Among the red flags: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona told lawmakers on a call that she would be hesitant to endorse a final deal on the social safety net plan until the House first passes the Senate’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. Sinema indicated there had been a “breach in trust” following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to punt a vote on the infrastructure bill earlier this month after she had assured moderates her chamber would hold a final vote on the measure, one of the sources said…

On a call with a small group of fellow Democrats this week, neither Sinema nor Manchin endorsed the $1.9 trillion-$2.2 trillion price tag that Biden has privately floated as a new topline number, saying they have yet to see details from the White House on such a proposal — even as progressives have said that figure is far too small to include their main priorities from the original $3.5 trillion plan. The sweeping 10-year spending plan marks the biggest step in Democrats’ drive to expand education, health care and childcare support, tackle the climate crisis and make further investments in infrastructure.

Sinema said both she and Manchin told Biden they “cannot guarantee” they would get behind even $2.1 trillion, as she reiterated that the infrastructure bill should pass first to make progress on the larger plan, one of the sources said.

The two senators said they believed that their party should drop some programs offered in the larger package to cut its cost, breaking with progressives who want to maintain an array of programs but limit the number of years in which people would receive benefits. The senators indicated they should focus on a handful of new programs instead.