For those following along at home, here is the state of play in the negotiations over the bipartisan infrastructure bill: Eleven Senate Republicans still want a bipartisan infrastructure bill, but they don’t actually have anything resembling one yet, which means that they won’t vote to open debate on the bill they don’t have today, but they might vote to open debate on the bill they don’t have on Monday — if, by Monday, they have an agreement that might lead to a bill for which they might eventually be prepared to vote.
Missing from the public pronouncements thus far has been any discussion whatsoever of what might be in such a bill, why we need one in the first place, or what exactly the Republican party expects to gain from its acquiescence given that, about five minutes after the bipartisan bill is passed, the Democrats intend to go it alone on everything they couldn’t get the GOP to agree to.