West Virginia’s Joe Manchin is, well, quirky. But when he is right, he is right. See the two pieces below, with the links to the full columns embedded in each headline.
Manchin and Nikki Haley say right things on federal spending (March 4): Two warnings late this week on federal government debt , one from a Democrat and one from a Republican, deserve a wider audience and a constructive response from everyone in federal elective office.
On Thursday, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia blasted President Joe Biden for being nearly a month late (and counting) in meeting the legal deadline for submitting a budget and criticized both parties for pushing the debt so high, so fast.
On Saturday, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley pounded home an anti-debt message to a Florida meeting of the Club for Growth, a right-wing group that donates money for intra-party Republican primary fights.
Both Manchin and Haley are right…..
A necessary push for domestic energy revival (March 6): House Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) are right to push ever harder for greater domestic oil and gas production despite President Joe Biden ’s hostility against fossil fuels.
Manchin erupted last week when he saw a memo from the Interior Department outlining a higher royalty rate on a lease in Alaska’s Cook Inlet than the one originally considered, all because of what amounted to virtue signaling against climate change. The memo admitted that a lower royalty would “increase the chances” of actual productive use of the lease. And, “If a Cook Inlet prospect would be developed, there would be additional government revenues and greater energy security for the State of Alaska, especially if development of natural gas resources in the Cook Inlet ameliorated the long-term supply challenges facing the Anchorage area.”… On a related front, The bill garnering the most attention came from Rep. Garrett Graves (R-LA). His legislation, known (by acronym) as the BUILDER Act, is designed to have environmental assessments conducted more quickly and be easier to review, and also to provide quicker resolution of opponents’ concerns without automatic recourse to lengthy lawsuits. …..
