As Congress haggles over a multitrillion-dollar budget deal, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D.-W.Va.) wants to cut a program to fight climate change. He's making a mistake, not just for the planet but also for workers in West Virginia. Like every piece of this huge spending package, details about the climate change provisions are up for negotiation. Fine, that's how legislation works. But to drop climate change provisions altogether would be nuts. Other parts of the infrastructure and social spending deal are important; climate change is existential. Manchin dislikes a provision called the Clean Energy Performance Program (CEPP), which would provide $150 billion to reward utilities for moving quickly to renewable energy, such as wind and solar. He'd rather spend some of that money for what's known as "firm power," which means low-carbon fuels that can backstop the renewable sources. Manchin has a point, actually. Utilities aren't sure they can make the transition as quickly as the CEPP plan envisions. They need some reliable low-carbon alternative fuels to make sure the power grid doesn't crash if the wind doesn't blow, the sun doesn't shine, weather disasters occur — and batteries can't fill the gap. But the answer isn't to kill the clean energy program — it's to adapt it so that utilities can meet achievable goals. As moderate and progressive Democrats look for a compromise, they should study proposals from a group called the Labor Energy Partnership. It's sponsored by the AFL-CIO and the Energy Futures Initiative, created by former energy secretary Ernest Moniz. Its reports highlight two oft-overlooked points in the climate debate: Low-carbon fuels of some sort will be needed for years to supplement renewables, and a viable "net-zero" strategy requires removing carbon from the air and oceans — a huge challenge and one that will employ many workers. The beginning of wisdom is to understand, as the AFL-CIO does, that the transition to a net-zero clean energy economy will be a job creator. American workers will build and install wind turbines, solar panels and other renewable technologies. American workers will build vast fleets of electric vehicles; they'll work in a modernized fuels industry to supply the firm power that can sustain the grid. And perhaps most important, American workers will be part of a huge new project to capture carbon in the air and sea, transport it to storage locations and bury it there.