The White House said on Tuesday it supports Sen. Joe Manchin’s (DW.Va.) decision to have reform language removed from a draft government funding bill, accusing Republicans of opposing to plan.
“We support Senator Manchin’s decision not to push for a floor vote given Republicans’ misguided decision to put politics ahead of progress by opposing his license reform plan,” the official said. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement.
Manchin asked Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (DN.Y.) to remove the language earlier Tuesday after Republicans in the Senate and Democrats in the House clashed.
Senate Democrats did not appear to have the 60 votes needed to proceed. When Manchin had the language removed, he did not explicitly blame either side, but said: “It is unfortunate that members of the United States Senate allow politics to endanger energy security. of our nation.”
In his statement, Jean-Pierre reiterated that the White House supports Manchin’s plan.
She said authorizing the reform “is necessary for our energy security and to make more clean energy available to the American people.”
Additionally, Jean-Pierre said the White House will work to find a way to pass Manchin’s clearance plan.
“We will continue to work with him to find a vehicle to take this bill to the ground and get it through and into the president’s office,” she said.
After Schumer deleted reform language from Manchin, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to begin debate on the government funding measure. The deadline to pass the measure and avoid a government shutdown is Friday at midnight and this measure will fund the government until December 16.