The Sausage Making: Democrats Try To Revive Voting Push As Manchin Stalls Reconciliation Bill

Your intermittent briefing on negotiations over the reconciliation bill.

Many Democrats are calling for a shift in focus, putting voting rights legislation front and center as Build Back Better negotiations continue to drag. Everyone from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to President Joe Biden has endorsed the priority swap, saying voting rights is the most pressing domestic issue. 


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1398389

Cheer up Eric. Someday we won’t have any use for Joe Manchin.

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This feels oh so totally unbaked. No announcement, just a bit of sentiment that something is shifting, maybe, slowly leaking out in vague reports.

Sure doesn’t sound like sausage making. Sounds more like roadkill being dressed up by the roadside while everyone pretends it was intentional.

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Manchin will continue to have concerns about the cost until the BBB is small enough to drown in a bathtub.

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Poor old lonely Joe. The only one who sees the Clear Middle Way. Walking that lonely road all by himself. Poor, poor, rich, greedy, asshole Joe.

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Manchin has decided to be the skunk at the picnic and he seems OK with that. I hope the payoff exeeds the damage to his party, his president and his constituents. I wouldn’t want that on my resume, but then, I’m not Manchin.

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“and Manchin has reportedly been reaching out to Republicans…”

…and republican donors have been reaching out to Manchin…

Heck, that’s probably the only reason he turns around and talks to the Republicans, i.e., to get the message out that he’s “all ears” if their donors and lobbyists might have “anything they’d like to say” to him.

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Manchin: “yeah but my monies…”

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And Manchin will demand a smaller bathtub.

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I guess, at this point, there’s no chance of bringing a Republican senator over to our side, to make Manchin irrelevant.

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Events of the past five years prove…

America Is Not Nearly Liberal Enough

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The media has been quick to point to progressives that were holding out for a strong BBB bill as being responsible for Biden’s declining approval ratings.

Having a senator from one of our smallest states bully the caucus and dictate the agenda makes Biden look weak and ineffectual. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that there is any way to deal with Manchin since he holds all of the cards. We will have to expand the senate majority and retain the house to get anythnig significant accomplished.

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Meanwhile, out in cloud cuckoo MAGAstan:

Yes, criticizing someone on Twitter can now lead to a sheriff’s investigation.

:snowflake:

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As long as it’s not in South Dakota.

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I don’t think anything will happen on either bill, TBH. Im that cynical now.

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As Sen Warnock noted… if we can set aside the filibuster for debt limit, then we can do so for voting rights.

Otherwise it’s clear that our credit rating is more important than being a representative republic.

Seemingly voting rights were more important that BIF too… just sayin

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I hope he has an allergic reaction and no one has an epipen to save his ass because they are too expensive.

Your not applying for jobs on K Street

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Ted Cruz fortune cookie:

“I think in a time of crisis, character is revealed.” (in Cancun)

Joe Manchin fortune cookie:

“I think in a time of crisis, character is revealed,” (aboard his boat Almost Heaven)

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Not sure the whole sheriff system is working in the country’s favor these days.