Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is reportedly furious with the White House over its implementation of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, with the West Virginia senator particularly annoyed with the administration’s delay in rolling out tax credits for electric vehicles.
Biden and Manchin met at the White House on Jan. 3 to discuss the sweeping tax law, which both Democrats had a heavy hand in shaping before it was passed by Congress last year, according to Politico. Manchin used the meeting to tout the bill while also pushing for stricter requirements to boost U.S.-based electric vehicle batteries that he says are crucial to making the Inflation Reduction Act succeed.
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The Inflation Reduction Act amended federal law to provide maximum $7,500 tax credits for new consumer light-duty clean vehicles so long as they are both assembled in North America and meet battery manufacturing requirements, which are designed to support domestic industry and grow increasingly more strict by the year.
Manchin later introduced legislation in January that sought to withhold tax credits from purchasers of electric vehicles if the models don’t comply with new manufacturing requirements passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. Manchin said he talked to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen several times about introducing such requirements, noting he has “been raising hell.”
“They almost act like they gotta send $7,500 or a person won’t buy a car. Which is crazy, ludicrous thinking for the federal government,” Manchin told Politico. “I just totally and absolutely am disagreeing with what they’re doing.”
Going further, Manchin criticized his Democratic colleagues who are pushing to transition the country away from oil and gas immediately, calling such proposals “bulls***.”
“So they’re gonna basically starve us out of energy that we have a tremendous, abundant supply of because of their aspirational thoughts?” Manchin said. “I will continue to fight, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure the public knows what they’re doing and what it will do to you and your economy and your lifestyle.”
Manchin sent a one-page memo to his colleagues during the Senate Democratic retreat on Wednesday, reviving a proposal he introduced last summer that emphasizes the “continued need” for fossil fuels — noting the United States could eventually reach energy dependence if such policies are implemented, according to the outlet.
The disagreement between Manchin and Biden comes as Democrats are pushing the West Virginia senator to run for reelection, hoping to increase their chances of holding on to the Senate seat in an otherwise red state. Should Manchin decide to run for reelection, he would be one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the 2024 cycle, running in a state that former President Donald Trump carried by 38.9 percentage points in 2020.
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Some members of the Biden administration have painted Manchin’s moves as a way to appeal to conservative voters in his state, particularly as the West Virginia senator seeks to paint himself as a centrist Democrat willing to work across the aisle.
The Treasury Department is expected to finalize its guidance on how to implement the tax credits for electric vehicles in March, with the agency noting last month it would need time “to work through significant complexities.” In the meantime, consumers will have access to the full tax credit regardless of where they purchased their electric vehicles.
