It was an ordinary Tuesday morning outside the Rescue Mission’s second-hand goods store in the town of Martinsburg, northern West Virginia. Under a bright November sun, Mary Geertsema, in her early thirties, came to lend a hand to the volunteers of this religious organization to set up a few items to sell at low prices on the sidewalk. Crockery, used clothes, toys, children’s car seats …
“The need for mutual aid is great here, as elsewhere in the country, especially at this time,” she said, as around her, a handful of people of all ages walked through the doors of the small business. , some to donate, all to find deals. “The social reforms Joe Biden is trying to push through in Washington are therefore necessary. And it is very embarrassing to see the senator of our state blocking it, as he has been doing for months. “
Embarrassing ? The commentary is far from localized. It even seems to be shared all over the United States, in the Democratic ranks, since the small rural and mining state, landlocked between Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland and Kentucky, decided, by voice of its senator, Joe Manchin, to make rain and shine on the major projects of social and even environmental policies of the administration of Joe Biden.
This astonishing power, the elected official and businessman of 74 years, who represents barely 0.5% of the population of the country, will seek it in the division of the senate in equal parts: 50 Democrats against 50 Republicans. The vote of Vice President Kamala Harris is the majority. And in this context, the support of all Democrats is necessary to advance the political program of the president, a mathematics that Joe Manchin has decided to take advantage of.
“He had a minor position on the American political spectrum as a conservative Democrat in a predominantly Republican state,” summed up in an interview with the To have to political scientist Robert Rupp, professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College. In 2020, Donald Trump won every county in West Virginia, bar none, and the state’s five major voters with an overwhelming 39-point majority over Joe Biden. “However, the new configuration of the Senate gives it a position of strength which places it at the center of attention. “
Alone against all
In Congress, Joe Manchin has been leading the way for several weeks after having succeeded, almost on his own, in halving Joe Biden’s colossal investment plan for improving the country’s social framework and financing the economic transition. to deal with climate change. The plan called “Built Back Better “, Or” to rebuild better “, was to benefit from a budget of 3,500 billion dollars. Under pressure from the West Virginia senator and his stated fears of fueling the deficit and inflation, the White House agreed to halve it, to $ 1.750 billion.
His grip is strong on the legislative work of the country, but obviously never enough for him who, after having modified to the advantage of his State the plan for the infrastructures, adopted in the snatch last week, still leaves the doubt. on his support for Biden’s social and environmental investment plans, support to which this so-called moderate Democrat continually attaches conservative conditions that confront the social perspectives of the more progressive fringe of his party.
He opposes, among other things, paid leave for family or medical reasons and the extension of federal social security coverage for dental, hearing and vision care.
He succeeded in eroding the framework for financing Biden’s social pledges by limiting increases in taxes on the profits and accounting results of multinational companies and nipping in the bud a plan to tax billionaires. However, the White House was counting on this new tax system to collect hundreds of billions from the fortunes of these ultra-rich and to reduce the influence of tax havens on public finances.
Joe Manchin also rejects a pivotal measure in the Democrats’ climate change plan aimed at encouraging, with a budget of 150 billion, the country’s utilities to switch to renewable energy. The Clean Energy Performance Plan (CEPP) – that’s its name – is frowned upon by the senator who fears its negative impact on the coal and gas industry, on which West Virginia is heavily dependent.
A threatened state
And yet … “West Virginia is one of the poorest states in the country, but also one of the most directly affected by the energy transition and climate change,” notes geographer Amy Hessl, who teaches at the West Virginia University, while citing increasingly intense flooding in this mountainous and rural state. “So there is a very strong frustration in watching Joe Manchin go right now, especially among those who have been working for years to tackle the challenge of climate change here. “
In Martinsburg, nearly 25% of built heritage is now threatened by floods and floods, according to the Flood Factor, an American organization that closely monitors the impact of climate change on populations. The threat is qualified as major for infrastructure, and moderate for buildings with a social function.
West Virginia is expected to face the largest increases in heatwave days nationwide by 2050, according to State at Risk, which estimates that 60,000 vulnerable residents of the state are now at high risk of disease and heat-related death. The state is also where critical infrastructure, such as power plants, roads, police and fire stations, is at high risk of becoming unusable due to flooding.
Two weeks ago, a hundred environmental activists gathered in front of the federal court in the capital, Charleston, to denounce the intransigence and the blockages of Senator Manchin in relation to “audacious and practical climate policies aimed at to protect both our state and our planet, ”says Morgan King, West Virginia Rivers Coalition climate campaign coordinator. “We are counting on Senator Manchin to follow the science presented by the IPCC and above all to make the right decisions. “
Elected under influence
The thing is far from being decided in advance because of the close ties forged between the senator and the fossil fuel community, whose interests also seem to guide the firm positions of the elected in Washington. According to the organization Open Secret, which scrutinizes the finances of politicians, Joe Manchin tops the list of senators whose careers in Washington are funded in part by the oil, gas, pipelines and coal lobby. In front of Republicans Kevin McCarthy or Adam Kinzinger. Coal which also contributes to the senator’s family fortune. In the past ten years, he received $ 5.2 million in dividends from an industry company he founded before entering politics, according to his financial statements.
“When you get into politics, you end up getting rich and trying to defend those who are also rich rather than those who need it most,” quips Waldo Clane, a volunteer also met in front of the Rescue Mission store. “And that contributes less to change, and more to cynicism. “
Next to him, Mary Geertsema adds: “Manchin is disconnected from our realities, he has a yacht”, she says to justify the shooting.
A yacht! It was also from the upper deck of this $ 250,000 ship called “Almost Heaven” – a reference to the regional ode sung by John Denver in 1971 – that the elected official defended his opposition. to reimbursements of medical expenses for the poorest, a few weeks ago. He was being questioned by a few opponents as his outward sign of wealth was docked on the Potomac River in the Washington area. The scene was filmed and then transmitted to the British daily The Independent, who called it an “awkward exchange”.
This report was partly funded with support from the Transat International Journalism Fund –The duty.