Did you hear that? That may have been the sound of Capitol Hill breathing a huge sigh of relief.
According to multiple Senate Democrats — including Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — a deal on President Biden's Build Back Better agenda could be reached "by week's end," The Hill reports, according to sources familiar with sentiments expressed at a caucus lunch. Reuters has also shared news of an impending deal.
"Universally there was a desire to get this done by the end of this week," said one Democratic senator who attended the Tuesday meeting. Another source added that there was support from "left to right" that an agreement be reached ASAP.
Manchin told his colleagues he will work with Sanders, chair of the Senate budget committee, and Schumer directly. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), however, was reportedly not present at the meeting, so it's somewhat "unclear if there's urgency from all 50 to clinch something this week," writes Politico's Burgess Everett.
And that last mile likely won't be easy either. Said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.): "It'll be a heavy lift."
Still, there's a "consensus that we need to resolve our differences by the end of the week," added Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), per HuffPost's Igor Bobic. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) shared similar sentiments to Blumenthal, although she seems to think agreement is slightly further away.
"We had a very spirited discussion at our lunch," Schumer later said. "Passionate, strong and there was universal, universal agreement in that room that we have to come to an agreement and we got to get it done and want to get it done this week."
He added, "The desire to get it done is strong." Read more at The Hill.