Conservative Democratic Senator Joe
Manchin is warning that if
the Senate fails in passing
the bipartisan infrastructure deal,
he's unwilling to be supportive of
the more robust reconciliation
version of the infrastructure deal.
Now, what are the differences?
Okay, well, the bipartisan deal
only really includes physical
infrastructure, basically, physical
infrastructure that Republican
lawmakers do in fact want, because
their corporate donors want it.
You see, when it comes to commerce,
you actually need infrastructure
that's not crumbling.
So they want to ensure that they
provide the goodies for their
corporate donors, and sure maybe
some of their constituents as well.
But they're not interested in human
infrastructure.
They're not interested in helping
to compensate people who
are engaging in elder care, for
instance, no funding for
child care.
I mean, the right wing loves to
force women to have children that
they might not want, right?
They love to regulate
women's bodies.
But when actual children are born
and their families need help, no,
no, no.
So no social safety net for you,
no child care for you,
you can buzz off, that's the GOP.
And guess what?
Corrupt Joe Manchin and
other conservative so
called Democrats in the Senate,
are empowering these goons.
That's exactly what's
happening right now.
And the most frustrating part about
it is that the media will not tell
you why that is.
You keep hearing over and
over again, well Manchin just
wants bipartisanship,
Manchin just likes bipartisanship.
No, it's not about bipartisanship.
And I'll connect the dots in
just a minute.
But first, here's what
Senator Joe Manchin had to say.
I would say if the bipartisan
infrastructure deal falls apart,
everything falls apart.
Both of them are extremely
important.
When one falls apart,
how do you move the other one?
It's not that difficult, I mean,
you take the physical
infrastructure that's in
the bipartisan bill.
You bake it into the more robust
and much better reconciliation
version of the bill, and
then you pass it with the simple
majority in the Senate.
That's how you do it.
But he's not interested in that,
and I'll tell you why.
He says, I think there's a lot of
good things in the reconciliation
bill I really want to work on, but
we haven't spent the time on that.
The bipartisan one's ready to go,
this one's ready to go.
He's eager to pass
the bipartisan bill.
Because look,
the bipartisan bill also doesn't
focus on something that he doesn't
like, and it's the climate action.
Because Joe Machin, would have you
believe that he's just concerned
about jobs in West Virginia.
And look, that might be true.
There might be hell to pay if some
constituents who work in the coal
industry lose their jobs
as a result of the country
finally moving or
shifting toward renewable energies.
But the reality is that Joe Manchin
doesn't just benefit politically
from dirty fossil fuels, he also
benefits financially directly.
And we learned some
details about that just today.
In fact, according to the most
recent financial disclosure,
Manchin gained nearly half a
million dollars last year, $492,000
to be exact, due to his non-public
shares in a coal company called,
it's a terrible name, Enerystems.
Which record show is a contractor
for a power plant in the state's
north that burns waste coal.
Meanwhile, Manchin's 2020 income
for being a senator was $174,000.
So let that sink in for a second.
He's earning more money from
dirty coal than he is representing
the people of West Virginia as
a senator.
The incentives are in
the wrong place.
There needs to be laws that prevent
lawmakers from being invested in
individual stocks or invested in
these types of companies, period.
He is receiving a significant
amount of his income,
most of his income it appears,
from the coal industry.
And we're not even talking about
what he receives in the form
of campaign contributions from
fossil fuel companies.
In fact, Manchin gave control to or
control of Enersystems to his son
back in 2000.
This is very Trumpian by the way.
He years ago moved his holdings in
the company into a blind trust in
order to comply with federal rules,
yet that doesn't prevent him from
personally profiting.
That's why I say Trumpian,
this is the exact same thing that
Trump did once he became president.
Since becoming a Democratic US
Senator in 2010, Manchin's
total income from Enersystems has
topped $4.5 million.
I don't know, there's some things
that I'd want to work on with the
reconciliation version of the bill.
Climate action,
I don't really like that,
it's going to hurt my profits,
my personal profits.
That's what this is about.
Wakey wakey media, I can't stand
the constant nonsense about, well,
he's coming from a conservative
state, so
he's gotta reach across the aisle.
No, no, he's got a vested interest
in defeating the reconciliation
bill, in not supporting
the reconciliation bill.
There's more.
