Another step toward passing the so-called bipartisan infrastructure deal has been taken. Today, the filibuster was broken, with Republicans joining with Democrats to prostrate themselves before Joe Biden and his chief policy goal. The uni-party lives.
But remember, the GOP wants you to put them back in charge in 2022.
I haven’t seen the final vote tallies yet, but it’s safe to say that the same 17 Republicans who played turncoat on the motion to proceed did so again here. It’s such an astonishing move to see them fold like this, given everything that has transpired.
The negotiations started off with some combination of Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi blowing up the deal no less than three times. Despite that, the Republicans in question soldiered on, truly doing the people’s work of spending over $1 trillion in the middle of an inflationary boom. Even after the Biden and the Democrats announced they were going to double-cross the GOP collaborators via reconciliation, making the deal completely pointless, Lindsey Graham, Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and the rest kept pressing forward.
Later, Biden would blow up property rights via an illegal order in defiance of the Supreme Court, and not even that would deter our Republican heroes from rushing to give Democrats a major policy win. If you are starting to wonder how any of this makes sense, you aren’t alone.