Sen. Chris Coons voiced frustration with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin changing his mind on Democrats’ climate reconciliation bill, despite his claims of support just a day earlier.
But Coons says they plan to meet as a caucus this week to decide what is possible and what is next for the bill that is “ready to go” with 49 Democrats on board.
“That would offer huge amounts of tax credits, grants and investments to scale up green energy technologies," Coons said. "And to help both create jobs in the united states, reduce the energy costs faced by the average American family, and begin to reduce the amount of money the federal government is spending every year responding to climate driven natural disasters.”
Reportedly, Manchin is willing to move ahead with a narrower bill reducing prescription drug prices and health care costs. Coons says Democrats shouldn’t throw out a chance to meet those goals.
President Joe Biden released a statement Friday, vowing to take strong executive action if the Senate does not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen the domestic clean energy industry.
Across the Atlantic, President Joe Biden spent last Thursday in meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Jerusalem, where they signed a joint agreement pledging to never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
Sen. Chris Coons says in the absence of any progress in reducing Iran's current nuclear enrichment program peacefully, clarity is important, meaning the U.S. must remain committed to preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons power.
In an Israeli TV interview, Biden said the U.S. would resort to military action as a last resort, but Lapid emphasized that diplomacy and words will not stop Iran.
Friday, Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia to discuss resolutions between Israel and Palestine. Biden says his position on the operation that resulted in the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is “absolutely, positively clear,” and Coons says he is confident Biden raised Saudi’s human rights record.
“President Biden, as Senator Biden, has a decades long record of standing up to authoritarians and challenging their human rights record," Coons said. "I am confident he will raise this issue with Saudi leaders.”
Biden’s trip to the Middle East is seen as an effort to reassert the United States’ influence there.
