The latest antics from Sen. Joe Manchin, going on Fox News to stab President Joe Biden and the whole of the Democratic House and Senate in the back, further complicates an already hairy legislative push before the 2022 midterms. Frankly, by announcing he will singlehandedly torpedo the Build Back Better plan, Manchin is making Democrats’ prospects in that election even bleaker.

That’s one reason the White House blistered Manchin in a statement Sunday, a statement explicitly approved by Biden. “While staff drafted language addressing Manchin’s specific concerns—on inflation, climate provisions and how the plan was paid for—Biden specifically instructed them to add that if Manchin stood by his comments, he had violated his word to the President,” CNN reports.

It’s not just Biden, though. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called Manchin out in a “dear colleague” letter sent to fellow senators, acknowledging the “deep discontent and frustration” already existing among Senate Democrats that was heightened by “the decision to delay floor consideration of the Build Back Better Act because Senator Manchin could not come to an agreement with the president.” That’s as close to a rebuke of a single senator you’re going to see from a leader. Others have been a lot more sharp.

“Well, I think he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do to the people of West Virginia, to tell him why he doesn’t have the guts to take on the drug companies to lower the cost of prescription drugs,” Sanders told CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday, after Manchin’s Fox appearance. “West Virginia is one of the poorest states in this country. You got elderly people and disabled people who would like to stay at home. He’s going to have to tell the people of West Virginia why he doesn’t want to expand Medicare to cover dental hearing and eyeglasses.”

Seething House Democrats—particularly the progressives who have been the greatest champions of Biden’s vision, and who warned Manchin couldn’t be trusted—are demanding the Senate call off recess and come back to force Manchin to vote.

That might have been a possibility, but two Democratic senators announced Sunday afternoon that despite being vaccinated and boosted, they have COVID. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey confirmed their diagnoses. “Thankfully, I am only experiencing mild symptoms and am grateful for the protection provided against serious illness that comes from being vaccinated and boosted,” Warren said, urging everyone to get vaccinated. Booker also said his symptoms are mild, adding, “I’m beyond grateful to have received two doses of vaccine and, more recently, a booster—I’m certain that without them I would be doing much worse. I encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated and boosted.”

In Schumer’s letter to colleagues, he vowed that the vote on Build Back Better will go forward, with another dig at Manchin.

More than one-in-four American adults did not take a prescribed medication in the past year because of its cost, whether that is life-saving insulin that may cost them hundreds of dollars each month or cancer medications that can be thousands upon thousands of dollars for a course of treatment. Seniors and taxpayers lose billions of dollars per year because Medicare cannot negotiate drug prices.
The bipartisan Child Tax Credit we expanded in the Rescue Plan, that is preventing millions of children from going hungry or homeless, expired last week.
Our planet is warming so fast that extreme weather disasters are now commonplace inAmerica and across the world.
We have lost at least 3 million workers since the COVID-19 pandemic began, many of them women leaving the workforce due to the lack of accessible affordable child care.

These are just some of the major issues the Build Back Better Act would immediately address. We were elected to address these many needs and we will not stop fighting until we do.Therefore, Senators should be aware that the Senate will, in fact, consider the Build Back Better Act, very early in the new year so that every Member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor, not just on television.

That’s the frustration of being blindsided by Manchin showing. Manchin has consistently used media appearances to move the goalposts on Build Back Better, in his long game of delaying the bill until he could whittle it away to nothing. 

Schumer also vowed “we will keep voting on it until we get something done.” What that will be isn’t entirely clear. Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden released a statement Monday reiterating the key priorities, including ”providing financial security for families, lowering the costs of health care and prescription drugs for seniors, and creating clean energy jobs by combating the climate crisis.” He added that his committee “has put forward a revenue menu with more than enough options to permanently pay for these priorities.”

At least it’s all out in the open now, and Democrats seem to feel a little freer in not playing nice with the asshole.