Senate Democrats held a “Zoom caucus” Tuesday night, and the big question was whether Sen. Joe Manchin would attend. He did, but little progress seemed to be made, according to various sources to CNN and Politico. Manchin continued his specious claims about inflation and the deficit. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stuck to his intent to force votes on both President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) Plan and on voting rights and elections reform, setting up a possible filibuster reform fight with Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. "I know we are all frustrated at this outcome,” Schumer said of their failure to pass the bill by his Christmas deadline and Manchin’s announcement on Fox News Sunday that he couldn’t support BBB. “However, we are not giving up on BBB. Period. We won't stop working on it until we pass a bill,” he said, according to CNN’s sources. Those sources said Manchin stuck to his ill-informed guns. “Inflation is a serious issue. These programs will cost more than they are saying. I can't add to the debt,” he reported said. CNN’s sources “added that Democrats spoke up and took issue with Manchin's characterizations.” Because that has worked so well. Read more