Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s patience with Sen. Joe Manchin has worn down to a nub at this point, as reflected in his letter to fellow Democrats Monday. This after months of whack-a-mole game-playing, with Manchin coming up with seemingly endless objections to provisions in President Biden’s Build Back Better bill that have to be answered. Schumer announced the Senate will be voting anyway, “very early in the new year” on Build Back Better, so that “every Member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor, not just on television.” Schumer didn’t just give notice to Manchin that he’s going to have to vote on Build Back Better, he warned that he is ready to tackle the Republican filibuster—abetted by Manchin’s refusal to break it—on voting rights legislation soon in the new year. He wrote that the Senate will take up the blocked voting rights legislation as early as the first week of January. When Republicans filibuster it, he wrote, the Senate would “consider changes to any rules which prevent us from debating and reaching final conclusion on important legislation.” Read more