Say it ain't Joe: Manchin's not the only big hurdle left for Biden's megabill

Even before Manchin’s bombshell, the parliamentarian’s vetting was already expected to spill into January. Now that Democrats may have to revamp the bill, that litigating is sure to drag out. No matter what happens next month, Republicans stand ready to push for the removal of major pieces of the legislation, citing incompatibility with the strict rules of the budget maneuver Democrats are using to steer the bill past a GOP filibuster.

The parliamentarian’s final rulings will almost certainly change vital provisions in the version of the bill that’s likely headed for a doomed Senate vote. As the nonpartisan rules referee’s scrubbing wraps up on dozens of policies currently in the legislation, several of them could be in peril: tax credits for union-built electric vehicles, caps on out-of-pocket costs for Americans who need insulin and student aid to some undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children.

“We’ve got two issues: No Republican support,” which leaves no margin of error in the Senate, Budget Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) explained in a recent interview. “And then on top of all that, you’ve got the parliamentarian determining what is in a sense germane [and] what is incidental. And that makes it that much harder. A lot of people don’t understand.”