Manchin: Omnibus bill should pass

Dec. 22—Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Wednesday the final Omnibus bill, which is slated to be voted on this week, has a "lot of good stuff," with about $220 million earmarked for 175 West Virginia projects.

Of that money, $5 million will go toward the Gilbert Creek Connector of the King Coal Highway in Mingo Couny.

That follows $25 million for a segment of the Coalfields Expressway in Wyoming County announced Tuesday.

"Unless we get some infrastructure down there it is going to be hard for any type of economy," he said during a virtual press briefing Wednesday, referring to the two four-lane highways that will provide needed transportation infrastructure to Southern West Virginia coal counties.

King Coal Highway runs from I-77 in Bluefield to near Williamson and will eventually be part of the I-73 corridor from Detroit to Myrtle Beach.

The Coalfields Expressway will connect I-64/I-77 in Beckley to Rt. 23 in Virginia. Both highways are only partially complete with no timeframe on completion.

Construction of the King Coal Highway segment in Mercer County that runs 3.8 miles from Bluefield to Airport Road is slated to be finished in 2023.

Manchin said the $1.7 trillion fiscal 2023 Omnibus bill should pass and and will fund the government since the continuing resolution passed in September provided temporary funding until Friday.

Among many other things, the bill appropriates about $85 billion for Ukraine military and economic aid.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Washington Wednesday.

Manchin said a few of his colleagues "don't believe in Zelensky," but he does.

"We must do everything we can to make sure Vladimir Putin does not win in Ukraine and Ukraine does not fall to Russia," he said.

Manchin said the "stability of the free world is at stake."

"We cannot, as a superpower, allow that to happen," he said, and he is committed to providing as much aid as possible.

"When Russia leaves, Ukraine succeeds," he said.

Manchin also once again addressed federal permitting reform and the "politics" that doomed his attempts to get it passed, blasting people who criticized him for supporting the Inflation Reduction Act, saying they misrepresented what is in it.

"It is not just an environmental bill," he said, as fossil fuel use and development is also a major part of the bill.

"We can walk and chew gum at the same time," he said, "and we did (in the bill)" with promoting renewables as well as fossil fuel energy.

But Manchin also wanted federal permitting reform as a part of the bill, but it was shot down by Republicans and even some more progressive Democrats. They also shot it down when the reform was included in the continuing resolution and then added as an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act.

"This was strictly a political vote," he said of the opposition to the reform, adding that those opposed thought it would hurt him politically in West Virginia if it didn't succeed.

Most GOP senators had already signed on to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito's, R-W.Va., permitting reform bill, which was similar to his.

Capito had some issues with Manchin's bill but did support it, agreeing with Manchin that the reform is necessary and in particular the bill would speed up the completion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).

But putting politics ahead of what is badly needed for the country, as many senators did, does not sit well with Manchin.

"We must be energy independent," he said, and to get there federal permitting reform must change and projects "can't wait eight to 12 years" while those permit processes are slogging ahead.

The MVP, a natural gas pipeline running from north central West Virginia to Chatham, Va., would "give us stability and put more product on the market" than any current energy project, he said.

Although the MVP is 94 percent complete it has been held up in court cases related to federal permits.

Manchin said if his permitting reform had passed, the MVP could be completed in about six months and carry 2 billion feet of natural gas per day, creating jobs, providing revenue for the state as well as landowners, helping ease the cost of home heating, and providing Liquid Natural Gas to European countries.

"Nothing can put that much product into the market (as quickly)," he said, adding that he will keep trying to pass the reform.

Manchin also on Wednesday touted the bipartisan Electoral Count Act that is included in the Omnibus bill.

One of the main purposes, he said, is to clarify that the vice president's role in counting electoral votes is "strictly a ceremonial role," with no power to intervene in the process when the Senate and House certify the election.

That was an issue after the 2020 election when former Pres. Donald Trump tried to push Vice President Mike Pence into interfering with the electoral process on Jan. 6 and, in essence, try to overturn the election. Pence refused, saying he did not have the power to do that.

Manchin said the act will make sure an insurrection seen on Jan. 6 doesn't happen again and also make sure people will "not be led to believe the vice president has the power to alter the whole electoral process count.

He said the act also raises the threshold for how many senators or representatives can object to state-certified electoral ballots, which was another issue on Jan. 6, 2020.

The threshold for the number of senators and representatives needed to object has been raised to 20 percent of the respective body, not just one "rogue" senator or representative, he said, who can say the election wasn't fair "because my guy didn't win."

"They deny it was a fair election if their candidate does not win or they don't win," Manchin said. "That is not the way democracy works."

The act means 20 senators will be needed to raise an objection and 87 House members, he said.

Manchin said these are "good changes."

The Electoral Count Reform Act updates the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to make these and other clarifications and changes.

Manchin and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, were instrumental in leading negotiations on the act.

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com