Democratic leaders need to worry about more than just Manchin, Sinema on spending plan: Reporter's Notebook

If Democrats are going to pass their $3.5 trillion social spending plan – and even the bipartisan infrastructure bill – they likely need to worry about Democrats who are not Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.

The famous, one-two punch of "Manchin and Sinema" are now the "peanut butter and jelly" of the Capitol Hill vernacular. They just naturally go together. You can’t have one without the other.

But there are lots of other combinations of lawmakers who congressional Democratic leaders need to be on board if they’re going to pull this off.

The phenomenon of "the others" was on full display last week as the House Ways and Means Committee finished a marathon, four-day session to prepare the tax portion of the mammoth bill.