THE OTHER WEST VIRGINIA SENATOR’S PLANS: Joe Manchin is not the only West Virginia senator resolved to trim the Democrats’ “Build Back Better” spending bill.
Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, has been left out of negotiations over the partisan spending bill but is planning a trio of amendments to pluck energy and climate-related provisions from the bill once it’s introduced on the Senate floor.
Top of the list is an amendment to cut out the $4,500 tax credit applicable only to electric vehicles that are made in America by union workers, something Capito derided as a “special interest subsidy” which amounts to Democrats “putting their thumb on the scale” in favor of its union constituency.
“I've never seen a provision that favors one American worker over another American worker,” Capito told Jeremy, making reference to a non-union Toyota plant in the West Virginia town of Buffalo.
“I don't know why we would disadvantage a West Virginia worker, regardless of what their status is in terms of union, non-union,” she said.
Capito is also planning an amendment that would strike the allocation of $50 million in grant funding to the Federal Highway Administration for the purpose of establishing a transportation-related “greenhouse gas performance measure that requires states to set performance targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
The provision also orders the establishment of “consequences” for those states that do not reduce emissions.
“What does that mean?” Capito said of the provision and the undefined “consequences” clause. “Does that mean that they can come in and cut the state's formula funding that's used to upgrade our roads and our bridges?”
Capito added that complying with a set standard for transportation emissions would be difficult for rural West Virginia and said the provision doesn’t distinguish between states or regions with varying emissions footprints.
“We're not, you know, L.A. So in order for us to cut from a low emission standard, it's going to be really hard for us,” she said.
A third amendment would target another $45 million allocated to the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate emissions from stationary sources under the Clean Air Act — the same authority used for the defunct Obama-era Clean Power Plan.
The bigger picture: On her objections to the overall bill, Capito made special note of rising inflation, echoing the argument embraced by many Republicans (the argument Manchin is clearly sympathetic to) that authorizing trillions in new spending will worsen the outlook.
“This is a trend that's troubling. It's not transitory,” Capito said. “So I think that these kinds of realities that people are facing, whether it's higher heating bills or more more dollars at the pump, are weighing heavy on the American public, and I think the Democrats if they're going to try to ram this through, they're going to run into more and more trouble.”
“I'm hoping that that's enough to disrupt it and throw it off the agenda” she added. “I just think now’s not the time to do it.”
A bonus “outsider” prediction: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is still vying for a Christmas deadline to pass the bill, which Capito called “almost an impossibility.”
“I don't see how this gets done before Christmas,” she said. “I think it would be very difficult.”