AP source: Biden-Manchin talks on $2T Dem bill going poorly

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Negotiations between President Joe Biden and holdout Sen. Joe Manchin over Democrats’ $2 trillion social and environment bill are said to be going poorly. A person familiar with the talks says the West Virginia Democrat wants to drop the legislation’s extension of an expanded child tax credit. Many Democrats consider that provision the keystone of the entire bill. Manchin’s stance in the talks was described by a person familiar with the conversations who would describe them only on condition of anonymity. It was the latest of several signs that Democrats’ hopes of pushing the overall bill through the Senate by Christmas have become increasingly bleak.