Looks like it is time to press the play button again on this reconciliation rollercoaster.
On Wednesday, President Biden said in a press conference that he was open to “breaking up” the Build Back Better Act (aka the budget reconciliation bill), saying:
“Well, it’s clear to me that — that we’re going to have to probably break it up. I think that we can get — and I’ve been talking to a number of my colleagues on the Hill — I think it’s clear that we would be able to get support for the — for the 500-plus billion dollars for energy and the environmental issues that are there — number one….
I think we can break the package up, get as much as we can now, and come back and fight for the rest later."
Many in Congress also seem to be on board with scaling back the reconciliation bill to whatever can get 50 votes right now, with the climate provisions central to that smaller package.
But break ups are never easy and there is still much to be negotiated and worked out. Senator Manchin says he has not yet spoken with the White House and seems to prefer to start from scratch on the negotiations. This could mean a somewhat lengthy negotiation process followed by committees having to rewrite a lot of their legislative text.
It remains to be seen, but this reset could make more space for a carbon fee to be added to the bill, especially since it is a provision that pays for itself or can even generate revenue. While this will not be an easy lift to get a carbon price into the bill, our allies in Congress encourage us to keep up our efforts.
In terms of taking action, we are sticking with our current actions of emailing the President and Senators asking them to make climate a top priority in the budget bill. This is the perfect time to keep up the pressure so they know there is support from constituents.
Even if you have already taken this action, CCLers should feel free to send another message, customizing it to respond to this new context, perhaps saying that you support Biden’s call to break up the budget bill and get it passed ASAP with climate as the top priority.
We will be monitoring developments closely over the next few days and weeks and will keep you informed with actions you can take. It’s likely that much of this round of negotiations will happen out of the public eye so it may be a bit before we get more clarity on the plans.
I encourage you all to stay positive, stay engaged, and keep the pressure on!
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