Climate change is still a thing
So three cheers for Ron Wyden
Joe Manchin’s withdrawal of climate provisions from the zombie Build Back Better bill has upset a lot of people. Turns out his objection to a global tax scheme that he also basically stringed people along for has really fucked over our Treasury Secretary and upset international efforts to set a global minimum tax for multi-national corporations. Perhaps we should not have bet the farm on Joe Manchin being a reliable vote, although I will confess that I believed he was negotiating in good faith and don’t think he was cynically trying to fuck things up the way I believe Republicans like Olympia Snowe and Chuck Grassley were with the ACA many years ago.
Nonetheless, Manchin has screwed things up very badly. And I don’t believe it is justified. His inflationary concerns are ostensibly valid, but bills can be made to be anti-inflationary (e.g. put more tax increases than spending or put spending off for years or something where you aren’t automatically pumping money into the economy.) I don’t know what is going through his mind but he has caused a lot of ill will.
As it stands, much of the world is baking under an oppressive heat wave. The Washington Post notes that in England, as temperatures exceed 104 degrees F, it may be the hottest those islands have been in 6,000 years. It also reminded us that:
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, representing the authoritative consensus of world scientists, reported in 2021 that overall, and on average, the Earth is now warmer than it’s been in 125,000 years.
Things are getting bad and it will cause real harm to people. In the U.K. for example, quite a lot of people are not used to this excessive heat and don’t have air conditioning. That means illness and even death for vulnerable populations, like the elderly or poor/infirm. By and by, wealthy countries will suffer but adapt. Poorer countries where global warming is most pernicious will suffer the most. So while I tend to agree with those who say the United States can survive through 2 degrees Celsius increase in average global temperatures (and by survive I mean there will still be terrible suffering) there are many poorer countries where the suffering will be extreme and horrific. This is the cost we pay for slow action.
Therefore I was heartened to see Senator Ron Wyden proclaim he will not give up on legislative action on climate change and will continue to try and work with Joe Manchin to find some kind of solution. It reminded me in a way of what Nancy Pelosi said when it seemed like health care legislation was about to collapse in Congress.
This was early 2010. The House has passed their version of healthcare reform and in December the Senate passed theirs. The versions needed to be merged and then repassed by both houses but the Democrats lost their supermajority when Scott Brown (R-MA) won a special election that January. Everyone was ready to give up, are (reportedly) Rahm Emmanuel prepared to throw in the towel from the White House.
Pelosi disagreed and spoke to the press about her intention
Some things we can do on the side which may not fit into a bigger plan. That doesn't mean that is a substitute for doing comprehensive. It means we will move on many fronts, any front we can. As I said to some friends yesterday in the press, we will go through the gate. If the gate is closed, we will go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we will pole vault in. If that doesn't work, we will parachute in. But we are going to get health care reform passed for the American people for their own personal health and economic security and for the important role that it will play in reducing the deficit.
Pelosi wound up convincing her House caucus, begrudgingly, to pass the Senate version of health care. Many were afraid the changing political climate meant it would be signing their own death warrant - though many others probably figured that stinging political losses would be a fait accompli. As it stood, they passed the bill and brutally lost the next election - though arguably not for that reason. 20 million people got health care because that move - lives were saved, literally. In the next eight year Republicans tried over and over again to repeal health care but eventually gave up and now it is here to stay.
Obviously health care isn’t climate change but that kind of spirit Pelosi brought - that no obstacle is too high - is something we need on climate change. It is easy to say “Fuck Joe Manchin!” and give up - but its quietly mutter “Fuck Joe Manchin” then politely approach Joe Manchin and keep trying. So thank you Senator Wyden for appearing to do just that.