Senator Joe Manchin may have hoped he would repair relations with congressional progressives by signing on to their mammoth clean-energy bill last month.

Instead, progressives are aiming to torpedo the pro–federal energy permitting provision of the deal that Manchin used as a fig leaf to justify his flip-flop. Senator Bernie Sanders and House progressives are furiously opposed to anything that would promote oil and gas production. They vow that looser permitting won’t be part of any short-term government funding bill this month.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell agrees, telling reporters, “The real permitting-reform bill is Shelley Moore Capito’s.” That would be Manchin’s fellow senator from West Virginia, who was kept in the dark about Manchin’s version of the permitting provision. Few Republicans are likely to reach out and help Manchin.

House progressives are even more of a danger to Manchin’s bill. About 70 Democrats are urging Speaker Pelosi to keep Manchin’s bill separate from any government-funding measure. They dismiss Manchin’s bill as a “fossil fuel wish list” that would perpetrate “environmental racism.”

Should Manchin see his permitting provision go down, he will have given up his leverage for nothing. He is already persona non grata with West Virginia voters, with a new poll showing him with a 26 percent approval rating. His odds of winning statewide again are pathetic, given his narrow three-point victory in 2018.

Perhaps that’s why other senators are speculating that Manchin is eyeing the post of ambassador to Italy as his reward for saving President Biden’s energy pork barrel.