Corporations that had previously proclaimed their support for sustainability have now quietly donated thousands of dollars to Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema — the two right-wing Democrats most responsible for gutting the Build Back Better Act’s clean energy provisions and otherwise preventing their party from passing a transformativeVersion of the reconciliation package.
That’s according to a new analysisAccountable.US has released Friday’s information. A government watchdog who reviewed third-quarter corporate FEC filings found which self-described green businesses have been donating to these two lawmakers now. holding the planet hostage.
Corporations that boast about their environmental commitments, only to give campaign cash to Manchin (W.Va.), an unabashedly corrupt political party, are guilty of omission. coal profiteerAnd defenderfossil fuel subsidies, and Sinema of Arizona, who recently proposed cutting$100 billion in climate funding through the Build Back Better Act.
- AbbVie, which has bragged about its “ambitious, long-term environmental, and sustainability targets for absolute reductions to carbon emissions, water, and waste generation, striving for zero waste to landfill at our sites.” In addition to giving money to Manchin and Sinema in Q3, the company is a member of the Business Roundtable and PhRMA, two major trade groups campaigning against the reconciliation bill;
- Astellas, which set out to reach the 2°C target of the Paris climate agreement. The company is a member of PhRMA, a lobbying group that has been opposing the Build Back better plan. Senator Sinema received $3,000 in Q3 2021 from it.
- AT&T, which claimed it is dedicated to “environmental stewardship,” is a part of The RATE Coalition, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the Business Roundtable — all of which are fighting against the Build Back Better plan — and donated $2,000 to Sinema in Q3 of 2021;
- Amazon pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by zero by 2040, according to the company. In addition to giving $5,000 to Sinema in Q3 of 2021, the company is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its CEO belongs to the Business Roundtable — both of which are fighting against the Build Back Better agenda; and
- Toyota, whose “Environmental Challenge 2050” initiative seeks to nearly eliminate carbon emissions from its vehicles, dealers, and operations and to “operate in harmony with nature.” Nonetheless, the company is also a member of The RATE Coalition — a major Build Back Better opponent — and donated to Manchin in the past quarter.
Manchin has been on Capitol Hill for 11 years and has taken more than $1.5 millionFrom corporate interests involved in a lobbying blitzTo undermine the Build back Better Act popularA piece of legislation can be passed through the filibusterproof budget reconciliation process, but only if it is supported by all 50 Senate Democrats and all three House Democrats.
Manchin, the Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee), also makes nearly $500,000 per year — roughly three times his congressional salary — from investments in his family’s coal empire, raking home a total of $5.2 millionSince joining the Senate in 2010, refusingAnswer questions about it.
Moreover, the West Virginia Democrat is Congress’ top recipientThis election cycle, he accepted oil and gas donations. He accepted $400,000From fossil fuel industry executives and PACs in the last quarter alone axed one of the reconciliation bill’s key measures to decarbonize the nation’s power grid, exemplifying why an ExxonMobil lobbyist praisedThe lawmaker was elected earlier in the year.
“As if it wasn’t enough that wealthy polluters have bankrolled Sen. Manchin during his fight against common-sense climate solutions — now companies that claim to value protecting the environment have opened their pocketbooks as well,” Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, said in a statement.
Manchin’s self-interestedDespite the fact that the Clean Electricity Performance Program is being torpedoed and other policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energy are still under threat, the effort to destroy them persists. fossil fuel-driven climate emergency threatensHis constituents with worst flood risksIn the nation
He continues to try to be a good neighbor. dilute the Build Back Better Act’s proposed green public spending as much as possible, Manchin has been attempting to get the widely criticizedFirst, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was approved. This would give him and other conservative Democrats the leverage needed to get his bill passed. tankTo fund climate action and the expansion of the welfare state, more ambitious plans are being made to increase taxes on the wealthy.
Manchin was the chief architectThe energy sections of the bipartisan bill for physical infrastructure are included in this section. contains$25 billion in possible fossil fuel subsidies, as well as $11.3 million in funding that would benefit his family’s coal brokerage.
Manchin wanted sole jurisdiction over Clean Electricity Performance Program and then he killed it in the reconciliation bill.
He supports the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which includes $11.3 billion that could be used to free up more waste coal.https://t.co/Maydi0gAYW
— David Moore (@ppolitics) October 16, 2021
Sinema, on the other hand, has accepted over $920,000Since joining Congress in 2013, from corporate interests opposing the Build Back better Act While Manchin’s fossil fuel-related corruption is more extensive, Sinema has accumulated her own conflicts of interest.
For example, you could use while paddingHer campaign has at least $100,000Sinema emerged from Wall Street and Big Pharma in the last quarter. againstMedicare was able to negotiate lower drug prices. She has also been the sole spokesman for the cause. blown up Democrats’ plan to raise taxes on big businesses and the wealthy despite voting against the GOP’s corporate-friendly 2017 tax lawDuring her 2018 senatorial campaign, she campaigned against it.
Sinema, in addition to obstructing progressive taxes reforms has joined Manchin to fight to slash the Build Back Better Act’s original top-line spending level of $3.5 trillion over 10 years by as much as half or more — rejecting an average yearly expenditure of $350 billion on child care, green energy, and other vital programs as “fiscal insanity” despite votingEach $700 billion plus annual Pentagon budget.
As Herrig put it, “Manchin and Sinema are standing in the way of the nation’s largest climate bill ever.”
“If corporations are serious about their stated commitments to protecting the climate,” he added, “now is the time to put their money where their mouths are.”
