CNN
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Steve Ricchetti never stopped talking to Joe Manchin.
Even as the negotiations over President Joe Biden’s cornerstone economic and climate legislation came to be defined by high-profile meltdowns, there was simply too much at stake to allow a rupture in the relationship with the West Virginia senator.
The day after Manchin went on Fox and appeared to drive a stake into the heart of Biden’s sweeping proposal, Ricchetti – one of Biden’s closest and longest serving aides – was back on the phone with him.
When news hit in mid-July that appeared to show Manchin had pulled the plug on resuscitated talks over a pared back version of the proposal, Ricchetti was on the phone with him a few hours later.
After receiving word directly from Manchin that things weren’t nearly as dire as they’d been presented, the calls between the two would continue four of the next five days, as the secret negotiations between Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer continued.
The proposal that Washington forecasters had once again marked for dead would end in a deal – one that stunned many in the White House and some of Schumer’s closest allies.
“What gets lost in the kind of daily hyperventilation or scrutiny of the process, is that no matter what – good or bad – you always pick up the phone the next day and keep talking,” Ricchetti told CNN in an interview.
The prolonged negotiations underscored the reality of thread-bare majorities in the House and, most acutely, the Senate. For a White House that had an extensive to-do list in 2022 – including a confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee, a major spending agreement and a series of bipartisan bills that had momentum – alienating a single vote wasn’t a viable option.
The calls – and quiet persistence – are emblematic of an approach that helped pull a White House faced with cratering poll numbers and questions about Biden’s future to a moment in which Democrats feel an unlikely surge of momentum leading into the midterm elections.
Officials view the Inflation Reduction Act, which was celebrated at the White House on Tuesday, as a critical piece of evidence for what has long been Biden’s theory of the case: That his approach, though at times viewed as a relic of a political time that no longer exists, can, in fact, work.
The President’s party still faces political headwinds. History doesn’t look kindly on a president’s first midterm election, particularly one whose party has control of both chambers of Congress. Economic concerns remain high amid inflation that, while showing signs of easing, remains at four-decade highs. Republicans have attacked Biden’s signature legislative achievement as a sweeping spending proposal that will only serve to accelerate that effect.
The bill, signed into law in August, received its long-awaited South Lawn celebration on Tuesday. It was a moment White House officials have carefully planned to highlight the sweeping nature of a bill that addresses Democratic priorities on prescription drugs, health care and climate change that have long been out of reach.
The event played out with a bizarre split-screen moment, with Biden speaking about the bill as the stock market closed on a devastating day. Stocks dropped – the Dow fell 1,200 points – after a report on Tuesday showed inflation slowed at a slower rate than anticipated in August, worrying investors.
Still, Biden touted the bill to a packed crowd on the White House’s South Lawn.
“Today offers proof that the soul of America is vibrant, the future America is bright, and the promise of America is real,” Biden said.
“As I look out on this lawn, I see leaders who…
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