Washington, July 20 (Agency) US President Joe Biden may declare a climate emergency this week as his environmental agenda is being stalled by Democratic Sen Joe Manchin withholding support for an economic legislation that includes billions of dollars in climate action initiatives, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. According to the newspaper, citing sources, Biden will also announce a potpourri of additional actions designed to curb emissions that are causing global warming. Earlier in the day, the White House announced that Biden will travel to Somerset, Massachusetts on Wednesday, where he will deliver remarks on “tackling the climate crisis and seizing the opportunity of a clean energy future to create jobs and lower costs for families.”
The potential announcement also comes as 89 million Americans in the central parts of the country are sweltering in record high heat and parts of Europe, in France and the United Kingdom, are also gripped by an unprecedented heat wave that’s expected to top all-time national high temperature records. Manchin has been a thorn in Democrats’ side, thwarting their effort to pass the Build Back Better Act. In this case, Democrats planned to direct more than $500 billion into new programs that would slash emissions and support new technologies, including electric vehicles, but Manchin’s opposition caused that to grind to a halt. The senator said he cannot support Democrats’ efforts to push forward this spending in the midst of record-high inflation in the US.