Dwayne Yancey over at Cardinal News muses on whether or not the Mountain Valley Pipeline is really moving forward? One might as well shake a Magic 8-Ball for more optimistic prognostications seeing as West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin will require 60 votes in the US Senate in order to make this deal come through.
…and that’s just the easy part:
Just because Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to the deal to get the climate bill passed doesn’t mean that other Democrats will. All that raises the question of just when – and how – this side deal will come to a vote, and whether the votes are really there to pass it. Democrats have already gotten Manchin’s vote for the climate bill, but the side deal hasn’t been voted on yet. Further, this deal would have to get approved by the House, too, where Democrats have a clear (although narrow) majority. Are all of them going to go along?
Whether the 30 pieces of silver comes through or not remains to be seen. One additional side note?
Last week, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, held one of his semi-regular Zoom meetings with opinion writers from Virginia newspapers (and news websites). Time was limited so we got one question apiece. I used mine to ask Kaine what he knew about Manchin’s side deal and its prospects. Kaine said he didn’t know.
Anyone want to guess how many conservative opinion writers are invited to these calls? Far and few between, if any.
Yancey’s musings are well worth the read in any event. As for the future of the MVP, for the moment the answer is hazy. Manchin may well have to try again later.