Manchin-Schumer Shock Deal Began in Basement, Unfolded in Secret

It looked to most Democrats in Washington two weeks ago that Senator Joe Manchin had slammed the brakes on President Joe Biden’s tax and climate agenda.

He told a radio host in his home state of West Virginia that he wanted to wait, that inflation was too high and the economy too shaky. In September he’d reassess.

That was Friday, July 15. The following Monday, he was back in Washington and back -- once again -- at the table with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer trying to extract from the ashes a deal that had been killed and revived multiple ...