Sept. 29, 2021: T-minus 24 hours — The view from the W.H.

Tuesday was the day it became clear either:

A) President Joe Biden's legislative agenda is about to implode

or

B) Biden made serious progress toward a deal to salvage his agenda.

The public evidence points to option A. By the end of the day, there was no indication Democrats were near a deal that would allow BIF to pass the House on Thursday. But the real action was shrouded in secrecy: the talks between Biden and the two senators who control the fate of his presidency, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. So you can’t rule out option B. 

Take the POLITICO Podcast Listener Survey

Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio. 
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.