"President" Joe Manchin is at it again.
The Democratic West Virginia senator met with lawmakers from across the aisle on Monday to discuss a potential bipartisan climate and energy bill aimed at skirting the pesky reconciliation process Democrats originally planned to use to pass their social agenda, multiple outlets have reported.
"If I can find something bipartisan, we don't need reconciliation," Manchin told his colleagues, per Bloomberg.
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In drawing up a bipartisan deal, perhaps the group of lawmakers — which reportedly included Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), among others — can "revive the barest elements" of President Biden's Build Back Better agenda, Axios writes.
Possible provisions for the bill include federal oil and gas leasing reform, "revisions to federal land policy, aid for domestic pipelines, [and] efforts to bolster production of both liquefied natural gas at home and abroad and critical minerals," among other changes, a source told Bloomberg.
The bipartisan approach is a potentially risky move — circumventing reconciliation will require at least 10 Republican senators to vote alongside all 50 Democrats. Negotiators will also need to win the support of progressive Democrats in the House. Getting a deal through, however, could provide Biden with a much-needed election year win, especially after his initial Build Back Better legislation stalled in the Senate (no thanks to Manchin). But where things go now, we'll have to wait and see.
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