The top Senate Minority Leader also doubled down on defending his decision to vote for President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure bill.
"What it did was separate something that's popular, 75 percent of Americans want to see the infrastructure addressed, from something that's unpopular, which is what they were left with after that," McConnell said. Democrats were initially aiming to pass the bipartisan bill and the larger reconciliation package in tandem, but were eventually prevented from doing so due to moderates' concerns.
Sinema and Manchin have already succeed in making Biden's plan substantially smaller. The initial proposal was for some $3.5 trillion in social spending, but that amount was eventually cut in half before it was approved in the House. At the same time, the moderate Democrats have not signed off on the House version and are expected to require significant changes before they will agree to vote in favor.on Thursday that he has not yet decided whether he will support the Build Back Better bill.
As Democrats aim to pass the bill without any GOP support, all 50 members of the Senate Democratic caucus must approve of the bill. Democrats are using the budget reconciliation process in order to push through the legislation, which allows it to pass without the 60 votes required to overcome a legislative filibuster. Whether Biden and Democratic leaders will be able to satisfy all of Manchin's and Sinema's demands without alienating progressives remains to be seen.