It is Infrastructure Week once more and the Biden group continues to be searching the Republican Beluga

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She also said, “I think we’re building these blocks for a really good, solid infrastructure package with bipartisan support … (Biden) told me on the phone the day before yesterday, ‘Let’s do this.’ And I think that means that he has his heart in it. “

This sounds uncomfortably familiar to anyone who has watched politics in the 21st century. Here is Senator Chuck Grassley, who wrote at Politico in 2009: “Reform is possible with non-partisanship.” He spoke of a health reform.

“In March, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and I met with fellow Congressmen and the President for a White House forum on health care,” he wrote. “On that day, Baucus and I announced an ambitious timeline for developing a non-partisan healthcare reform proposal.” Six months later, Baucus published a plan that Grassley refused to support. Grassley, of course, voted against the Affordable Care Act when it was finally passed the following March, a full year after declaring his commitment to non-partisanship.

Baucus spent months and months chasing Grassley and the mythical Republicans who would join him, effectively watering down the vision of health care reform with every step. For the next seven years, Republicans refused to give up, at least in Congress, efforts to repeal the law. You never stopped fighting it in court. Now, eleven years later, the Supreme Court is about to rule on another obamacare challenge, with another under preparation in the lower courts.

There are Democrats who remember that. Like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand from New York, who spoke to many of her colleagues on CNN on Sunday. “We have to respond to this moment with bold reforms, and I think it is a mistake to wait any longer for Republicans to do the right thing,” Gillibrand told Jake Tapper. “I don’t think there is necessarily goodwill behind all negotiations and I think the American people chose us to solve the problem of Covid, rebuild the economy, rebuild infrastructure, and I think it is time to act. “

Yes. The. Of all the people who’d think would see some parallels here, the guy who was vice president during these ACA negotiations would be the one who famously called it a “big damn thing” when it was finally done – only with the support of the Democrats – be the first. Especially when Mitch McConnell lurks in the background with his promise that he is “100% committed” to fighting Biden’s agenda.

Just like he was 100% committed to making President Obama president for a term. He failed to do that, but did manage to block most of Obama’s second term efforts and appointments, including a seat on the Supreme Court, so there is now a Supreme Court that is possibly Obama’s greatest achievement -Years to ruin: Obamacare.

But there we go, with one more extension for the Republicans to do a damn thing. Politico – yes, Politico has so much salt – reports that “the president still trusts he can win reluctant Republicans in the Senate, and advisors see benefits – reputational and political – in working across the aisle. ” Yes, there’s a lot in there that could be very good for the Republicans – it’s the infrastructure! Millions of dollars for each of their states are within reach. But doing the right thing for their constituents was really not the hallmark of the GOP this century. (Except the really rich with all these tax cuts.)

Still, a Democratic senator who may have some insight thinks he knows what is going on. “We’re not just looking for a bipartisan deal to be bipartisan,” Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey told Politico. “We wanted to show some moderates in our caucus that this was a serious effort and that we made it,” added Casey. “And I think if we skipped that we wouldn’t have got 50 votes.” In other words, this is all about Joe Manchin and getting him to do the bill through a budget check so that it only takes a simple majority decision.

If that’s the case, then everyone should better get on the stick. There is very little time left for the legislature to do this with other huge, indispensable efforts such as the budget for next year and a necessary hike in the debt ceiling on the horizon. Not to mention all the other House laws piling up like the Equality Act and For the People Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act and DC statehood.

To borrow Buttigieg’s analogy, there is only a limited amount Biden can afford to put out to catch the Republicans. It’s running out.