Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin all but delivered a death blow to President Joe Biden's $2 trillion domestic initiative, throwing his party's agenda into jeopardy.
Watch Psaki's remarks in the player above.
Speaking at the White House briefing, press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the president vowed to "work like hell" in the coming days to find a solution to the impasse.
The West Virginia senator's announcement that he could not support the bill, delivered on "Fox News Sunday" after only a cursory heads-up to the president's staff, potentially derails not only Biden's "Build Back Better Act," but sparks fresh questions over passing voting rights legislation and potentially other significant bills that would require his vote in the 50-50 Senate.
Psaki also previewed the president's Tuesday speech on COVID-19.
"This is not a speech about locking the country down; this is a speech about the benefits of being vaccinated," Psaki told reporters at Monday's news briefing.
"He will restate tomorrow that while vaccinated individuals get COVID due to the highly transmissible nature of Omicron, their cases will likely be mild or asymptomatic," said Psaki.