Democrats leave for the holidays with much unfinished business
Democrats are leaving Washington for the holidays having fallen short on a slew of President Joe Biden’s top domestic priorities and staring down the barrel of a politically-contentious 2022 in which the balance of power in Congress is up for grabs and trending red.
After months of intra-party gridlock, the Senate is closing out its first session without voting on the president’s cornerstone social spending package with no clear path forward on how the bill might progress to the floor in the new year.
“The president requested more time to continue his negotiations. So we will keep working with him, hand in hand,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor amid a rare Friday session, acknowledging for the first time that Biden’s Build Back Better bill will not come to the floor before the holidays.
West Virginia moderate Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin has proven to be the most intransigent of obstacles for Democrats who hoped to…
