What the actual frack?!
I haven’t had time to read in detail about the current version of the $3.5 trillion budget bill. There were a number of promising measures in it before, but also some that fell short.
But one headline that caught my eye was this:
Source: The Daily Poster
The bill as passed prohibits the White House from banning fracking. And seven Democrats went along with it.
Bernie apparently put up some resistance, according to this report:
“But Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) invoked this week’s dire report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to push back. “We have got to move away from fossil fuel,” he said. “We have to end fracking.”
But then, he still voted for the bill.
Not only that — if I’m understanding correctly, Bernie and all Democrats also voted against the Green New Deal. It sounds like the amendment was there as a sort of GOP trick, and is non-binding.
Caveat — I need to learn more about the implications. But at face value, even if it was non-binding, it’s still a rejection of GND. According to EE News again (a site owned by Politico), and apparently also confirmed in this article by Forbes:
“The Senate adopted the budget in a party line vote, 50-49, after debating several amendments related to energy and the environment, including a unanimous vote against the Green New Deal. Even though the amendments were nonbinding, they aimed to put lawmakers on the record about hot-button issues.”
I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised though about the ban on banning fracking. You can’t count on Biden to keep his word about $2000 checks, minimum wage, and I could go on — but his word on fracking was as good as gold for the fossil fuel industry, thanks to the help of Senate Democrats who received legalized bribes (er, donations) from Big Oil.
“Five of the seven Democrats voting for the measure hail from blue states won by President Joe Biden, who declared unequivocally during the 2020 campaign: “I am not banning fracking.” Over the course of their careers, the seven Democratic lawmakers who backed the GOP amendment have raked in nearly $1.7 million from donors in the oil and gas industry, according to data from OpenSecrets.”
I’m looking forward to reading more in the media and watching more on progressive outlets (TYT, Democracy Now, etc.) to find out what other “gems” this bill has in store for our country and the planet.
And the worst thing is, with the reconciliation process coming up later in August when Congress gets back to doing their damn job (they’re literally on recess more days than they work), they could make things worse.
Or — maybe they could make it better. 😂
Unless something unexpected like Cori Bush’s sleep-out, progressives, the country, and the planet are screwed again, with a lot of help from the Dems.
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