It’s back: Stop Manchin’s dirty debt ceiling deal!

June 1 update – Last night the House passed the dirty debt ceiling deal with no amendments. About 100 Democrats voted against the “no amendments” rule before they voted for the dirty deal. Which is the most, and depressingly inadequate, good news I can give you about the vote.

The better news is that the bill now moves to the Senate, which is a much more open and welcoming venue for amendments. Several Senators have already said they will offer amendments, like Tim Kaine. And a few, like Bernie Sanders, have said they won’t vote for the debt ceiling deal unless it gets less dirty. So, keep calling! Pick up the phone (or click here) and call (833) 971-2490 to tell your member your Senators to clean up the dirty debt ceiling deal.

You can also find more numbers, social media messages and actions to take in this toolkit, which will be updated throughout the day as we get updates and votes.

Kaine gave a fiery speech introducing his amendment earlier today, and Senator Merkley of Oregon has also promised to introduce an amendment that would undo the bad NEPA limitations in the dirty debt ceiling bill. What happens next is uncertain.

Because margins are close in the Senate, and rules require more Senators to go along in order to advance any piece of legislation or amendment, Sen Schumer is trying to balance several competing interests. On the one hand, he cant allow too many amendment votes, or the process will bog down, senators will talk all night, and they’ll fail to pass a bill by June 5 (which is, maybe, when the government runs out of money). On the other hand, he can’t do what the House did and just refuse to allow any amendments at all, because Senator Kaine or Merkley on the left, or a right-wing Senator like Rand Paul, could filibuster the whole process and blow up the deal. 

We’ve been building support for weeks around the idea of Kaine’s amendment, in particular. And now is the moment to deliver. In a clear sign that our pressure is working, Sen Warner of Virginia went from saying he would not support Kaine’s amendment because the debt ceiling deal was too important and fragile to be amended; to saying that he WILL vote for Kaine’s amendment today after an avalanche of protests, calls, and letters from Virginian’s asking him to do so.

Further actions you can take:

1. Send a letter to your Senators now with our allies Climate Hawks Vote asking them not to support a dirty debt ceiling deal that expedites permitting for fossil fuels.
2. Sign on to this updated petition calling for clean permitting reform that benefits renewable energy, not fossil fuels (after we get past this debt ceiling vote).
3. The last few weeks have been to be a sprint, and required a lot of action, phone calls, and pressure. Chip in $1.98. $19.80, or whatever you can afford to help us cover the costs of these debt ceiling actions as well.

May 30 – Despite our many calls, letters, signatures (see below) and the earnest work of nearly 100 progressive Democrats in the House and Senate, President Biden sold us out, again. Over the weekend Biden made a dirty deal with fossil fueled fascists in the House to raise the debt limit.

But the Biden-McCarthy deal may have overplayed its hand by trying to force completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The dirty deal bill introduced late Sunday requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue permits for MVP within 21 days and limits judicial review of permits. It also limits the time and legal options communities have to use the National Environmental Protection Act, and makes it harder for some people to access safety net programs like food stamps. And, of course, it does absolutely nothing to enhance renewable energy or build out transmission lines despite the White House’s pitiful defense.

But a deal is not a bill, which has to be voted on and amended before becoming a law – and there’s still time to clean up this debt ceiling bill. As with before, the key to our strategy is to focus on the things most members of Congress dont like: namely the Mountain Valley Pipeline. And use their desire to change that part of the bill to get Congress to pass a clean(er) debt ceiling bill, or even force Biden to stop negotiating and use the 14th amendment to fight for our climate and communities, for a change.

Pick up the phone (or click here) and call (833) 971-2490 to tell your member of Congress, and both your Senators to clean up the dirty debt ceiling deal.

I explain more in this video, as well, but here’s the gist: Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, as well as all the Virginia Democrats in the US House of Representatives have already said they plans to offer an amendment to strip out the pro-Mountain Valley Pipeline portions from the debt limit deal. And as we’ve mentioned, nearly 100 other Progressive House and Senate Democrats already asked Biden not to do a dirty deal, and to support unilateral action to raise the debt ceiling. We’re just starting to find out how the amendment process will work in the House, but we know Kaine’s support means we’ll at least get a vote to make the debt ceiling bill clean-er. It’s possible that one of those nearly 100 progressive Democrats will offer an amendment to strip everything out except for raising the debt ceiling for 2 years.