Manchin by the way, chairs
the worst committee in the Senate.
Considering the conflict of
interest here,
he chairs the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee,
which is a joke.
Obviously, there's a conflict of
interest there, but
there are no laws preventing this
from happening.
That's the problem.
So, due to impurities in the waste
coal Grant Town Power Plant burns
to generate electricity,
it releases more sulfur dioxide and
nitrous oxide per unit of energy
than any other of the state's
coal plants.
So this is incredibly bad for
the environment.
But it doesn't matter, he doesn't
care as long as he's profiting from
this.
So if that plant were to shut down
by the way, it would halt over
900,000 tons of climate warming
carbon dioxide emissions that
Grant Town releases annually.
And I also want to talk a little
bit about how much money
Joe Manchin receives from
the fossil fuel industry
in the form of campaign donations.
In fact,
recently Julián Castro was speaking
to MSNBC about a fundraiser that
Manchin went to in Texas.
Let's learn a little bit more about
that June fundraiser.
>> Right now we've got this
huge reconciliation package,
the infrastructure bill.
There's a big question about how
aggressive that will be in
the climate aspects.
And here you have what would be
the 50th vote for this.
As the Texas Tribune reports,
the host committee includes titans
of the Texas oil and
gas industry, many of whom donate
almost exclusively to Republicans.
Some of these donors make
occasional contributions to
Democrats who either moderate or
serve on committees with
oversight of the energy sector.
Giving you a little window into
what the sort of climate hawk
forces are up against.
>> It does and I mean Manchin there
cheering the Energy and Natural
Resources Committee in the Senate.
The letter that went out,
the fundraising letter said that
Joe Manchin has been a good friend
of the industry since
he was governor of West Virginia.
And I'm sure it's going to get
a lot of buy in from oil and
gas executives.
And the way that this ties into the
voting rights part of it is, I bet
what they're telling Joe Manchin at
this high price fundraiser is hey,
look, Senator, you really are the
reasonable guy here in the Senate.
You're the only thing holding back
the world from AOC and
the socialists and X, Y, and Z.
They're going to butter him up and
make him think hey,
you got to hold the line.
>> They butter him up all right.
In fact,
remember we also had that video
featuring one of the top lobbyists
for Exxon Mobil just disclosing
the fact that they do quite a bit
of campaign donations,
legalized bribery,
to people like Senator Joe Manchin,
Kyrsten Sinema.
Who just today shared with
the American people that
she opposes the $3.5 trillion
reconciliation infrastructure bill.
She claims that it's too expensive,
it's too much money.
She's a real fiscal conservative
that Kyrsten Sinema.
She's not at all influenced by that
corporate money.
What a clown.
But more importantly, the members
of the media who buy that line,
members of the media who think, no,
these are good people,
they want unity, duh.
Those people shouldn't be employed
as journalists because there are
giant conflicts of interest here.
There's a huge problem with
legalized bribery.
And when you ignore that issue, you
lie to the American people about
what's really at play.
About what really influences
the decisions of these lawmakers.
They don't serve us,
they serve themselves.
There's a reason why lawmakers
leave Congress a lot wealthier than
they came in.
And it's because they can be
invested in individual stocks.
They can be invested in businesses,
like this coal company that
Manchin's involved in, brings in
half a million dollars a year.
He's living large, but he'll lie to
you straight in your face, and tell
you that he's doing this because he
cares about bipartisanship.
He doesn't care about
bipartisanship at all.
Manchin also has been hinting that
he's not going to be supportive of
the infrastructure bill for
a while now.
In fact, Manchin in June told
a utility conference he's not a fan
of President Joe Biden's plan
to address the climate emergency by
cutting US emissions in half by
2030, and hitting 100% clean power
in electric utilities by 2035.
In fact,
he said, quote, I am concerned that
the timetable they are setting is
a very aggressive timetable.
Cool, you should tell people who
are experiencing severe flooding or
severe drought, how you feel about
that aggressive timetable.
People are already dying due
to climate change.
He doesn't care.
He's bringing in half a million
dollars a year with his ties to
this coal company,
that's what he cares about.
The media won't let you know
about it.
Luckily we will.
So next time someone tries to sell
you that BS about the importance
of bipartisanship,
give them the middle finger, and
then show them the numbers,
because that's what this is about.