As early as last week, even as Mr. Biden confirmed that efforts to pass the legislation had stalled, he waxed optimistic, saying that talks with Mr. Manchin would continue and that he believed that “we will bridge our differences and advance the Build Back Better plan.”
The Senate left for the holidays this week without completing work on the sprawling package, vowing to continue work once senators reconvene in early January. But Mr. Manchin on Sunday appeared to close the door on further substantive talks, complaining that his colleagues had been spending months on employing tricks to make the legislation appear less costly rather than truly paring it down.
“They’re just trying to make the adjustment for the time to fit the money or the money to fit the time,” Mr. Manchin said. “Not changing our approach, not targeting things we should be doing.”
His comments are sure to infuriate his Democratic colleagues, who had hoped to pass the legislation before the end of the year. It remains to be seen whether they will respond by significantly modifying the bill in the hopes of salvaging something that can pass.
“I think he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do to the people of West Virginia,” said Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who heads the Senate Budget Committee, calling for a vote on the Senate floor on the legislation despite Mr. Manchin’s comments.