Except that Manchin sided with the parliamentarian even if the parliamentarian was overruled so it would be dead on arrival anyways. Sigh.
Manchin is turning out to be the pain-in-ass I thought he was going to be, but not on issues I figured he'd flex his power on... I get the impression Biden wasn't for the $15/hr increase either...

I'd be curious to know if Biden spoke with either Manchin or Sinema. I find it hard to believe that some arm-twisting couldn't have gotten the job done. Noone heard a peep when the GOP used reconciliation to pass the big tax cut for the rich back in 2017. Democrats had better start growing some cahonees, and soon....