President Biden met Monday at the White House with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, kicking off a week of planned meetings to break the gridlock around his economic agenda.
Lawmakers from both parties and different ideologies came together on Monday morning to mourn Colin Powell, the towering military and diplomatic figure who died after contracting COVID-19 while while undergoing treatment for blood cancer.
Manchin opposed a $15 federal minimum wage, doesn’t want to raise the corporate tax to 28 percent as proposed by Biden and wants to keep the filibuster, which requires Democrats to get 60 votes on major legislation to steer bills to Biden’s desk.
The West Virginia Democrat has even been cool to using budget reconciliation rules to get around the filibuster, something Biden endorsed to get an initial victory on his coronavirus relief package and may use again to get a second victory on an infrastructure bill.
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Yet Biden and Manchin are also cut from the same cloth, say sources close to both veteran politicians.