrule86]

36. So McConnell can be majority leader...perhaps you should rething this.

[BumRushDaShow]

50. "Manchin has been doing this for years. He pulled the same BS with President Obama and the ACA"

Manchin was still the Governor of West Virginia when both parts of the ACA had already been signed into law.

After Robert Byrd (D-WV) died while still in office in June 2010 (also after the ACA had already been completed), Manchin appointed someone to fill the vacancy left until that November's election. At that point is when he decided to run for the seat.

So he didn't join the Senate until November 2010, where the PP-ACA was signed into law on March 23, 2010 and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 was signed March 30, 2010 (the one that has the famous bill-signing photo).

H.R.3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (3/23/10)

H.R.4872 - Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (3/30/22)

Again, I am no way a supporter of him but as long as his (D) is on the books, he keeps the Majority Leader position out of Turtle's hands and legislation at least being scheduled by Schumer. When Turtle was in charge before 2021, NO Democratic legislation went anywhere, let alone was scheduled for discussion in any Committees because Democrats were NOT the Chairs of any Committees.

[Snackshack]

51. I could not agree more with

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/20/joe-manchin-democratic-party-kick-out

Manchin needs to go. He is not a Dem. The Dems have not made any progress on any of President Biden’s agenda. Manchin with an assist from Sinema has pretty much torpedoed the entire Democratic agenda that Biden had going into office. We need to stop being satisfied with the scraps of governance we have been handed down.

[BumRushDaShow]

53. "The Dems have not made any progress on any of President Biden's agenda"

H.R.1319 - American Rescue Plan Act of 2021

Biden signs $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law

By Grace Segers

March 12, 2021 / 6:44 AM / CBS News

Washington — President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act into law on Thursday, finalizing an early policy victory that will send much-needed aid to millions of Americans still struggling from the COVID-19 pandemic. "This historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving people in this nation, working people, middle class folks, people who built the country, a fighting chance," Mr. Biden said before signing the bill, one day earlier than expected.

The bill was narrowly approved by the House on Wednesday with a vote of 220 to 211, with one Democrat joining all Republicans in voting against it. It passed the Senate on Saturday with a 50 to 49 vote, also along party lines. Mr. Biden signed the bill hours before delivering his first prime-time national address to mark the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has since taken more than 529,000 American lives.

The White House said the president and Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Atlanta next Friday, part of what the White House is calling the "Help is Here" tour to tout the new relief bill in cities around the country.New CBS News polling shows that the bill is widely popular with the public, with three in four Americans approving of its passage. Two-thirds of Americans also say Mr. Biden is doing a good job in his handling of the pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan provides $1,400 direct payments to individuals making up to $75,000 annually, $350 billion in aid to state and local governments and $14 billion for vaccine distribution. The bill also provides $130 billion to elementary, middle and high schools to assist with safe reopening.

(snip)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-signs-covid-relief-bill-american-rescue-plan-into-law/

And a 120 years of waiting "nothing" law -

H.R.55 - Emmett Till Antilynching Act

Biden signs bill named after Emmett Till making lynching a hate crime

March 29, 2022, 5:07 PM EDT
By Teaganne Finn

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Antilynching Act on Tuesday, making lynching a federal hate crime after more than a century of failed efforts in Congress to pass similar legislation.

The bill is named after Till, a 14-year-old Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and shot in the head in 1955 after a white woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, said he whistled at her and touched her in a Mississippi store.

The Senate cleared the bill on March 7 by unanimous consent, indicating no opposition, after the House passed it on Feb. 28 in a 422-3 vote. The three votes against the measure came from GOP Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Chip Roy of Texas and Andrew S. Clyde of Georgia.

Congress had fallen short on passing anti-lynching bills more than 200 times since 1900.

