Manchin deals major blow to Democratic efforts to include amnesty for illegal immigrants in spending bill

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on Wednesday appeared to deal a potentially fatal blow to Democrats’ efforts to include amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants in the Democratic reconciliation – ruling out bypassing the Senate parliamentarian or passing amnesty without border security measures.

In the Senate, Democrats will need every one of their 50 senators to vote for the package – including Manchin, who has been skeptical of a number of elements of the broad package and has called on his colleagues to take more time on it.

"Take a breath, let's look at this." he told Fox News’ Bret Baier on Wednesday. "We're talking about major tax overhaul reform. We're talking about changing our energy policies. We're talking about a whole social rearrangement. We're talking about $29 trillion of debt. So we better get our  hands around it and be responsible.