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Manchin Blames McConnell For Senate Failure Of Permitting Bill

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Last week, the Senate voted down Sen. Joe Manchin’s bill to fast-track the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Manchin, D-WV, says he knows why.

Manchin’s bill to overhaul permitting for fossil fuel and renewable energy projects couldn’t get the 60 votes it needed to advance in the 100-member chamber.

He got 40 Democrats to go along and needed 20 Republicans.

But when the Senate Republican leader announced his opposition, that was pretty much the end of it.

“And I watched it happen, and Mitch McConnell held all the Republicans off,” Manchin said. “We got seven. That was it.”

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV, was one of the seven who signed on. President Joe Biden also gave it his endorsement.

Manchin said he plans to try again next year.

Manchin did chalk up a win, though, for West Virginia in the big spending bill Congress is about to pass. It includes the STREAM Act, which will allow funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to be used to clean up acid mine drainage.