Carl Hulse for the NYT:

In introducing a scaled-back version, Democrats hoped to demonstrate to Mr. Manchin — now deeply invested in the measure as one of the chief authors — that Republicans would never sign on to a voting rights bill and, in doing so, wear down his opposition to weakening the filibuster. President Biden has come under mounting pressure from progressive activists to take a more active role in the push to overturn the filibuster to enact voting rights legislation.

Mr. Schumer noted that Mr. Manchin believed that the voting rights effort should be bipartisan.

“We are giving him the opportunity to do that with a bill that he supports and that he modified,” Mr. Schumer said. “If that doesn’t happen, we will cross that bridge when we come to it. As I’ve said, all options are on the table.”

Mr. Manchin wasted little time in trying to win over the main opponent of the effort. By Tuesday evening, he was meeting privately with Mr. McConnell in his Capitol office to discuss the bill and “to see if there was a pathway forward,” though he would not disclose the details of their chat.

“I’m working on the voting thing very hard, and I’m out there talking to every Republican I can,” Mr. Manchin told reporters. “I think voting is basically the foundation of our whole democracy.”