BROADCASTS.com

Inflation hit a 41-year high on Tuesday, as the consumer price index accelerated to 9.1% in June. More from WSJ\nThat, in turn, affects what might be Biden\u2019s last, best shot at a deal on reconciliation. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said the new numbers make him \u201cmore cautious than I\u2019ve ever been\u201d in reconciliation talks, he told reporters. \u201cEverything needs to be scrubbed, anything that can be inflationary.\u201d\nAP\u2019s Alan Fram: \u201cIt was unclear what impact Manchin\u2019s comments would have on his closed-door talks with Schumer, which have shown progress lately. But they suggested he believed the day\u2019s inflation report strengthened his leverage in that bargaining and, beyond that, in winning enough Democratic votes to push any agreement through the tightly divided Congress.\u201d\xa0\nWhich brings us to an emerging source of anxiety for Dems in negotiations: Taxes. Democrats have long campaigned on raising tax rates on the wealthiest Americans and large corporations \u2014 and Manchin himself wants to use reconciliation to revisit the issue in the context of deficit reduction. But now, Dems are agonizing over the potential political pitfalls that come with raising taxes in an election year, as Burgess Everett and Sarah Ferris write this morning.\nSubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter\nRaghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.