- McConnell thinks Sinema's opposition to lifting tax rates may be enough to sink Build Back Better.
- "Hopefully that will be enough to keep this thing underwater permanently," he said Tuesday.
- Manchin and Sinema have opposing demands for a new spending deal, complicating things for Democrats.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell believes that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's opposition to raising tax rates on large companies and wealthy Americans could be enough to sink Democratic efforts to revive their stalled climate and social bill.
"Sinema is unenthusiastic about tax hikes," he said at a Kentucky Chamber of Commerce event on Tuesday. "Hopefully that will be enough to keep this thing underwater permanently."
It comes as the Arizona Democrat cracked the door open to a slimmer deal in remarks at a National Federation of Independent Business tax summit last week, saying she's "always willing" to take part in negotiations. Democrats must reach unanimity to pass any smaller spending bill in the 50-50 Senate and overcome GOP opposition.
Last fall, Sinema came out against rolling back swaths of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, a key Democratic priority. That forced Biden to publicly concede the law was probably here to stay.
But that position is complicated by Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. One of his chief demands is rolling back the same law that Sinema is fighting to preserve. It's unclear how Democrats will bridge their opposing demands and get a plan over the finish line.
At the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, McConnell reached into the late 1980s for a metaphor detailing the bill's ability to spring back to life.
"Build Back Better reminds me of Glenn Close in 'Fatal Attraction,'" he said at the event. '"Every time I think it's gone, it kind of keeps bouncing back."
"I don't know if its dead yet," he said. "I'd like to smother it if I knew how to do it."