Manchin sees his power grow
By Alexander Bolton - 11/09/21 06:00 AM EST
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) may be the most powerful member of the Senate and his leverage in the fight over President Biden's social spending and climate agenda has increased in the past week.
Manchin scored a major win Friday when the House passed the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill he helped negotiate. It will bring an estimated $6 billion in federal funding to his home state.
Progressives held the bill in the Senate for months in an effort to exert leverage over Manchin and other centrists in the negotiations over Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.
But in the end, liberals allowed the bill to move forward after a commitment from House centrists to back a larger climate and social spending bill. The House also approved the rule setting up debate on that measure.
Yet throughout the negotiations, that larger bill was trimmed down because of demands from Manchin and fellow centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). And neither has completely committed to voting for the social spending and climate bill.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/580647-manchin-sees-his-power-grow
