'Squad' Democrat demands the US stop oil drilling or face 'severe weather events'

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N. Y., pushed for an end to fossil fuel drilling ahead of a vote on the debt ceiling bill on Monday.

Bowman discussed the recent agreement between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and President Biden to raise the debt ceiling alongside some spending cuts to avoid default. Despite the two sides announcing a deal, some progressive Democrats and Republican members of the House Freedom Caucus have voiced opposition to the bill.

Bowman, who was one of the lawmakers with concerns about the deal, insisted that a "major problem" in the bill was a "Joe Manchin pipeline" that Democrats previously rejected based on climate change concerns.

"And what’s problematic about that is number one, we need to stop drilling for fossil fuels completely, but number two, we need an expedited way to get us to clean renewable energy, or we will continue to have these severe weather events that we have been having for quite some time because of the warming of the planet," Bowman told CNN host Wolf Blitzer.

The "Joe Manchin pipeline" was in reference to the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that would run from West Virginia, Manchin’s state, to southern Virginia. Manchin praised the debt ceiling for including funding for the pipeline.

"Last summer, I introduced legislation to complete the Mountain Valley Pipeline. I am pleased Speaker McCarthy and his leadership team see the tremendous value in completing the MVP to increase domestic energy production and drive down costs across America and especially in West Virginia," Manchin said on Monday. "I am proud to have fought for this critical project and to have secured the bipartisan support necessary to get it across the finish line."... (Read more)

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