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But Manchin is also intrigued by a proposal from Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), which would extend the $300 unemployment benefits until July 18 — and amounts to a cut from both the Carper proposal and the House bill. Manchin spoke by telephone with Portman on Friday afternoon as the intrigue grew and the Senate stalled.

“There’s bipartisan support for what Rob’s trying to do. And Manchin’s getting beat up by his side. They’re trying to get him in line, so to speak. And he’s trying to do the right thing,” said Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.). “He knows that the Portman amendment saves a lot of money and is better policy. But Democrats in his caucus obviously don’t want to give Republicans a bipartisan win on this.”

Thune said he believed the Portman proposal could pass despite skepticism among some conservatives about any additional federal unemployment payments. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he didn’t know where Manchin’s vote was. He said Democrats “don’t want” Portman’s amendment: “We want to get this wrapped up.”

The Carper proposal, hatched by both moderate and progressive Democrats, also links up the expiration of unemployment benefits with the current lapse of government funding at the end of September. But a vote on the measure was delayed as Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nev.) held an animated discussion with Manchin on the Senate floor.

Sinema indicated to Manchin that he could theoretically vote for both Carper’s Democratic amendment and Portman’s GOP amendment in an attempt to end the stalemate. The two parties are fighting over which order to hold the amendment votes in.

Democrats said they were concerned that approving the GOP changes on unemployment benefits could require another round of negotiations with the House and Biden. That would risk pushing the bill’s consideration closer to March 14, when the current round of boosted benefits is set to expire.

“If it gets to a certain level it may require renegotiating with the House and the White House and then it has to come back to the Senate. And that’s not a desirable outcome,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). “The clock’s ticking, so timing is pretty important.”

The Democratic compromise has the White House’s backing, with chief of staff Ron Klain and press secretary Jen Psaki both tweeting statements of support.

“The President believes it is critical to extend expanded unemployment benefits through the end of September to help Americans who are struggling,“ Psaki said, noting that the deal will ultimately “provide more relief to the unemployed“ than the legislation that passed the House last week.

Five hours into the Senate’s first amendment vote on the minimum wage, which began late Friday morning, there was no final roll call as Democrats continued to tussle over unemployment benefits. And there’s still plenty more drama ahead, with the GOP seeking to inflict maximum political pain. The protracted ordeal, known as “vote-a-rama,” is widely despised by members of both parties and guaranteed to leave sleepless members running on fumes just ahead of the bill’s passage in the upper chamber, likely Saturday. But there’s no way around it.