The White House and Congressional leaders have turned up the pressure this week to package together a comprehensive - and expensive - plan to approve their legislative priorities.
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is a key vote crucial to President Joe Biden's agenda with Capitol Hill bitterly divided in its support along partisan lines.
Manchin has long been in the spotlight in Washington as a pivotal swing vote unafraid to break with his party over high-profile issues. But the focus on the conservative West Virginia Democrat has intensified in the early days of the Biden administration with Democrats controlling the narrowest possible majority in the Senate, which means the votes of every lawmaker carry outsized weight.
Facing GOP opposition to key Democratic priorities, many Democrats have intensified calls for the elimination of the filibuster, which sets a 60-vote threshold for most legislation and can be wielded by Republicans to block liberal agenda items. But Manchin has been a thorn in the side for those who want to get rid of the procedural tool as he has continued to make clear he won't vote for its elimination.
Manchin represents the deeply red state of West Virginia, where voters turned out strongly in support of former President Donald Trump in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. The Democratic Party once held major sway in the state, but its standing has seriously eroded over the years. In 2017, the state's governor Jim Justice announced at a rally with Trump that he was switching parties from Democrat to Republican.
But Manchin has maintained a base of support in the state and despite facing attacks from all sides, he has managed to keep winning reelection to the Senate, most recently in 2018. On Capitol Hill, he chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and is a member of the Senate Democratic leadership team.
Many Capitol Hill observers believe how Joe Manchin goes is how the Biden Administration’s ambitious infrastructure and climate initiatives go. We should know by the end of September.