By Jennifer Scholtes, Caitlin Emma
POLITICO
December 25, 2021
Democrats are still courting the one person powerful enough to make or break President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion social spending bill — and she doesn’t hail from West Virginia.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is vowing a vote on the sprawling social policy and climate package next month, aiming to get negotiations back on track after Sen. Joe Manchin’s declaration that he can’t support the House-passed version. As such, staffers are still meeting with the Senate parliamentarian — the rulebook gatekeeper whose opinion, like Manchin’s, can single-handedly crush pieces of the majority party’s vision before they ever reach the floor.