I don’t think it’s likely that a majority of either the House or Senate to vote against an underlying bill to raise the debt ceiling. But both Democrats and Republicans have reasons for wanting to clean up the debt ceiling deal, and if enough of us call on them to act now, we can certainly make the deal cleaner.

So we’re asking you to pick up the phone (or click here) and call (833) 971-2490 and focus on the amendments, for now. As always, you can say whatever your want (your Representative and Senators work for you, after all). But our suggestion for Democrats, is that the key message is that we still want a clean debt ceiling bill, and we can get it if they offer amendments to strip out all the dirty stuff from Biden and McCarthy’s deal – rather than asking them to vote no on raising the debt ceiling. Republicans may be more motivated to deny Joe Manchin (who’s up for re-election next year) a clear victory, so we’re encouraging you to play up the fact that the Mountain Valley Pipeline parts of the dirty debt ceiling deal were negotiated by the White House on Manchin’s behalf, and wont help any other energy or fossil fuel projects.

Earlier updates for context

May 24 update – Negotiations between the White House and fossil fueled fascists in Congress over the debt ceiling are entering a final phase, with the X date for a default coming as soon as next week. Press reports and inside info from our friends and climate hawks in Congress indicate that Manchin’s dirty debt ceiling deal is still very much in play.

We showed some excellent fight and pushback last week – when more than 80 progressive members of Congress sent letters and made speeches denouncing a dirty deal, and imploring President Biden not to sell us out (again) on the debt ceiling. But President Biden and the White House climate team continue to not just entertain but encourage Manchin and MAGA House Speaker McCarthy to pursue a deal that will gut bedrock environmental protections, expedite fossil fuel infrastructure, and doom our climate goals.

If you’re in a state with one or more Democratic Senators, use our updated tool to call today and ask them to stop Manchin’s Dirty Debt Ceiling Deal this week, and specifically to tell Senate Leader Schumer that a dirty, pro-fossil fuel bill simply cannot pass. Calls are free at (833) 971-2490 or online, click here to chip in $1.98 or more to keep them that way.

May 11 message with more background and footnotes:

We warned you a few weeks ago, and now Manchin’s zombie dirty deal is back, and this time with the added pressure and urgency of a federal default!

I’ll explain more below, but if you already know what’s up, take these 4 quick actions in any order to stop Manchin’s dirty debt ceiling deal!

1. Sign the petition calling for a clean permitting reform only, if you haven’t already.
2. Send a letter to your Senators now with our allies Climate Hawks Vote asking them not to support a dirty debt ceiling deal that expedites permitting for fossil fuels.
3. Call your Senators and tell them not to accept and debt ceiling deal that expedites the Mountain Valley Pipeline, in particular, or fossil fuels, in general.
4. The next few weeks are going to be a sprint, and are going to require a lot of action, phone calls, and pressure. But we’re broke after helping to organize major actions at the White House Correspondents dinner, and at FERC next week. Chip in $1.98. $19.80, or whatever you can afford to help us cover the costs of these debt ceiling actions as well.

Here’s what’s been going on.

As we told you a little while ago, fossil fueled fascists in Congress have been hard at work trying to get the zombie plan known as “permitting reform” back up and shuffling. They made it the centerpiece of the GOP-Controlled House’s first bill, H.R. 1. And then they made that H.R.1 a central part —275 of the 315 page bill, in fact — of their dangerous bill to only raise the debt ceiling in exchange for rolling back climate legislation and essential government services like veterans benefits.

Since then, the situation has gotten both worse and more urgent. First, Senate fossil fuel fascists from Joe Manchin to Mitch McConnell, including at least 40 Senate Republicans (enough to beat a filibuster). Then, last week Manchin re-introduced his dirty deal — same text as last year, but now he’s calling it “permitting reform,” and he’s actively shopping for Senators who will help him make it a part of the debt ceiling negotiations.

Manchin’s dirty debt ceiling deal got two big boosts this week: First, when John Podesta, one of Biden’s senior advisors on clean energy and climate change gave it (and fossil fuels) a full throated endorsement yesterday; And then again today when Manchin held a bipartisan hearing of the Senate Energy committee which he still (outrageously) chairs and drew support from a number of Senators, as well as the fossil fuel industry and the AFL CIO, for his idea of bigger, faster, approval for all energy projects – whether fossil fueled or clean energy. At a closed door press briefing elsewhere in the capitol later in the day, House Republican leaders named permitting reform first among their priorities for the debt ceiling negotiation.

