(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden vowed to take executive action to combat climate change after West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin put on hold Democrats’ sweeping economic and energy bill that the party has been trying to pass ahead of the midterms.
“If the Senate will not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to meet this moment,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House Friday while the president was in Saudi Arabia. “I will not back down: the opportunity to create jobs and build a clean energy future is too important to relent.”
Biden didn’t mention Manchin in his statement. But he instructed congressional Democrats to move ahead with legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and to prevent a hike in Obamacare premiums, which is what Manchin said he could support before the August recess.
“The Senate should move forward, pass it before the August recess, and get it to my desk so I can sign it,” Biden said in the statement, adding that lowering the cost of both prescription drugs and health care would reduce the deficit and fight inflation, two major issue for Manchin. Both also would appeal to voters as Democrats are trying to hold control of Congress in the November election.
Senate Democrats are moving forward next week on working with the Senate parliamentarian official to ensure a drug price bill complies with Senate budget rules, according to a Senate aide. This is step is necessary before any legislation can be brought to the floor under the fast-track budget process that bypasses Republicans.
Whether it is technically possible to do a second bill with other parts of Biden’s agenda in September using the same budget outline has not yet been officially determined under Senate rules. Senate Democrats could pass a new budget however if they truly wanted to do another budget bill. It would just take extra time.
The Democrats’ inability to reach a deal with Manchin on a sweeping economic package that would have addressed health care costs and climate policy, paid for with tax increases, poses a political challenge to the party ahead of the mid-terms, as Biden also faces a historically high rate of inflation and low approval ratings.
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