Dems Won't Allow Manchin To Kill $2.2T Bill

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, fashions himself as an old-school centrist dealmaker, the sort of nearly extinct congressional species who hashes out deals over the bootleg moonshine he keeps stocked in unmarked Mason jars in his Senate office, Reid J. Epstein reported for the New York Times.

Photo Insert: President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Build Back Better Agenda and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and their investment in public transit at the New Jersey Transit Meadowlands Maintenance Complex.

Manchin, who was a quarterback at West Virginia University before injuries derailed his athletic career, enjoys the national spotlight and seeming nonstop attention from reporters, fellow senators, and presidents too much to have sought a return to the Statehouse in Charleston.

The combination of his desire to make deals, create action and remain the center of political attention culminated over the weekend when he shocked Democrats, the White House and journalists with his announcement — on “Fox News Sunday” — that he would not support President Biden’s social policy agenda, a $2.2 trillion spending bill known as the Build Back Better Act that has served as the primary vehicle for his party’s agenda for 2021 and 2022.

Both Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, and Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, offered a sunny outlook, saying that they didn’t believe negotiations with Manchin were over.

The White House, despite an extraordinary statement on Sunday that effectively called Manchin a liar, didn’t pull the plug, either. “Senator Manchin and I are going to get something done,” Biden said Tuesday.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic