SIMPLE ECONOMICS:

With hundreds of billions of dollars of incentives for manufacturing, electric vehicles, nuclear power and carbon capturing technology hanging in the balance, executives from some of the nation's biggest companies and labor unions made their case to the Democratic West Virginia senator: The next generation of clean tech needed Washington's backing to take off.

Clean energy manufacturing companies with plans to set up shop in Manchin's state helped orchestrate the 13-day effort to change his mind, more than 20 people involved in the effort told POLITICO -- eventually helping to get his backing for the $369 billion in incentives in the newly dubbed Inflation Reduction Act, H.R. 5376 (117). That push -- which two of the people said included a call from Bill Gates, whose venture capital firm has backed a West Virginia-based battery start-up -- was taking place alongside a campaign by other senators along with economist and inflation hawk Larry Summers to convince Manchin of the merits of the bill.

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