Well, that was unexpected.
The Senate on Sunday night voted to end debate on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Stunningly, it did so with the votes of 18 Republican senators, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). That means the GOP's opportunity to filibuster the bill is over, and final approval in the chamber will probably come as soon as today. There is still a hurdle or two to overcome: The Democrat-controlled House must also approve the bill — not a sure thing — before President Biden can sign it into law. Assuming everything goes smoothly, the package will go down as one of the most significant pieces of bipartisan legislation to pass Congress in recent memory, a seeming impossibility in a bitterly polarized age.
"I think we're about to get this done," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday on Fox News.
Perhaps we have the filibuster itself to thank.
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