U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he would act on his own to cut pollutant emissions and urged his fellow Democrats to approve the few elements of a comprehensive environmental package on which there is agreement after negotiations. in the Senate collapsed once again.
Biden said he would take unspecified measures to reduce emissions after Senator Joe Manchin, the only Democratic dissident, said he would not support tax increases and incentives for emissions reductions that have stalled in Congress.
Biden urged lawmakers to separately approve provisions of the package that Manchin supports, such as lowering drug costs and strengthening the Medicare health program for people over 65.
“If the Senate does not move to address the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to respond to this moment,” Biden said in a statement.
It was the latest setback for Biden’s Democrats, who have struggled for more than a year to pass a sweeping package that would allocate hundreds of billions of dollars in incentives to reduce emissions, raise taxes for corporations and the wealthy and lower the price of prescription drugs. Proposals to expand social security programs have already been dropped.
Manchin represents West Virginia, a coal-producing state, and has been skeptical of attempts to deal with climate change.
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