Manchin 'Side Deal' Beginning to Fall Apart as Dozens of Democrats Signal Opposition

The “side deal” Senate Democrats cut with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is beginning to fall apart, as dozens of Democrats announced their opposition to it.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) struck a deal with Manchin in order to secure his critical vote to pass their $740 billion tax and climate law, the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act.”

In exchange for Manchin’s vote, Schumer agreed to include reforms to the oil and gas permitting process in a stopgap government funding bill. But dozens of House Democrats signed a letter to Democratic Leadership Friday opposing the permitting reforms.

The Democrats called the permitting reforms “anti-environmental and anti-environmental justice,” and accused them of being advanced “at the behest of the American Petroleum Institute (API).”