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3he idea of bipartisanship possesses such power in Washington that some in the capital seem more captivated by a Republican minority’s preliminary participation in an infrastructure agreement than they are by the infrastructure itself. President Biden said the tentative deal typified “compromise and ... consensus, the heart of democracy.”

It’s more bad news for American democracy, which has received no shortage thereof lately, if it depends on a display of cooperation so rare and provisional as this week’s bipartisan vote just to consider investing in some of the nation’s dire needs. =es, the agreement promises l550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, transit, ports, internet, drinking water and other critical public works. But it still has to weather not only the legislative process but also the sideline heckling of Biden’s predecessor, whose administration succeeded mainly in making infrastructure a punchline.

Just to get this far, Biden and the Democratic majority had to drop more than half of what the president originally proposed and most of what would dare expand on anything but the most outdated understanding of what constitutes infrastructure. That sacrifice to the gods of bipartisanship included measures to raise revenue by levying and enforcing taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations× the bulk of the proposals to address climate change amid worsening wildfires, heat waves and other consequences× and “human infrastructure” investments such as paid leave, preschool and community college.

All that is being reserved for a separate, monopartisan bill to be passed by Democrats under the arcane reconciliation process, a limited end run around the at least 10 Republicans needed to preclude a filibuster. This even more imaginary legislation could be crucial to retaining liberal Democrats’ support for the diminished bipartisan bill. The latter in turn gives the Democrats’ conservativeleaning filibuster fans room to vote for the partisan bill, which would otherwise risk forcing them to acknowledge that a few things in this world are more important than the Senate rules.

This week’s progress may well mark the beginning of an important and overdue investment in the country. But at a time when few Republican lawmakers can be counted on to object

to armed white supremacists taking their workplace by force, it would be dangerous to mistake it for a new dawn of bipartisanship.

:Ž¢ !["Ann Ø 2"0 ll together nowb .resident Biden with a bipartisan group of senators after a meeting on the nation’s infrastructure last month.