its. Joe Manchin (DW. Va.) A few days after condemning the Democratic Party for seeking to “get rid of” the fossil fuel infrastructure bill, he is ready to participate in an event hosted by wealthy oil industry leaders and Republican donors.
According to the “Texas Tribune”, Manchin was originally scheduled to go to Houston, Texas on Friday to participate in a fundraising event, which was donated by a Republican party primarily associated with the oil and gas industry. Chaired by a committee composed of leaders. A copy of the invitation letter obtained by the news media stated that the event was designed to “support” Manchin, who the organization described as “an old friend since he was governor of West Virginia.”
The cover letter also called the moderate Democrats “our bipartisan supporters” Senate “Energy Leader” refers to Manchin’s position as chairman of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee. According to reports, the invitation letter urged attendees to donate $5,000 to Manchin’s leadership PAC and $5,800 to his 2024 re-election campaign. ——Although the senator has not announced that he is running for another term.
The members of the event hosting committee included Jeff Hildebrand, the billionaire co-founder of the energy company Hilcorp, who personally donated $150,000 to the former president Donald TrumpThe 2020 re-election campaign. Richkind, the billionaire co-founder of energy infrastructure company Kinder Morgan, is also on the committee. In recent years, Kinder has also generously donated money to Republican candidates.
Samuel Kunlun/Getty
Although most of the people holding the event are connected to the energy industry and have a history of donating to Republican political candidates, the event is not entirely Republican.The former Democratic Mayor of Houston, Bill White, is listed as a member of the host committee, and some other hosts occasionally donate to Democratic candidates. Republicans.
The event was originally scheduled to be held two days after Manchin informed CNN he is”worried“The “climate component” of the $3.5 trillion Democratic Party’s infrastructure plan includes efforts to eliminate fossil fuels. Manchin, from a state that has long been associated with coal production, said that such an initiative would not “clean up the global climate,” but Is to make it “worse”.
Right Washington post, The senator said that he believes that trying to eliminate one of the main reasons for global warming will be counterproductive, because there will be no “another country will stand up for research and development to solve the emissions from fossils immediately.”
On Thursday, Manchin met with a group of Democratic leaders in the Texas House of Representatives to discuss voting rights. They recently left their state to prevent Republicans from passing restrictive voting rights bills. Manchin faced severe criticism from the Democrats for not supporting the National Voting Rights Act “Act for the People” and refusing to support the abolition of the Senate obstruction bill.
Weekly newspaper Contact Manchin’s office for comments.
