Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) “has been privately telling colleagues she doesn’t believe the Build Back Better Act will pass until after Christmas,” Punchbowl News reports.

“Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) are the two most critical Democratic votes on the BBB. Manchin is publicly saying he thinks a vote may have to wait until 2022. Now Sinema is privately echoing the same message to her Senate colleagues. This puts pressure on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has repeatedly said the chamber can finish work on the legislation in just a few weeks.”

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) cellphone ringtone is the refrain from a song in the musical “Hamilton” that includes the lyrics “you don’t have the votes,” CNN reports.

Playbook: “All 100 senators agreed late Thursday night to quickly proceed to a bill funding the government through Feb. 18. The breakthrough came after Schumer gave Republicans a vote (with a simple majority threshold) to defund federal vaccination mandates. He did so only because there were two Republicans absent, meaning that even if Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) sided with Republicans, the amendment would be defeated. (And fail it did, 48-50.)”

“Conservatives will argue they got something out of this drama: a vote on their issue. In reality, it was a face-saving measure. The far-right started out demanding that Congress effectively scuttle the mandates, then reduced their ask to a mere vote they knew would fail, ensuring smooth passage of a continuing resolution a full 30 hours before the shutdown deadline.”

“Another reality: Their shutdown threat was never going to give them what they wanted. Schumer was all too willing to embrace the showdown over vaccines amid the threat of the Omicron Covid-19 variant. Plus, fellow Republicans blasted their demand as irresponsible and pointless.”