President Joe Biden appears determined to return to the negotiating table with Senator Joe Manchin, the holdout Democrat who effectively tanked the party’s signature $2trn (€1.77trn) domestic policy initiative with his jarring year-end announcement.

But Republicans are voicing greater confidence now that they can beat back much of what they do not like in the package. “As we ended the year, it looks to me like they couldn’t swallow the spinach,” Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, said of the Democrats.

Mr Biden, responding to reporters’ questions on Tuesday at the White House, joked that he holds no grudges against the conservative West Virginia senator whose rejection of the social services and climate change bill stunned Washington only days ago.

Instead, the president spoke passionately about the families who would benefit from the Democrats’ ambitious, if now highly uncertain, plan to pour billions of dollars into child care, health care and other services. “Senator Manchin and I are going to get something done,” Mr Biden said.

The president’s off-the-cuff remarks constituted his first public statement as Democrats struggled to pick up the pieces from Mr Manchin’s announcement over the weekend that he would not support the bill as is. Mr Manchin essentially crushed Mr Biden’s sweeping policy measure in the 50-50 Senate, siding with all Republicans who oppose the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also struck a determined tone, telling Senate Democrats on a 90-minute video call to expect a vote next month on the package as they push toward a deal.

Mr Schumer acknowledged the frustration among Democrats, but he told senators the party was “not giving up” on the proposal, according to a Democrat on the private call who provided details on the condition of anonymity.

But the Democrats face serious questions over whether the $2trn initiative can be refashioned to win his crucial vote or the party will be saddled with a devastating defeat.

Mr Manchin and his party are so far apart, his relationships so bruised after months of failed talks, it is unclear how they even get back to the negotiating table, let alone revive the more than 2,100-page social services and climate change bill.

All of that is encouraging to Mr McConnell. “Now, I know Schumer said last night on a call he’s not giving up,” the Kentucky Republican said. “I don’t expect him to do, but the worst of BBB, it appears to me, is dead.” He was using the shorthand for the Build Back Better plan.

Mr Biden spoke forcefully of the economic pressures that strip away the “dignity of a parent” trying to pay the bills and the assistance millions could receive from the federal government with the legislation. He also said his package would help ease inflationary pressures and pointed to analyses suggesting it would boost the economy.

“I want to get things done,” Mr Biden said. “I still think there’s a possibility of getting Build Back Better done.”

The setback has thrown Mr Biden’s top legislative effort into deep doubt at a critical time, closing out the end of the president’s first year and before congressional mid-term elections when the Democrats’ slim hold on Congress is at risk. Coupled with solid Republican opposition, Mr Manchin’s vote is vital on this and other initiatives.