Feds silent as key U.S. senator Manchin turns down Biden’s EV tax credit bill

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a key Democratic vote in the evenly divided Senate, confirmed today that he's a "No" on the $1.75-trillion Build Back Better bill.

The Prime Minister’s Office isn’t saying anything about a key U.S. senator’s decision to put President Joe Biden’s controversial electric-vehicle incentives on ice.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a key Democratic vote in the evenly divided Senate, confirmed today that he’s a “No” on the $1.75-trillion Build Back Better bill.

The legislation includes tax credits worth up to $12,500 on U.S.-assembled electric vehicles that are built with union labour — a devastating blow to the Canadian auto industry.

The plan has been atop the agenda of countless federal ministers and officials, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself, during multiple in-person and virtual meetings in recent weeks.

If officials in Trudeau’s office are breathing a little easier, however, they are refusing to say _ likely in part because the reprieve could prove only temporary.

After months of meetings with colleagues and officials from Capitol Hill to the White House, including Biden himself, Manchin declared his position in an interview on Fox News.

“This is a ‘No’ on this legislation,” said Manchin, whose main concerns have been the true price tag of the “mammoth” climate and social-spending package, as well as its likely impact on a raging inflation rate.

And as a senator in a state where Toyota is a major employer, he’s acknowledged that he’s not wild about the EV tax credit scheme, either.