So that’s the bad news. And it’s a lot. Here’s how we’re fighting back, and why we think we can win:

198 methods friends and allies were at that hearing to speak out and push back, but we were missing some of our key champions from last year’s dirty deal fight – especially Senator Sanders, who still holds a seat on Manchin’s Energy committee, but spends more time chairing the Senate HELP committee that has deep ties to (and power over) US labor unions, including the AFL. Sanders’ absence made today’s Senate Energy Committee hearing hard to watch, but it’s ultimately a good sign that we still have allies who have yet to speak out or push back. That those allies also have deep ties to labor organizations like the AFLCIO is likewise bad news today, but could be better news soon.

We’re not betting everything on any one Senator, however (not even Bernie). To stop the debt ceiling dirty deal, we don’t need a majority, but we do need to demonstrate we’ve got at least a strong minority of Democrats willing to hold fast. That’s because while Manchin and fossil fueled fascists in Congress have been dominating the conversation, they’re still barely holding together enough support to advance these ideas and bill. Margins are close, fossil fuels are unpopular, and there are more ways the dirty debt ceiling deal can fail than there are likely paths to success.

McCarthy’s dirty debt ceiling bill, the one that includes all of HR1, passed with 217 votes – one less than normally required for passage. If, hypothetically, and just-saying-for-no-reason, George Santos were forced to resign, McCarthy’s version would likely fail. Likewise, for all the happy talk from the White House and Manchin this week about bipartisanship, Congressional climate hawks and anti-fossil-fuel-fascists have yet to announce clear red-lines and negotiation points other than “clean debt ceiling only.”

With negotiators set to return to the White House tomorrow, and conversations expected to continue for the next few weeks, it’s not too late, but none too early for us to take action – and win, again, our fight to stop Manchin’s zombie dirty deal. Here’s the actions we think will make the most difference, and why:

1. Sign the petition calling for a clean permitting reform only, if you haven’t already. This is the simplest version of our demands on permitting reform, and speaks as a direct counter-argument to both Manchin and McCarthy’s proposals. There are several counter-proposals from House and Senate Democrats already circulating, and if we can make this a debate between clean and dirty permitting reform, disconnected from the debt ceiling
2. Send a letter to your Senators now with our allies Climate Hawks Vote asking them not to support a dirty debt ceiling deal that expedites permitting for fossil fuels. Let’s be honest: this conversation is as much about politics as it is policy. The best idea may not win, but neither will the one that can’t muster 60 votes in the Senate. We’re teaming up with our favorite climate super-PAC specifically because we need need to raise the political stakes here – especially for elected Democrats. The CHV letters are split for Republicans or Democrats, and focus on the Senate for now. That’s good politics because if we can get even a few Democratic Senators to speak out against attaching the dirty deal to a debt ceiling bill, we can buy ourselves several more weeks to beat Manchin’s latest dirty deal.
3. Click here or call (833) 971-2490 to tell your Senators not to accept and debt ceiling deal that expedites the Mountain Valley Pipeline, in particular, or fossil fuels, in general. We’re bringing back our famously effective, and free, tool from last year’s campaign that killed Manchin’s zombie dirty deal not once, twice, or three, but four times. Phone calls are dramatically more persuasive to Senate offices than petition signatures or emails, and these calls zero in on what we know is the weakest part of Manchin’s dirty permitting reform deal: Manchin’s desperate attempt to fast track the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Most Senators don’t care about the MVP either way, but the two Democratic Senators from Virginia specifically opposed Manchin’s dirty deal last year because they didn’t like the idea of overruling Virginia courts by Manchin’s legislative fiat. Follow the script in our call and we’ll give you some key talking points for Republican or Democratic Senators that we think will get that item stripped from any “permitting reform” proposal, and weaken Manchin’s leverage in the process
4. The next few weeks are going to be a sprint, and are going to require a lot of action, phone calls, and pressure. We always rely on your support to finance our actions and ideas, but we’re broke after helping to organize major actions at the White House Correspondents dinner in late April, and at FERC next week. To keep phone calls to the Senate free, and to keep sending emails and updates over this critical period, we urgently need your support. Chip in $1.98. $19.80, $198, or whatever you can afford to help us cover the costs of these debt ceiling actions.