Infrastructure Tuesday open thread

At 11am EDT, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will hold the vote for the bipartisan version of the infrastructure bill. Unless the GOP negotiators get the willies, this should pass with north of sixty votes. (Motions to proceed passed with sixty-seven votes.) Some Republican senators who had voted to move the legislation are getting squirrelly because of the former guy and his goon squad. It might not get sixty votes for passage, but it will pass.

Meanwhile, on the reconciliation track, Senate Democrats released what was in the $3.5 trillion package:

The reconciliation budget resolution is out. Here are the toplines: pic.twitter.com/7GXU6E27As

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) August 9, 2021

As a former vice president said the last time Democrats passed nation-changing legislation, this is a big fucking deal. Only the most churlish of the progressive left would find much at fault with this. The greater worry is with the deficit hawks, but they seem to be mostly on board. Changes will be made, but this will be a conversation among Democrats. Republicans have already said they support nothing in this budget. Fine. We'll pass it and reap all the kudos.

Republicans, hoping to hobble the Biden Administration, are betting that this will be overreach. They don't believe the polling which shows all of the Democratic proposals are vastly popular. That's a bet I'm willing to take. And I don't gamble.

As much time as we spend gnashing teeth over the latest irruption from the right, it's time to talk up just all the amazing work Democrats are doing. Going into 2022, Democrats will have a solid record of accomplishment on which to campaign. And I'm still confident that election protection will pass. It'll take longer, but it will happen.

Enjoy your morning coffee, everyone. We're winning.