By Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters] – After avoiding a government shutdown and potentially disastrous default, Democrats in Congress have moved on to the harder task of passing President Joe Biden’s domestic investment bill worth $1.75 billion.

After months and months of interparty wrangling, Joe Manchin (moderate Democratic Senator) withheld support for the broad bill which would increase social programs as well as invest in technology to fight climate change. That made Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s task of getting it approved before Christmas difficult.

Schumer claimed Tuesday that President Manchin had spoken with him and that further progress was being made. Schumer refused to abandon his schedule, although he did not promise success.

Senate Democratic Leader, John McCain won Tuesday’s victory when Congress approved the final authorization to raise $28.9 Trillion in debt limits. It prevented a devastating default.

Schumer is now facing his greatest challenge since January, when he was elected majority leader. Schumer is already feeling the heat.

Dick Durbin is his top lieutenant and has been calling for a fight that would make Manchin either vote for the bill and follow suit or challenge Biden. This could cause serious damage to Manchin’s presidency and Manchin himself.

Durbin answered Durbin’s question about whether Schumer should hold votes on Build back Better, without clinching victory. Durbin added: “It is always a risk,” and that “many people will remain on the fence as long if possible.” You have to decide when it’s okay to say “put up or shut down.”

Some moderate Democratic senators didn’t see any urgency in Schumer’s Christmas deadline.

If we can get it done before Christmas is great. Reporters are welcome to keep it open until New Year’s Eve, Senator Jon Tester said.

Liberals are furious at this flexibility, having already swallowed many compromises and been promised quick action if they help pass an additional, $1 trillion bipartisan bill for road-building infrastructure.

According to Senator Elizabeth Warren (a prominent progressive), “The agreement at the beginning was that it would be one deal.” But we are having difficulty pulling off the BBB component.

Schumer’s dilemma is very similar to the one Democrats had a decade ago, when without Republican support they were unable to pass Obamacare. This law promised affordable health care for millions.

The bill was finally approved in an election and is now the most significant achievement of Barack Obama’s presidency.

Political observers believe Biden could wait to win until January or February next year. The Nov. 8 congressional election will be the focus of lawmakers.

A delay, however, has its pitfalls. It allows Democratic senators more time to consider other ways to amend the legislation. And it also gives House Democrats more time to complain about compromises that are emerging – liberals as well as moderates.

Failure to Deliver

Jim Manley, a former Senate Democratic aide predicted that top issues for the campaign will include the interrelated economic issues and the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, he said that failure to deliver is going to prove very detrimental to Democrats who are trying to pursue a positive agenda.

A compromise, he said, would see negotiators continue to trim the package “under the belief that progressives will adopt whatever the Senate sends.”

As Congress nears its 2021 session, the Senate parliamentarian must decide if a number of provisions from Build Back better, including major reforms to immigration policy and other matters, conform to Senate rules.

After that, the final legislation version must be completed and approved by all 50 members of Senate Democratic caucus.

This is no small task, and it takes a lot of time. Republicans are cheering on failure.

According to No. John Thune, a Republican Senator.

He said, “The intelligent ones know that this cannot and should not happen before Christmas holiday and we will just wait to see how long leadership takes to reach the same conclusion.”