The Inflation Reduction Act devotes $340 billion toward climate measures
As Congress began debating a major climate spending package in 2021, Joe Manchin, the conservative Democratic senator from West Virginia, emerged as the key opponent standing in the way. Months of endless negotiations and concessions failed to win his support.
In late 2021, CEF grantees organized a hunger strike outside the White House to push for a climate bill. This was followed by a series of protests bird-dogging Joe Manchin, including showing up at his private DC yacht, and blocking his Maseratti from leaving a parking garage. West Virginia Rising kept up the pressure in April 2022 with a protest at Manchin’s privately-owned coal plant in West Virginia, calling attention to the clear conflict of interest Manchin faced as he opposed climate legislation while personally profiting off the fossil fuel industry.
In July 2022, another CEF grantee planned to disrupt the annual Congressional Baseball Game, again calling for Manchin to vote yes on climate legislation. The protest received wall-to-wall coverage among Beltway press, once again casting a harsh spotlight on Manchin’s intransigence and greed. But on the evening before the protest, reports emerged that Manchin had done a U-Turn and agreed to vote yes on a climate package!
Was the threat of another negative media cycle painting him as a villain the straw that finally broke the camel’s back? Tough to say. But one thing is certain - we would have no climate legislation without years of organizing work from the US climate movement, and it is unlikely the bill would have made it across the finish line without sustained disruptive action. While it is far from perfect, the IRA is still a monumental step forward for US climate policy.
