• West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin announced a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday. Agreement includes provisions to address inflation, prescription drug prices, corporate taxes, energy costs, and climate change.
• The agreement would invest more than $300 billion in domestic energy production, manufacturing, and climate change programmes.
• It would also allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices and continue expansions to Affordable Care Act.

During remarks on Thursday, President Joe Biden celebrated a major breakthrough in Senate negotiations, touting the “historic agreement” that he said addresses some of the nation’s most pressing issues – and brings him one step closer to seeing his agenda realised.

“I understand that it can sometimes appear that nothing gets done in Washington,” Biden said. “Government work can be slow, frustrating, and even infuriating at times.” Then the hours, days, and months of hard work by people who refuse to give up pay off. History is being written. People’s lives have been altered.”

The president’s speech follows a major development on Wednesday evening, when West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin announced a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York on a spending package that includes provisions to address inflation, prescription drug prices, corporate taxes, energy costs, and climate change – components central to the Biden administration’s agenda that have faced setbacks and been stalled for months.

Manchin said in a statement Wednesday that debate over congressional spending has for too long been “defined by how it can help advance Democrats’ political agenda called Build Back Better,” referring to the massive spending bill Biden has been seeking until it was derailed late last year by Manchin’s own lack of support.

“Build Back Better is dead,” Manchin said, “but we now have the opportunity to strengthen our country by bringing Americans together.”

On Thursday, Biden chuckled at the similarities between his original plan and the new agreement, but the president praised senators for their efforts to reach an agreement on the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, parts of which he called a “big deal” and a “godsend” for American families.

The bill is billed as combating inflation by reducing the deficit by $300 billion, as well as allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and continue expansions to the Affordable Care Act. It would also raise taxes on families earning more than $400,000 per year and on large corporations, which would pay for the rest of the legislation, according to Manchin and Schumer. In addition, the new agreement would invest more than $300 billion in domestic energy production, manufacturing, and climate change programmes, with the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 40% by 2030. Analysts have noted that the agreement’s environmental component was perhaps the most surprising get, given Manchin’s opposition to climate provisions in a reconciliation bill just weeks earlier.

“Let me be clear: This bill would be the most significant legislation in history to address the climate crisis and immediately improve our energy security,” Biden said.

While the agreement is still only a fraction of what Democrats had hoped for, Manchin’s support suggests that Democrats may now turn their attention to another holdout, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, a moderate Democrat who has previously opposed certain tax provisions included in the new agreement. To pass, the filibuster-proof legislation needs the support of all 50 Democratic senators, with Vice President Kamala Harris ready to cast the deciding vote.

Biden acknowledged that the agreement does not include everything he has pushed for since taking office, but he called it a compromise and explained that this is “often how progress is made.”

“This is the strongest bill you can pass to lower inflation, cut the deficit, reduce health care costs, tackle the climate crisis, and promote energy security, all while reducing the burdens facing working-class and middle-class families,” Biden said, as the Senate prepares to move the legislation forward next week.

“So pass it,” said the president. “Pass it for the sake of the American people.” “Give it to America.”

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