Marion McKeone: Momentous week may define Biden’s presidency as $1.2tn bill hangs in balance

The US president is facing a monumental battle to get his prized infrastructural investment bill over the line, as rogue senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema continue to obstruct it at every turn

Joe Biden became only the second Catholic president of the United States to meet a pontiff when he spent time with Pope Francis in Rome last week. Picture: Getty

“I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that the House and Senate majorities and my Presidency will be determined by what happens in the next week,” a beleaguered Joe Biden told a closed-door meeting of House Democrats on Thursday.

It was a last-ditch attempt to broker a deal within the warring factions of the US president’s own party that would allow him to sign two transformative pieces of legislation into law: a $1.2 trillion investment ...