The Senate Will Actually, Finally Pass an Infrastructure Bill This Week – By Jim Newell and Jordan Weissmann (Slate) / Aug 9 2021
Then Democrats get to tear each other apart for real.
Jim Newell: Happy Monday, Jordan! Know that this Monday is not a particularly happy one among members of the United States Senate. They just spent the weekend in Washington processing the “hard” infrastructure deal negotiated primarily between Sens. Rob Portman, Kyrsten Sinema, and the White House. A healthy bipartisan majority of the Senate is ready to pass this sucker and move on with their lives. But because it’s the Senate, and it only takes one senator’s objection to slow everything down—in this case, freshman Sen. Bill Hagerty—the chamber is having to take various votes separated by mandatory 30-hour periods of nothing. It’s a drag. I saw Sen. Brian Schatz late Sunday afternoon exercising outdoors in the stupid D.C. heat. That dude could be on recess in Hawaii now, sipping tremendous island cocktails. Alas.
As we wait for the Senate to wrap this up, which without a time agreement could come around 4 a.m. on Tuesday, what’s struck you watching the endgame? Are you surprised this deal is actually happening? Did you foresee the whole thing succumbing to whining by crypto nerds in the final hours?
Jordan Weissmann: Am I surprised this deal is actually happening? At this point, no. All sides have been telegraphing that they’re serious about passing it for weeks. Am I surprised that the last major hurdle was a seemingly tangential issue with little to no bearing on the main thrust of the bill? Again, no. That happens all the time in Washington. With Obamacare, one of the final major hurdles was abortion coverage and the Stupak amendment. Joe Manchin held up the American Rescue Plan this year partly over taxes on unemployment insurance.
CONTINUE > https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/08/infrastructure-senate-pass-democrats-reconciliation.html
