Senator Joe Manchin struck his tax, climate, and spending gusher deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer playing the part of Wimpy. Schumer got his hamburger on the promise that he would pay Manchin in the currency of “permitting reform” next Tuesday. Will Tuesday ever come? We took a look in “The art of the deal, Wimpy style.”
Now the Associated Press takes a detailed look in “Manchin’s big energy deal draws pushback from many Dems” by Kevin Freking. The whole thing is Freking crazy (“To win over skeptics, some Democrats are stressing that Manchin’s proposal to streamline environmental reviews for energy infrastructure projects would be good for renewable energy, too”). It is a maddening hodgepodge of stupidity on a downward spiral:
A summary of the proposed legislation has been circulating among Senate Democrats in recent days and was obtained by The Associated Press. It states that the package being developed is key to meeting climate goals by developing interstate transmission lines that will transport electricity from Midwestern wind farms, for example, to major East Coast cities.
“Unfortunately, today these higher voltage, longer lines across multiple jurisdictions are not getting built,” the summary said.
The summary states that about 20 large transmission projects are ready to move forward with some federal support.
“Reforms to address permitting, siting and cost allocation concerns are key to building these projects,” the document says.
In interviews, key Democratic senators stressed a similar message, calling the energy proposal complementary to the massive climate package that passed last month.
“Right now, there’s just too much delay in solar and wind and geothermal, so I want at every possible opportunity to speed up permitting for renewables,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
I would like to say “Goodbye, Manchin Tuesday,” but Manchin Tuesday may come. Schumer may deliver something to let him declare victory. Yet Manchin looks like a fool. Wimpy’s deal is an old cartoon joke. In the words of the Rolling Stones song, “Ain’t life unkind?”
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