(snip)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-signs-bill-named-emmett-making-lynching-hate-crime-rcna22078

Another long-past-due "nothing" bill that became a "nothing" law was this -

H.R.3076 - Postal Service Reform Act of 2022

Biden signs US Postal Service reform bill into law


By Sam Fossum and Maegan Vazquez, CNN
Updated 5:38 PM ET, Wed April 6, 2022


(CNN) President Joe Biden signed a sweeping bill into law on Wednesday that will overhaul the US Postal Service's finances and allow the agency to modernize its service. "It's no exaggeration to say that the Postal Service delivers democracy. And it's no exaggeration to say the Postal Service is as essential as it ever was, has ever been, today," Biden said at a bill signing ceremony at the White House.

Biden, ticking through the reforms included in the bipartisan bill, noted that it sets the Postal Service on a more "sustainable and stable financial footing." The new law will require retired postal employees to enroll in Medicare when eligible and repeals a previous mandate for the agency that forced it to cover health care costs up front and years in advance.

Those two measures would save the USPS nearly $50 billion over the next decade, according to the House Oversight Committee. The legislation also requires the Postal Service to create an online public dashboard with local and national delivery and performance data, as well as allow USPS to work with local governments to offer other helpful non-postal services.

"Today, we enshrined into law, our recognition that the Postal Service is fundamental to our economy, to our democracy, to our health, and the very sense of who we are as a nation," Biden said to an audience at the White House filled with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.

(snip)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/06/politics/biden-postal-service-reform-law-signing/index.html

I know there has literally been an unprecedented amount of things going on since January 20, 2021 when Biden signed 17 Executive order "nothings" on day one, but come on.

Here are 51 pages of Executive "Nothings".

As I posted in this thread, Reich needs to go sit in the fucking corner with Michael Moore.

[Phoenix61]

29. We need to find someone who worked in the mines

And has a brain and push him to the top. If the repukes can get Bang Bang Barbie elected…

[Demsrule86]

37. You will never get a Democrat elected in WVA when Manchin goes. I seriously can't understand why

people don't understand this.

[Phoenix61]

38. I see you've got your crystal ball cranking away today! nt

[Demsrule86]

45. No just reality and logic. Trump won by more than 50% votes.

[Phoenix61]

46. WV had been reliably blue until 2000

The R’s didn’t let history dictate the future and they flipped the state. To say we can’t flip it back is just silly.

[Demsrule86]

56. Oh really, so you think we can win WVA...I'm sorry I think we can't and we won't and once

we have a few more Senators which is possible...Manchin can go back to voting for us when he can (he saved the ACA without his vote it would not have mattered how McCain voted) and getting elected. A nice warm body who helps with the majority and votes with us a hell of lot more than his GOP countertop who never votes with us. I sincerely hope he stays in the Senate until he can't get elected anymore due to old age...we won't get the seat again in my lifetime. Your dislike of Manchin colors your judgment in this matter IMHO.

[Phoenix61]

60. They said Biden would never win Georgia until he did. nt

[Just A Box Of Rain]

52. Trump was very nearly +30 in 2016 vs HRC and

+26 vs Joe Biden in W. Virginia in 2020.

That we have a Democratic Senator out of today's political climate in W. Virginia is a near-miracle.

Manchin makes Charles Schumer, rather than Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader.

Machin ain't perfect, but goddamn.

I wonder if some of those who bash Joe Manchin on a daily basis really have our party's best interests at heart?

Trying to chase him out of the party when he gives our caucus a 50 +1 majority is pure sabotage. Fucking insane behavior in my estimation.

Lets win some more Senate seats, and work to keep the House.

[Demsrule86]

55. I agree. And despite what some folks say...we will never get WVA again once Manchin is gone...

not in my lifetime anyway.

[Torchlight]

42. Good money in pandering to PACs

Nice work if he can get it. Better work if he can ignore conscience as just an inconvenience.

That being the case, I can think of few better men for the job.

[Brainfodder]

47. Long overdue deep dive on this guy?

Welcomed.

[OnDoutside]

54. I think Fetterman is the (positive) replacement for Manchin's seat in 2024, and all going well, can

hold on to that seat for many years to come. Even better that he'll be the effective replacement in Jan 2023.

[Emile]

59. So he is a mountain top removal coal miner.