Joe Manchin blasts Biden’s ‘absolutely infuriating’ ESG veto

Accusing him of putting “radical policy” ahead of the country’s “economic, energy and national security needs,” Sen. Joe Manchin on Monday ripped President Biden’s veto of a Republican-led effort to block pension funds from making investment decisions based on factors such as climate change.

Manchin (D-WV) was one of two Senate Democrats who crossed party lines earlier this month to vote with Republicans on the measure that would have overturned a Labor Department rule on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing.

“This Administration continues to prioritize their radical policy agenda over the economic, energy and national security needs of our country, and it is absolutely infuriating,” Manchin said in a statement after Biden’s Monday veto.

The centrist Democrat, who is up for re-election in 2024, added that the 80-year-old president’s policies are adding to the “stress” his state’s residents face amid record inflation and the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“West Virginians are under increasing stress as we continue to recover from a once in a generation pandemic, pay the bills amid record inflation, and face the largest land war in Europe since World War II. The Administration’s unrelenting campaign to advance a radical social and environmental agenda is only exacerbating these challenges,” Manchin said.  

“This ESG rule will weaken our energy, national and economic security while jeopardizing the hard-earned retirement savings of 150 million West Virginians and Americans. Despite a clear and bipartisan rejection of the rule from Congress, President Biden is choosing to put his Administration’s progressive agenda above the well-being of the American people,” he added. 

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), also up for re-election next year, was the only other Democrat to vote in favor of nixing the Labor Department ESG rule, which passed 50-46. 

Biden argued Monday that repealing the ESG rule would put people’s retirement savings “at risk.”

“I just signed this veto because the legislation passed by the Congress would put at risk the retirement savings of individuals across the country,” Biden said in a video posted on Twitter.