Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., crosses through a construction tunnel at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, June 14, 2022.
Evan Vucci/AP Photo

Last week, news of Manchin’s reticence came while Biden was abroad, with the senator’s intentions becoming public just as the president was holding politically sensitive meetings in Saudi Arabia about oil. Some Democrats felt the move served to underscore the trouble Biden has had in keeping his commitments on a number of progressive priorities, including climate change.

But Manchin’s allies pushed back on the suggestion, noting that he hadn’t leaked the news or walked away from the negotiations so much as pushed for them to be paused to gauge the latest trends in inflation. An administration official also downplayed the significance of the timing.

Unlike last December, when Manchin took to conservative cable to definitively cut off negotiations over the previous $1.5 trillion package, he insisted he continues to be interested in talking.

But there’s little time left in the legislative calendar, and Democrats on Capitol Hill who kept their frustration in check for months now accuse him of derailing Biden’s agenda and misleading the party.

“I think I lost faith once I saw that he had not told the truth to the president,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a central player in the decision last year to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill favored by Manchin on the condition he and Biden would hammer out a separate reconciliation bill. “If you’re not going to tell the truth to the president, you can’t be considered a good, honest negotiator.”

Democrats in recent days have reserved some of their criticism for Biden, too. They argued that the kid gloves used to handle Manchin represents just the latest example of the White House believing it can coax and cajole its way to legislative victories — only to find out the Senate is more stuck than ever before.

“My personal opinion is that in many respects the White House has assumed that the Senate operated the way it did when Joe Biden was there,” said Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.). “And that is a very na?ve and incorrect perspective.”

Anthony Adragna, Sarah Ferris, and Sam Stein contributed to this report.