Joe Biden’s bipartisan dream lives on, for now

EVEN BEFORE the Senate voted overwhelmingly to advance a bipartisan $1.2trn infrastructure agreement, President Joe Biden hailed it as proof “that our democracy can function, deliver and do big things”. In fact, given the legislative hurdles ahead, the deal supplied evidence—tentative at that—for just the first claim. Yet for a country aghast at its own toxic partisanship, that is significant progress.

In a procedural step required to prevent a filibuster, all 50 Senate Democrats were joined by 17 Republicans, including their leader, Mitch McConnell, who has called himself the Grim Reaper for his opposition to Democratic policymaking. During the presidency of Donald Trump, Mr McConnell resisted Mr Trump’s own hopes of investing in infrastructure.