Anonymous Democratic senator calls White House strategy on Build Back Better 'idiotic'

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Schumer vows to push filibuster vote he knows will fail

Congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has the details from Capitol Hill on 'Special Report.'

Democratic lawmakers and party officials are beginning to cast blame on one another for the failure of the Build Back Better legislation championed by the left wing and pushed by President Biden's administration.

In a Los Angeles Times story, Democrats voiced frustration and confusion at the rhetoric used by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House, particularly chief of staff Ron Klain. 

One anonymous senator questioned whether it was Schumer and the administration that ultimately killed the spending bill.

"So Manchin walked away [from Build Back Better] because the White House was putting too much of a spotlight on him — and your response to that is to lean in further on voting rights so that he, once again, is seen as the problem?" an unnamed Democratic senator told the Los Angeles Times.

DEMOCRATS THROW MANCHIN, SINEMA UNDER THE BUS AND COURT ELECTORAL DISASTER

The anonymous lawmaker went on to call the strategy "idiotic."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington Jan. 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Sens. Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema proved to be roadblocks in their party after their refusal to support filibuster reform to pass voting rights legislation and the president’s social spending package Build Back Better, taking heavy criticism from inside the party.

The senatorial skepticism toward Schumer and Biden's strategy has not been a sudden turn. Several Democrats have spoken off the record against the Democratic political veteran and his compatriots in the White House.

Last month, Politico reported enormous frustration among Democratic staffers on Capitol Hill at Schumer and his perceived pandering to progressive fringes of the party.

"So, I ask every elected official in America: How do you want to be remembered?" Biden asked ahead of a vote on a signature bill that would have dropped dozens of restrictions on voting and election integrity regulations.

"At consequential moments in history, they present a choice: Do you want to be on the side of Dr. [Martin Luther] King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?" Biden asked.

The president's comparison of his political opponents to segregationists did not go over well with the public.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain joins a meeting with President Biden, members of his Cabinet and immigration advisers in the State Dining Room March 24, 2021, in Washington.  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The bill was ultimately defeated.

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., took a new swipe at Sinema, a moderate Arizona Democrat, and told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to make her life "as difficult as possible."

The comment came after Sinema angrily told Schumer, D-N.Y., to pick up the pace when it comes to conducting a floor vote in the upper chamber, a process that has been known to drag on for hours.

Fox News' David Marcus and Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.