Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters on Tuesday that the Build Back Better Act (BBB), President Joe Biden’s multi-trillion dollar social spending package, “is dead,” dashing any lingering Democratic hopes that Manchin will rally behind a further scaled-down version. Manchin’s opposition to BBB has been well-known and oft-repeated for months, and his opposition to the package led it through one price cut after another. In December, Manchin finally gave up on the project, saying that he would not vote for even a smaller package put forward by his party. Manchin linked his opposition to the bill with inflation, which has risen at a breakneck pace despite frantic efforts by the White House and the Federal Reserve to get it under control. In the original draft of the BBB authored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the legislation would have cost the U.S. government around $6 trillion. Despite being supported by Majority …