The Domestic Policy Bill, Build Back Better Agenda, was proposed by the Biden administration and aimed to expand social safety and tackle climate change.
For quite a long time, the Democratic Senator, Joe Manchin had been on the fence about giving his consent about the bill.
On Sunday, he publicly announced that he would not support the $1.75 trillion spending bill. His decision drew sharp criticism from the White House. His major fear is that it could spark inflation and add to the huge federal debt.
As he stated:
"I cannot vote to continue with this piece of legislation. I just can't. I have tried everything humanly possible."
Manchin seems concerned about the rising inflation and the current state of the economy. Therefore, at the moment, he doesn't think spending a trillion dollars is a reasonable strategy.
But regardless of Manchin's decision, Biden stated that he'd find another way to fight climate change. To reduce gas emissions, he proposed to set vehicle mileage standards.
As EPA Administrator Michael Regan stated:
“We are setting robust and rigorous standards that will aggressively reduce the pollution that is harming people and our planet – and save families money at the same time."
Biden has pledged to cut the cost of greenhouse emissions in half by 2030 by switching from gas-operated engines to battery-powered vehicles. These measures will both address climate change as well as improve public health.
This new rule is set to begin in 2023 with release of new car models, which would decrease emissions between 5 and 10% each year through 2026.
These changes are in line with the goal set forth by the 2015 Paris climate agreement to keep the average global temperature below 2 degrees Celsius.
Comments / 369