Manchin defends Biden-Schumer IRA to Europeans -- and not successfully

Manchin was not the only American struck by the intensity of European leaders’ resentment over the legislation, which some suggested was misplaced.

“Over the last couple of decades our friends in Europe have encouraged the United States to address climate change, and now we’re doing it in a major way and some are criticizing the way we’re doing it,” said Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Penn.), chair of the EU Caucus on Capitol Hill who is part of the U.S. delegation in Davos.

“This bill took a year and a half,” said Boyle. “I’m chair of the congressional EU caucus; pretty much every week I am meeting with fellow parliamentarians and EU countries. Not once — ever — was it expressed to me by any European official of any country that they had problems or concerns with any specific aspect of the Inflation Reduction Act that were being discussed publicly.”

But European officials say they were annoyed to have learned about it first in the media. After all, the U.S. and the EU had just barely over a year before set up a new body — called the Trade and Technology Council – for the express purpose of coordinating on such policies.

[In other words, Biden’s supposed foreign-policy talents have created yet another foreign-policy fumble. Plus, it’s very much worth noting that all of the Democrats quoted here refer to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as a “climate change” bill. Other than citations of the bill’s name, there is absolutely not a single mention of inflation, nor what this bill allegedly has to do about it. — Ed]