The Senate’s new tax-and-spend bill isn’t pretty, but what did deal-maker Joe Manchin get in the bargain? His answer is that Democratic leaders have “committed to advancing a suite of commonsense permitting reforms this fall that will ensure all energy infrastructure, from transmission to pipelines and export facilities, can be efficiently and responsibly built.”

Big if true, as they say. That promise to Mr. Manchin is going to cost Americans $433 billion in spending and $327 billion in taxes. The country desperately needs streamlined permitting for building of all kinds, energy included. The Northeast is a natural-gas bottleneck. Export terminals could fuel European allies and break Vladimir Putin’s leverage. But nobody outside the negotiating room seems to know what specific “reforms” are in play. Mr. Manchin’s office isn’t rushing out answers.