Nancy Pelosi says 'she's never giving up' on Build Back Better even after Manchin declared House package is 'dead'

• Nancy Pelosi insists that she's not giving up on passing Biden's economic agenda.
• "We must get something done," Pelosi said.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't giving up anytime soon on President Joe Biden's Build Back Better package, even as the party faces enormous resistance from Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

"I'm never giving up on BBB," she told reporters at her weekly press conference. Pelosi then listed programs like the expanded child tax credit as "really important" for Democrats to secure as part of a social and climate spending package.

She also brought up universal pre-K and expanding healthcare for families as other top priorities. "We must get something done," Pelosi said. "There are plenty of things in there that I think that we can find common ground."

But Democrats face significant challenges getting Manchin onboard, given his litany of concerns including its impact on the national debt and inflation. Manchin on Tuesday declared the House-approved $2 trillion plan as "dead" to reporters, doubling down in his opposition to the sprawling social and climate spending bill.

"What Build Back Better bill?" he told Insider. "I don't know what y'all are talking about."

Swaths of Democrats — including Pelosi on Thursday — counter that the package would be fully paid for, meaning it wouldn't grow the debt or contribute to rising cost of goods.

Manchin left the door cracked open for a future deal, but it's not clear when he could return to the negotiating table. He reiterated a broad demand on Wednesday to reporters: "Just fix the tax code."

Democrats eventually hope to pass a scaled-back version of their Build Back Better legislation — perhaps in "chunks" as Biden suggested. Yet without Manchin's vote, Senate Democrats can't approve the plan over unified GOP opposition.

Some Democrats and influential left-leaning think tanks like the Center for American Progress are beginning to draw outlines of what could go into a skinnier package. Such measures may include additional Affordable Care Act subsidies, universal pre-K, federal funds to make childcare more affordable, and a range of climate and green energy spending measures.