Dec. 16, 2021: Manchinema’s Christmas present to Dems: A blunt reality check

It’s a fitting end to a year dominated by two Senate Democrats at the center of pretty much everything in 2021: Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have all but put the kibosh on two major proposals their own party was hoping to pass before the holiday break. First: Manchin’s talks with President Joe Biden over Build Back Better hit a brick wall. Earlier this week, Senate Democrats were looking to the president to bring the stubborn West Virginia Democrat around. Instead, Burgess Everett, Alex Thompson and Jonathan Lemire report that their discussions have gone so poorly that they’re “straining their friendly relationship.” Second: Realizing the BBB challenges with Manchin, Senate Democrats this week did an about-face on their topic du jour. Instead of narrowing in on their $1.7 trillion social spending bill, they started eyeing a Senate rule change to enable passage of a long-stalled voting rights bill. Subscribe to POLITICO Playbook. Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook. Jenny Ament is the Senior Producer of POLITICO Audio.