Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has once more stepped in and saved America from some of Biden’s worst impulses, this time by blocking a key Biden nominee over her past climate activism.
That radical Laura Daniel-Davis, who has been nominated to be assistant secretary for lands and minerals management at the Interior Department. Daniel-Davis currently serves as the principal deputy secretary for land and minerals management. Before that role, she served in a leadership position for the National Wildlife Federation, a radical climate activist group that routinely advocates for far-left climate policies.
He announced his decision in an op-ed for The Houston Chronicle, writing, “Today, I have also decided, as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, that I will not be moving forward the nomination of Laura Daniel-Davis as assistant secretary of the Department of Interior.”
Continuing his op-ed, Sen. Manchin added, “Daniel-Davis approved higher royalty rates for the Alaskan Cook Inlet sale, which were explicitly designed to decrease fossil energy production at the expense of our energy security. Even though I supported her in the past, I cannot, in good conscience, support her or anyone else who will play partisan politics and agree with this misguided and dangerous manipulation of the law.”
Manchin also, in his explanation for why he wouldn’t back Daniel-Davis, noted an Interior Department memo in which Daniel-Davis signed off on a decision not to lower the fees that companies have to pay to the federal government to extract oil and gas because of climate change concerns.
Sen. Manchin is far from the only senator to not support Daniel-Davis. Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana, said “Laura Daniel-Davis’ nomination should have been pulled over a year ago when she first failed to pass committee. The latest attack on oil and gas is no surprise. The Biden administration, his out of touch nominees and Senate Democrats have long put the cult of climate change ahead of energy security and local communities.”
Predictably, Team Biden and its lackeys were upset. Interior Department spokesperson Melissa Schwartz expressed disappointment over Sen. Manchin’s decision, saying, “We are very disappointed to learn of the Chairman’s position via today’s op-ed after his support during two committee hearings and votes over the past two years.”
Continuing, Schwartz added in the email that “Laura Daniel-Davis has served this Administration, as she has two others, with a dedication that we should aspire to see in every public servant. She will continue to lead this portfolio at Interior and implement President Biden’s direction, stated consistently and clearly since Day One, with respect to carefully balancing the role that public lands and waters play as we face the climate crisis.”
The Hill, adding context on Sen. Manchin’s decision by noting the other Biden nominees he has refused to back, said:
Daniel-Davis is one of several of Biden’s nominees lately that Manchin has come out against. Gigi Sohn, who Biden had nominated to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently withdrew her name after Manchin said he would not support her nomination.
Manchin also expressed opposition to Internal Revenue Service nominee Daniel Werfel over the agency’s implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, though Werfel was still confirmed as he had support from a handful of Republicans.
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