The Biden administration’s conservative Democrat Senator, who criticizes its environmental goals, said on a radio show that he “applauded” the White House’s debt-limit bargain with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, angering environmentalists against the nearly 483-mile natural gas pipeline that will run through the state of Virginia. .
In his speech, emphasizing the importance of the pipeline that will transfer natural gas from the Appalachian Mountains, Manchin said, “The product is needed in America. No matter what you do, you cannot satisfy some people.”
“Involving the Mountain Valley Pipeline for approval in a vote on our nation’s credit line is a terrible move,” said Peter Anderson, Virginia policy director for the Appalachian Voices.
In addition to the Democrats, some Republicans also reacted
Senator Manchin’s support for the inclusion of the approval of the pipeline project in the debt limit agreement sparked the reaction of some Democrat senators and members of the House of Representatives, as well as members of the Republican Party.
Virginia’s Democratic Senator Tim Kaine and a group of Democratic Members of the House of Representatives announced that they will propose an amendment to remove the pipeline from the debt limit agreement.
“It is disgusting and wrong for this administration to claim that it cares about environmental justice and then give the Mountain Valley Pipeline the green light in defiance of the National Environmental Policy Act,” Tennessee State Congressman Justin Pearson (Democrat) told reporters.
Republican Representative Nancy Mace from South Carolina also expressed her reaction on Twitter and announced that she would vote against the bill.