Tuesday was the day it became clear either:

A) President Joe Biden's legislative agenda is about to implode

or

B) Biden made serious progress toward a deal to salvage his agenda.

The public evidence points to option A. By the end of the day, there was no indication Democrats were near a deal that would allow BIF to pass the House on Thursday. But the real action was shrouded in secrecy: the talks between Biden and the two senators who control the fate of his presidency, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. So you can’t rule out option B.

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Raghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio.
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.

Sept. 29, 2021: T-minus 24 hours — The view from the W.H.