Efforts to pass Joe Biden’s spending plan over the objections of Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia begin to resemble an old Monty Python bit. Despite appearances, they’re not dead yet. Or at least, that’s the story Democrats are sticking with.
President Joe Biden will host Sen. Joe Manchin in Delaware on Sunday as the two seek to finalize an agreement on Biden’s domestic agenda, according to multiple people familiar with the meeting.
The president will huddle with the the West Virginia moderate in Delaware, where Biden is spending the weekend. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will also attend. The meeting comes at an absolutely critical time for Biden, who is seeking to clinch a deal with Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) on his social spending plan in the next week.
Democrats are hopeful that the president and the two senators can hash things out and strike a framework on a top-line agreement for the legislation aimed at climate action, child care, health care and education. But they are somewhat far apart, as Manchin sticks to his $1.5 trillion number, and the White House and Democratic leaders aim to go as high as $2 trillion after initially pursuing $3.5 trillion.
The slimming of the legislation is threatening to derail two long-held Democratic priorities: paid leave and Medicare expansion for dental, vision and hearing. Neither Biden nor progressives in the Senate have signed off on eliminating those, though that could become necessary to win Manchin’s support and strike a quick deal.
After the long setup, Democrats are going to have to pass something just not to look dysfunctional. The fact that their House and Senate caucuses — even the supposed dirty hippies among the progressive caucus — are solidly behind the president’s agenda is being obscured by the antics of Manchin and Sinema. What payoff the two expect from passing less of Biden’s popular proposals is a mystery. Even more so with Sinema’s dead end politics.
But by the eventual signing, public attention may have moved past the infighting to focus on the holidays. The punchline, when it finally arrives, will be as anticlamactic as Biden impressions are old.