Democrat Joe Manchin announced on Wednesday afternoon that he has reached a deal with the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, on a domestic policy bill that would pay down national debt, cut energy costs and lower the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs, while supporting a “realistic” climate policy. The development came almost two weeks after the West Virginia conservative senator had appeared essentially to kill off flagship climate action legislation when he came out against raising taxes on wealth Americans and refused to support more funding for climate action. Manchin has repeatedly thwarted his own party while making millions in the coal industry and his opposition to a massive reconciliation bill that included policies to boost green power generation and electric cars infuriated the White House as well as climate action advocates. Biden and Democrats had hoped to include environmental measures in a $1tn version of the $2tn Build Back Better spending bill that Manchin killed last year in dramatic fashion, and negotiations had been under way for months before Manchin appeared ready to kill the deal, citing runaway inflation. But on Wednesday afternoon, Manchin suddenly announced a new agreement, with details and reactions from his colleagues still to emerge.