Schumer jabs Manchin for killing Biden's spending bill in an interview with Fox News, says the Senate will vote on it anyway

• Chuck Schumer said the Senate will vote on Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill early in 2022.
• He took a jab at Sen. Joe Manchin, who in a Fox News interview dramatically withdrew his support.

Senate Major ty Leader Chuck Schumer said that Democrats would move ahead with a vote on President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill despite objections from Sen. Joe Manchin that effectively end its prospects of passing.

Schumer, a New York Democrat, in a letter to colleagues release Monday, said that senators would vote on a revised version on President Joe Biden's signature $1.6 trillion social and climate change bill early in the new year.

The statement contained a thinly disguised jibe at Manchin, who said he would not be supporting the bill in a Fox News interview,blindsiding Democrats who thought they had the votes to pass the package.

"Senators should be aware that the Senate will, in fact, consider the Build Back Better Act, very early in the new year so that every Member of this body has the opportunity to make their position known on the Senate floor, not just on television," Schumer wrote.

The last part seemed aimed at Manchin, whom many — including the White House — thought was in favor of the bill until he told Fox host Bret Baier that he could not support it.

His reversal effectively dooms the proposal by removing one of the 50 Democratic votes in the Senate needed to get it through. Schumer said that the legislative process would continue despite its bleak prospects.

"We are going to vote on a revised version of the House-passed Build Back Better Act – and we will keep voting on it until we get something done," wrote Schumer.

Schumer also said that Democrats will bring a bill to protect voting rights to the Senate, another key legislative priority for the Biden administration. The bill aims to defend voting rights amid moves by Republican-led legislatures to restrict them in several states.

He said Democrats would back a reform of the filibuster rule, which requires at least 60 votes for most legislation to pass and allows Republicans to blockade bills they oppose.

"If Senate Republicans continue to abuse the filibuster and prevent the body from considering this bill, the Senate will then consider changes to any rules which prevent us from debating and reaching final conclusion on important legislation," wrote Schumer.

But both Manchin and fellow moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona both oppose removing the filibuster.

Schumer's intention thus seems to be to compel both Manchin and Sinema to declare their opposition to the Biden administration's central domestic legislative priorities in a public vote.