Sinema, Manchin curb Biden's agenda | TheHill

Biden calls on employers to mandate vaccines despite Supreme Court ruling MORE for a second time in two months on Thursday saw his agenda limited by a senator from his own party, curbing the White House’s influence and power and raising questions about what accomplishments his party will bring to this year’s midterms.This time it was Sen. Kyrsten SinemaKyrsten SinemaManchin says he won't vote to 'eliminate or weaken the filibuster' Democracy is on life support — and the GOP wants to pull the plug Biden: 'I don't know whether we can get this done' MORE (D-Ariz.) effectively pulling the plug on Biden’s hopes of taking action on voting rights. Sinema said she would not vote to change the filibuster despite her support for voting rights legislation in a floor speech just before Biden was to speak to the Senate Democratic caucus.It cut off any slim hope of movement ahead of the high-profile meeting in an effective rebuke of the president.Just weeks ago, it was fellow centrist Sen. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinManchin says he won't vote to 'eliminate or weaken the filibuster' Democracy is on life support — and the GOP wants to pull the plug Biden: 'I don't know whether we can get this done' MORE (D-W.Va.) cutting the legs from the White House with a surprise statement on “Fox News Sunday” that he would oppose Biden’s Build Back Better climate-and-social-spending legislation already approved by the House.Manchin on Thursday followed Sinema’s move with his own statement reiterating his opposition to changing the filibuster.Sinema’s floor speech, like Manchin’s “Fox News Sunday” appearance, echoed other times in American history when senators have dramatically thwarted the plans of the president leading their party. Manchin said that “allowing one party to exert complete control in the Senate with only a simple majority will only pour fuel onto the fire of political whiplash and dysfunction that is tearing this nation apart.”  A Democratic senator who attended the closed-door meeting with Biden Thursday said the president spent part of the time explaining his evolution from being a supporter of the filibuster to calling for its abolition in order to pass election reform.