'Delicate dance': Manchin and AOC hold the keys on infrastructure

Sen. Joe Manchin and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are infrastructure.

While there are many players in this process, the centrist Democrat from West Virginia and the left-wing second-term Democratic congresswoman from New York are the two most important lawmakers for President Joe Biden’s two-pronged approach to infrastructure.

“It is a delicate dance, or in this case a ballet, with Manchin and Ocasio-Cortez as awkward partners,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon. “It reminds me of Eric Redmond's classic book on Congress, The Dance of Legislation.”

Just as it takes two to tango, Biden wants to pass two separate pieces of legislation. One is the bipartisan infrastructure package that cleared the Senate on Tuesday with 19 Republicans joining all 50 Democrats in voting yes. The other is the Democrats-only reconciliation bill that prevailed in a key Senate procedural vote early Wednesday morning.