FIGHT, THEN FLIGHT— White House officials met with Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema this morning for two hours, and President Joe Biden met with Sen. Bernie Sanders this afternoon. Even though these negotiations are inside one party, they test Biden’s reputation as a Senate dealmaker — and he’s in an all-out sprint to salvage his domestic agenda before he heads to Europe Thursday. Nightly chatted with White House editor Sam Stein over Slack today about what’s at stake for Biden with these talks. This conversation has been edited. Biden campaigned on being a dealmaker — how is that going? I believe the technical term is, TBD. Ha! But in an environment where every senator is president, can he actually figure out a middle ground between Manchin and Sanders? I honestly don’t know. I think so. Biden loves to talk! White House aides say they can’t keep him off the phone. That may be self-serving, but there are lots of phone calls and now meetings. Some personal stuff. Nothing earth shattering. He’s a schmoozer. It’s very different from Obama. But that is because he’s known a lot of these players a long time. Ultimately, if they do find some agreement, I think that says as much about Sanders’ pragmatism and Manchin’s unique personal style as it does about Biden’s ability to walk that particular tightrope. What is at stake for Biden in these negotiations? Let’s say he manages to ink a deal. And he turns around and says: I got historic investments in tackling climate change, in bolstering child care and education in this country, in reducing childhood poverty, in bolstering our fading infrastructure and, on top of that, in updating our schools, amplifying testing for Covid and expanding health care to millions. Oh, and I did that all with basically NO margin for error in either chamber. Would anyone turn around and say: “Mr. President, you’re a shitty dealmaker”? Probably not. Then again, if he can’t close the deal, then yes, it’s a major blemish on his record. More important, it leaves huge swaths of the country feeling like government just didn’t work for them. That’s bad for the country. It’s also terrible for him politically and reputationally. Do you have a sense of where Biden is personally on these issues? This is his agenda, but as a self-styled centrist is he actually more sympathetic to Manchin/Sinema? His position has been perfectly opaque. The only red line is not raising taxes on those making above $400K a year, which is not exactly the most awe-inspiring red line ever. Part of this is to ensure that the Sanders and Manchins of the world don’t feel like they have no room to deal. He needs to keep them at the table. But as we get to the 11th, now 12th and perhaps 13th hour, it seems incumbent on Biden to actually say what policies he demands be in the package. He hasn’t done that yet. What about the White House — a detectable split between different advisers? Nothing outwardly detectable. Our sense is that there were some early divisions about splitting this package into two: a human infrastructure and a physical infrastructure deal. But now that it is done, the general consensus seems to be: Let’s just get this bleeding body over the finish line. And he heads to Europe tomorrow — how does he sell these negotiations abroad? Can’t sell negotiations that are incomplete! So ... tick, tock, tick, tock. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author at rrayasam@politico.com or on Twitter at @RenuRayasam.
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