Bill Gates Wooed Joe Manchin to Support Inflation Reduction Act, Offered Chuck Schumer a ‘Pep Talk’ Amid Negotiations

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The pivotal role played by Bill Gates in securing the support of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) for the Inflation Reduction Act is detailed in a new Bloomberg report, which revealed the billionaire offered a “pep talk” to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) amid negotiations and has been “wooing” Manchin on climate change spending since 2019.

“One of the world’s richest men felt he had to give one of the nation’s most powerful lawmakers a little pep talk,” Bloomberg reported about Gates’ call to Schumer amid negotiations on the legislation.

According to the report by Akshat Rathi and Jennifer A Dlouhy, Gates began “wooing” Manchin and other senators he felt would be essential to passing climate change legislation over a meal in 2019.

Amid negotiations on the Inflation Reduction Act, Gates met with Manchin in July at the Sun Valley media conference in Idaho where Manchin expressed his concerns about the bill.

“We had a talk about what was missing, what needed to be done and then after that it was a lot of phone calls,” Gates said.

Manchin was lobbied by other climate activists in the last few months, according to the report, but there were multiple meetings that preceded that July talk between Gates and the West Virginia senator.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to be in his position,” Gates said of Manchin and pressure for him to join with Democrats in supporting the Inflation Reduction Act. “The last six months have been challenging, even just getting in his car and trying to live a normal life.”

Though the report paints Gates as an essential component to getting the legislation passed, which includes massive climate spending and tax credits, Gates claimed he doesn’t “want to take credit for what went on.”

You can read the full report from Bloomberg Green, the climate change wing of the publication, here.