What next?

The bipartisan deal “is probably doomed,” said Jonathan Chait in NYMag.com. McConnell might have been willing to support it “if it brought the benefit of slimming down or possibly killing off Biden’s social agenda.” But with Democrats insisting on a massive reconciliation bill, a show of bipartisanship that’ll bolster Biden’s dealmaker image “is all cost, no benefit” for the GOP. McConnell’s incentive now is to “kill it off,” and he’ll very likely succeed.

“The marathon of negotiations” needed to move two infrastructure packages through Congress

“is just getting underway,” said Lauren Fox in CNN.com. And it will take not “days or weeks but months.” When senators return from recess July 12, the first order of business will be turning the bipartisan framework into legislative text.

“On reconciliation, the first step is to pass a budget resolution” that the Democratic caucus can agree on. Once both are written, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer is expected to bring them to the floor for a vote in July. The “real drama” is whether Democrats will be able to agree on a reconciliation bill, said Andrew Prokop in Vox.com. And “if the reconciliation effort falls apart,” would progressives really withhold their support for the smaller bipartisan bill? Sixty percent of Progressive Caucus members asked said they would. That “may be a bluff”— but they’re clearly hoping moderates will “fall in line so we don’t have to find out.”

Leaders of both parties should get behind the bill and “disconnect its fate from other legislation,” said William Galston in The Wall Street Journal. Spending on roads, tunnels, water systems, and the electric grid “has broad support across party lines.” Most Americans prefer “compromise to partisan intransigence.” If lawmakers want to rebuild “confidence in their institution,” they should listen to these constituents, “not just to the loudest voices” on the partisan extremes.