When Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) withdrew support for President Biden’s signature Build Back Better legislation, he not only killed hopes for its passage and in spite of his legislative victory on the infrastructure bill, he made the president look like he couldn’t cut a deal. The White House was furious, Manchin’s fellow Democratic senators were furious, and the centrist House members who went out on a limb to vote for it were furious. It capped off a bad few months for Biden, a period that began with the Afghanistan withdrawal and ended with a resurgence of the COVID-19 virus. Everyone is expecting the new year to be a tough one for Biden and the Democrats.
Biden can still salvage his Build Back Better bill if he settles for a piece by piece strategy (Elaine Kamarck, Brookings)
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