It’s been a wild ride for the Democrats’ latest attempt at passing a big, agenda-packed bill through the reconciliation process. But after more than a year of thorny negotiations, crushing failure, resurrected hopes, seeming defeat, and a shocking comeback, the final hours before the Inflation Reduction Act—formerly known as the “Build Back Better Act”—was passed in the Senate were more of a slog than a victory lap.
Before the final vote on the Democrats’ health care, climate and tax bill, senators needed to endure what’s known as a “vote-a-rama,” in which the Senate votes on a series of amendments in a marathon session that ran overnight and late into Sunday. The Senate chamber is already one of the last places on earth that anyone would want to be at 2 o’clock in the morning on a Sunday, and these final votes were the last thing standing between senators and their multi-week August recess. The vote-a-rama began shortly before 11 p.m. on Saturday, and from the start, lawmakers approached these votes with the grim determination of a child finishing their broccoli before dessert.
