U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is increasingly becoming a problem for President Joe Biden and other Senate Democrats as he looks to be reelected in 2024 in the reddest of states — one in which Donald Trump defeated Biden by almost 40 points in 2020.
In his latest move, Manchin last week threatened to oppose every one of Biden's nominations to the Environmental Protection Agency over regulation the agency will put forth on Thursday on emissions from fossil fuels. Manchin has termed the regulation "radical."
Manchin has accused Biden's EPA nominees of pursuing an "extreme ideology" and sharply criticized the Biden administration's plan for limiting power plants' greenhouse gas emissions.
"He is giving the administration fits, and I think … he probably feels like they have it coming. They threw him under the bus with the [Inflation Reduction Act] and permitting stuff, and it looks to me he's demonstrating a pretty serious effort to point that out," said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., a member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW). "He can hold whatever he wants, as we all can, and make it very difficult for them to advance nominees. And I say good for him. He deserves some concessions."
However, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., chair of the EPW Committee, told The Hill that he hoped to talk to Manchin about his opposition to potentially "convince him that he may want to rethink that position" and to "find favor" with some nominees, saying, "I understand that sometimes we get upset, whether it's this administration or another administration.”
Because the GOP controls the House of Representatives, Biden successfully getting nominees confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Senate is something he could tout as a success for his reelection campaign. But Manchin's threats could easily put that in jeopardy.
Manchin, as chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, could also hold up nominees that come before his committee.
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