On The Money — Manchin shuts down climate, tax measures

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has reversed course again on Democrats’ efforts to fight climate change and raise taxes on the wealthy. We’ll also look at the retail sales recovery, Biden’s challenge with messaging inflation and the push to pass a pared-down semiconductor bill.  

But first, see how lawmakers voted on Friday’s abortion rights bill. 

Welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom l...

Equilibrium/Sustainability — Retired coal plants go renewable

Obsolete coal plants across the country are getting a welcome revival: A second life as solar farms and other renewable energy ventures. 

Because these former fossil fuel hubs are wired into the electricity grid, they provide a valuable opportunity for clean energy projects seeking to avoid regulatory hassles, The New York Times reported.

Repurposing these grid connections — which would be both costly and time-consuming to build from scratch — could po...

Time for Washington to stop shooting the moon

The political fight now occupying center stage on Capitol Hill may appear like more of the same. Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has promised to thwart a bipartisan bill designed to help American businesses compete with China unless Democrats abandon a big spending bill that Republicans oppose. And this does ring familiar: Steamrolling the other party has become business as usual in Washington. At the same time, however, this moment also speaks to a more universal truth...

The Supreme Court left millions of Americans uninsured: Here’s what Congress can do to cover them

Nearly 4 million Americans lack health insurance because of a 2012 Supreme Court decision that allowed states to opt out of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. In the coming weeks, Congress has a chance to clean up the mess the court’s decision created.

To understand what Congress can do now, it is useful to review how we got here. The Affordable Care Act required all state Medicaid programs to cover people with incomes up to 138 percent of the poverty line (currentl...

Biden to Senate: Pass health bill and I’ll tackle climate through executive action

President Biden on Friday told senators to move forward with a slimmed-down, health care-only reconciliation package before their August recess after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) struck a blow to his agenda over its tax and climate provisions, which Biden said he will address through executive action.

“After decades of fierce opposition from powerful special interests, Democrats have come together, beaten back the pharmaceutical industry and are prepared to give Medicare the pow...

Democratic senator questions why Manchin is chairman of Natural Resources panel

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said Friday he is questioning why Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee after Manchin refused to back climate provisions in a Democratic budget reconciliation package.

“We have an opportunity to address the climate crisis right now. Senator Manchin’s refusal to act is infuriating,” Heinrich wrote on Twitter.

“It makes me question why he’s Chair of ENR,” he added.

Manchin’s...

Manchin says inflation report killed climate and tax talks with Schumer

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White House offers no reaction to Manchin blow

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Manchin rejects adding climate spending, tax hikes on wealthy, striking blow to Biden agenda

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