Thread by @RL_Miller

hey, y'all listening? I want to talk a bit about Joe Manchin's pipeline bill, aka the #DirtyDeal, and about journalism, and coalition-building, and odds and ends of things.

with apologies to @leahstokes and all the folk following me for Cal stuff, this #DirtyDeal is national. Big time. Serious.

https://twitter.com/leahstokes/status/1564680899207331840

And for anyone who's not yet familiar with Manchin's #DirtyDeal, this is the side deal he made with Dem leadership -- bill to allow a bunch of pipelines and transmission lines. It's not even remotely budget related so it needs a 60+ vote in the Senate, not folded into IRA.

The plan cooked up between Manchin and Dem leadership (Pelosi/ Schumer/ WH/ ???) was to attach this sucky bill to a must-pass bill such as the continuing resolution, shoving it down Dems' throats, instead of a simple "clean" or up-or-down vote. Hence the term #DirtyDeal.

We start with this incredibly deceptive and one-sided piece in the WaPo that is basically VSP Stenography on how enviros have to learn to embrace transmission projects fast wapo.st/3wQAGmi

and to make the point, the journo quotes extensively from No Labels, that group of renowned expert climate hawks, last spotted whining about canceling student debt. (I feel like @mcbyrne rn, without the beach)

and to further make the point that enviros need to suck it up and approve transmission lines, the journo quotes from Niskanen Center, a right-wing group.

With an obligatory pushback quote from @mahyarsorour of the Sierra Club, buried about 14 grafs down.

My bad. It was Third Way, not No Labels. I can't tell the difference between these inside-the-beltway made-up, donor-funded, anti-Democratic-Party groups. And I obv don't have an edit button.

Anyway, point being that Very Serious Third Way Center Right folk are lecturing enviros, through the WaPo, to Suck It Up and Let The Spice, I mean Transmission, happen.

There's yet another problem with this piece.

No one has yet seen the text of the final #DirtyDeal bill but we think it's about pipelines as much as it's about transmission.

Solar energy is not normally transmitted through pipelines.

We do know that a draft of the #DirtyDeal bill was shared with American Petroleum Institute, which normally cares more about pipelines than transmission lines.

We also know that Manchin did not consult with green groups or even solar/ wind groups.

So. Moving on from the Third Way stenography and bad journalism, let's talk substance of the #DirtyDeal and coalition work.

Lots of folk were overjoyed when #IRA, fka Build Back Better, passed. I worked for a YEAR on that bill!

Lots of other folk were furious: too many giveaways to Manchin, too much Bad Stuff outweighing the Good Stuff.

Good Stuff outweighed the Bad Stuff, really, but...

when Big-White-Green Group tells Small-Black-Climate-Justice-Group that for every 1 ton of extra carbon omitted, 20 tons avoided, it's small consolation to Black folk who have to live next to the ton being emitted.

for that reason I tempered my enthusiasm for IRA, didn't put out a congralatory press release #LikeYouWouldHaveReadItAnyway, even though @ClimateHawkVote had worked for a YEAR on that bill and it's honestly the greatest investment in climate since ever.

Back to #DirtyDeal.

I figured that the best way to mend fences would be for Big White Green Groups to join forces with Small Black (and other) Climate Justice Groups to block the #DirtyDeal, and I've been working on coalition building since the moment IRA passed.

and of course coalition building involves LOTS of folk and I'm not the only one doing this work and lots of Big White Green groups came around to this conclusion without me.

Anyway, it's worked. ALL the green groups hate the #DirtyDeal.

And that's why the WaPo had to go to Third Way to get supportive quotes. LCV, Sierra Club, NRDC, everyone opposes #DirtyDeal. We don't want to negotiate it and make it a little better. We want to kill it with fire.

Of course we have allies in Congress: @RepRaulGrijalva has led the charge, @JaredHuffman has a smart plan to NOT attach #DirtyDeal to must-pass bills, @USProgressives opposes #DirtyDeal.

So. Folk are organizing rallies (more on that in a bit) but I'm a DNC goon, I mean member, and I wrote a resolution for the DNC to consider at its meeting next Thursday 9/8/2022 opposing the #DirtyDeal.

Read it here, #16 bit.ly/3QarNe3

My resolution, TL;DR -- President Biden is awesome! The IRA is awesome! The Dems' climate platform adopted in 2020 is awesome! So vote DOWN the #DirtyDeal or at least separate it from the must-pass bill stuff.

I have no hope whatsoever that my resolution will pass.

Right before it, #15, is a similar reso authored by DNC Chair @harrisonjaime, which also says that the IRA is awesome and the DNC applauds it. Only his reso doesn't say anything about the #DirtyDeal.

@harrisonjaime And Chair Harrison's reso also points out a lot of the other good stuff in the IRA, beginning with prescription drug reform. Which is a BFD and a life-changer and needing applause.

No DNC staffer/ resolutions committee member has contacted me about my resolution. I'm told that if they like it but want to reword it, they reach out early.

They haven't reached out.

They don't like it at all.

and I'm told that leadership does not want to separate the #DirtyDeal from IRA... they are all part of one deal, so we can't possibly separate one from the other.

That is, to not be too polite, absolute BS.

Remember when progressives insisted that Build Back Better couldn't be separated from the sucky infrastructure bill? They did it anyway.

They can separate the #DirtyDeal from IRA, any time they want. It's called political power. Use it for good.

I've been told that the DNC won't pass a resolution unless it reflects the Democratic consensus.

I'm willing to test that. The Dem consensus is for big bold climate action. It's not for pipelines.

in fact if a left wing yet reputable pollster wishes to poll, I'm willing to bet they'd find:
-- most Dems don't know about the #DirtyDeal
-- most Dems informed about the #DirtyDeal will hate it. And want to Kill it With Fire.

anyway. things YOU can do if you've made it this long:
1. SHOW UP on Thursday 9/8. My reso gets heard at 930 AM. More important, big @FightFossils rally at 5 PM bit.ly/3TCkHSE

@FightFossils and if you ca'nt show up, sign the @ClimateHawkVote petition bit.ly/3Rtvv3G

@FightFossils @ClimateHawkVote Thread, ended. I need to get my hair cut before DNC meetings! And WH IRA signing party! unless this thread got me disinvited :)