SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is followed by reporters as he walks through the Senate subway on Capitol Hill on February 16, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Manchin Only Dem to Join GOP to Reroute Billions in Climate Funds to Pentagon
"This is who Joe Manchin is," said one critic.
May 06, 2022
Sen. Joe Manchin voted against his own party's climate action proposal once again this week, joining the Republicans in their effort to reroute billions of dollars from a climate fund to develop weapons systems at the Pentagon.
The West Virginia right-wing Democrat was the only member of his party to vote for a motion filed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to gut the Green Climate Authorization Act, a bill introduced last year by Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.).
That legislation would authorize $4 billion in 2022 and in 2023 for "a fund established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to finance projects that address climate change," and would include financing for countries in the Global South to address the planetary emergency.
Cotton proposed redirecting $8 billion from the fund to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) at the Pentagon, which develops new weapons technologies.
DARPA's funding in 2021 was $3.5 billion.
Manchin's decision to join the GOP in rerouting climate funding for the agency follows his refusal to support climate action as part of President Joe Biden's signature economic agenda, the Build Back Better Act. Climate and anti-poverty campaigners have ramped up protests against the senator in recent weeks over his personal profiting from the coal industry and obstruction of green initiatives.
"This is who Joe Manchin is," said Eric Engle, chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, following Wednesday's vote.
During a series of votes regarding a science and research bill on Wednesday, Manchin also joined the Republicans to approve a motion establishing a minimum number of gas and oil permits through 2027. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) also supported that measure.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sen. Joe Manchin voted against his own party's climate action proposal once again this week, joining the Republicans in their effort to reroute billions of dollars from a climate fund to develop weapons systems at the Pentagon.
The West Virginia right-wing Democrat was the only member of his party to vote for a motion filed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to gut the Green Climate Authorization Act, a bill introduced last year by Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.).
That legislation would authorize $4 billion in 2022 and in 2023 for "a fund established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to finance projects that address climate change," and would include financing for countries in the Global South to address the planetary emergency.
Cotton proposed redirecting $8 billion from the fund to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) at the Pentagon, which develops new weapons technologies.
DARPA's funding in 2021 was $3.5 billion.
Manchin's decision to join the GOP in rerouting climate funding for the agency follows his refusal to support climate action as part of President Joe Biden's signature economic agenda, the Build Back Better Act. Climate and anti-poverty campaigners have ramped up protests against the senator in recent weeks over his personal profiting from the coal industry and obstruction of green initiatives.
"This is who Joe Manchin is," said Eric Engle, chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, following Wednesday's vote.
During a series of votes regarding a science and research bill on Wednesday, Manchin also joined the Republicans to approve a motion establishing a minimum number of gas and oil permits through 2027. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) also supported that measure.
Sen. Joe Manchin voted against his own party's climate action proposal once again this week, joining the Republicans in their effort to reroute billions of dollars from a climate fund to develop weapons systems at the Pentagon.
The West Virginia right-wing Democrat was the only member of his party to vote for a motion filed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to gut the Green Climate Authorization Act, a bill introduced last year by Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.).
That legislation would authorize $4 billion in 2022 and in 2023 for "a fund established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to finance projects that address climate change," and would include financing for countries in the Global South to address the planetary emergency.
Cotton proposed redirecting $8 billion from the fund to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) at the Pentagon, which develops new weapons technologies.
DARPA's funding in 2021 was $3.5 billion.
Manchin's decision to join the GOP in rerouting climate funding for the agency follows his refusal to support climate action as part of President Joe Biden's signature economic agenda, the Build Back Better Act. Climate and anti-poverty campaigners have ramped up protests against the senator in recent weeks over his personal profiting from the coal industry and obstruction of green initiatives.
"This is who Joe Manchin is," said Eric Engle, chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, following Wednesday's vote.
During a series of votes regarding a science and research bill on Wednesday, Manchin also joined the Republicans to approve a motion establishing a minimum number of gas and oil permits through 2027. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) also supported that measure.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.