- Sen. Dick Durbin is presuming Democrats will not pass Biden's economic agenda this year.
- But he's leaving some room to be surprised if Manchin ends up striking a deal.
- "I've been burned by this stove enough times. I'm not going to grab it another time," he said.
The second most-powerful Democrat in the Senate seems sour on reviving any part of President Joe Biden's economic agenda — and he's presuming Democrats will have little to show for it in this year's midterms.
"I am planning to finish this year and hope to guide the Democratic caucus to success but not assuming that reconciliation be part of it," Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois told reporters, referring to the process Democrats are employing to sidestep Republicans on the spending plan.
He went on: "If it turns out to be, great. Maybe it'll surprise me. But I've been burned by this stove enough times. I'm not going to grab it another time."
It reflects a simmering frustration among Democrats with one of their own: Sen. Joe Manchin, a conservative Democrat from West Virginia. He tanked the House-approved Build Back Better spending bill in December, collapsing months of talks with the White House. Without Manchin's vote, Democrats can't advance the plan over united GOP opposition in the evenly-split Senate.
The party's efforts to expand healthcare and childcare, combat the climate emergency, revive a monthly check program for parents, and more has been on the backburner ever since. The conservative Democrat said last month he hadn't been in formal talks with Biden administration on follow-up legislation.
Manchin has given mixed signals about his priorities. He sketched out a slimmer bill that's more focused on prescription drug savings, tax reform, climate-related spending, and deficit-reduction that could get his vote. But Congress has been busy dealing with other measures instead like keeping the government funded and ensuring the passage of emergency military and financial aid to Ukraine. There's been little sign of progress on a scaled-back bill.
Then he said last week he was hesitant to encourage the development of electric vehicles, a top Democratic priority and a key part of the package.
"I don't want to have to be standing in line waiting for a battery for my vehicle, because we're now dependent on a foreign supply chain – mostly China," Manchin said at a clean-energy conference.