Democrats’ infrastructure gamble actually seems like it could be working

Earlier this summer, Democrats announced that they’d be taking a circuitous route in their efforts to pass major new funding for infrastructure, something they’ve dubbed the “two-track” plan.

Effectively, they planned to do two things in parallel: work to advance a bipartisan infrastructure bill containing provisions Republicans and Democrats agreed on (like money for roads and bridges), and use a special budget reconciliation process to pass the priorities with only Democratic support, such as the extension of the child tax credit and a payment program intended to incentivize the use of clean energy.

It was a pretty risky approach given how many things could have gone wrong, from moderate Democrats derailing the process over concerns about spending to Republicans refusing to vote for a bipartisan precursor to a partisan measure.

So far, however, the Senate has managed to keep things moving on both tracks, a sign that this approach could wind up working after all. Doing so has been a tenuous balancing act — one that required Democrats to cut the size of their ambitions on more traditional infrastructure, and for Republicans to accept adding about $250 billion to the federal deficit over a decade.