Bill Gates - Manchin. Bad headline from Bloomberg but ---- this is worth a read

[underpants]

Bill Gates and the Secret Push to Save Biden’s Climate Bill

The billionaire philanthropist was among those lobbying Joe Manchin, starting before Biden took the White House. A look at the influencers who secured a rare climate win.


“I kept trying because I just didn't see another chance,” Gates said. “That tax credit piece wasn’t going to show up. Except in this one path.”

In the background, somewhat obscured by the loud protests of activists who kayaked up to Manchin’s house boat in D.C. or visited him in West Virginia, envoys from Biden and manufacturing interests pursued a different tactic: presenting carefully picked demonstrations of how clean-energy spending could be a boon for his coal-and-gas state. In March, for instance, two cabinet officials descended on the West Virginia Regional Technology Park in South Charleston to herald plans by startup Sparkz Inc. to build batteries there. Steel of West Virginia Inc. and FerroGlobe PLC made news about solar manufacturing in the state.









Gates took the same view. “You know, people say Joe likes coal or something like that,” he said, referring to the millions of dollars the senator earned from a company supplying coal. “That’s really not fair. Joe wanted a climate bill.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-08-16/how-bill-gates-lobbied-to-save-the-climate-tax-bill-biden-just-signed