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By Burgess Everett, Sarah Ferris and Marianne LeVine
Joe Manchin’s pointed refusal Monday to endorse President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion social spending bill framework left Democrats insisting that the mercurial Democratic senator would come around.In a blunt press conference, Manchin said he would not bow to party pressure to support the more progressive social spending bill and decried the “shell games, budget gimmicks” used in writing it. And the West Virginia Democrat criticized House Democrats’ delay of a bipartisan infrastructure bill he helped write, declaring it “time to vote.”Since Manchin is Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s proverbial 50th vote, his comments rippled through the Senate Democratic Caucus and left some senators like Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) concerned about Manchin’s level of commitment. She contended that Biden “obviously has work to do” with Manchin. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said “quite a few of us are going to continue to press our friend and colleague.”It was clear that Democrats had heard some version of Manchin’s calls for delay and pointed scrutiny before. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said “it didn’t seem like anything he couldn’t have sent in an email.” And some Democrats argued that although Manchin can be hard to predict, that he is not the type of politician to screw Biden over.“Manchin is not going to be the guy who pulls the foundation out of the Biden first-year track record,” said Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.). “I don’t think he’ll surprise me on this.”…READ MORE …(msn.com)
