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As the battle to pass the Build Back Better legislation continues to inch closer to 2022, business lobbies have begun ramping up their resistance efforts to stall the bill's passage.
President Joe Biden released a statement Thursday after a phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader (D-N.Y.) Chuck Schumer regarding the final push of the year to get his crowning achievement through the Senate.
The statement urged politicians across the aisle to work together, but hinted that the bill was unlikely to pass before the end of the year.
"I believe that we will bridge our differences and advance the Build Back Better plan, even in the face of fierce Republican opposition," Biden stated. "It takes time to finalize these agreements, prepare the legislative changes, and finish all the parliamentary and procedural steps needed to enable a Senate vote."
"We will advance this work together over the days and weeks ahead; Leader Schumer and I are determined to see the bill successfully on the floor as early as possible," the president continued. "We will – we must – get Build Back Better passed, even in the face of Republican opposition."
Despite Biden's words, opposition from two Democratic senators threatens to bring negotiations on the bill to a standstill. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) has not committed to voting 'yes' on the measure due to the high price tag, and one senator described her as "not being settled."
However, the key vote in getting the bill passed lies with Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who, given his swing vote, could seemingly wind up with the lone power to slam the brakes on the bill in the deadlocked Senate.
Manchin has continued to stress his opposition to the reported multi-trillion-dollar deficit increase that the Congressional Budget Office has stated would occur if the bill passes.
As Manchin continued to negotiate with the president, he told reporters that "I want to make sure that we're upfront, transparent with the public," particularly regarding a child tax credit extension that would increase the price of the bill.
Manchin indicated that if Democrats wanted to keep the child tax credit, they'd have to drop other social programs to keep the price of the bill at $1.75 trillion.
Manchin's reluctance to vote 'yes' on the bill continues to frustrate Democrats, many of whom have suggested that he doesn't have the interest of his party in mind. Indeed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has stated that he has "suggested for years" that Manchin join the GOP.
As the holdout continued, big business consortiums and interest groups across the two key senators' states urged them to keep pushing back against the bill's passage.
A statewide West Virginia ad campaign thanked Manchin for "putting West Virginians first," and was funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the state.
"The business community continues to stand with Senator Manchin as he fights for job creators and the people of West Virginia," said Suzanne P. Clark, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Similarly, the U.S. and Arizona chambers of commerce also released an ad campaign that encouraged Sinema to oppose the spending package.
"We encourage Senator Kyrsten Sinema to continue to stand up against this tax and spend bill that will drive up inflation for Arizonans," Clark said of the senator. "We thank Senator Sinema for asking the tough questions about this bill and urge her to keep up the fight."
Despite Biden's mostly optimistic approach, this opposition to the bill means that getting it passed before 2022 could prove troublesome for the top brass in the congressional chambers, who have both stated their eagerness to get Build Back Better passed in the Senate before the Christmas holiday.
Pelosi, who was able to see the package passed in the House in November, previously told reporters that "we know what some possibilities are, and it would be my hope that we would have this bill done before the Christmas vacation."
Schumer shared a similar sentiment, saying, "the [Build Back Better Act] is very important to America, we believe it's very popular with Americans, we aim to pass it before Christmas."
These views echoed similar hopes from other influential Democrats that hoped for the social spending package to be a sweet New Year's gift.
However, the recent statement from Biden, combined with the problematic holdout of Manchin, appears to make that an increasingly unlikely prospect.
Newsweek has reached out to Pelosi and Schumer for comment.
