According to the conventional wisdom, the Senate must prove it can function. The test of its effectiveness is the amount of Bidens spending that Republicans approve.This is a distortion of the Senate's role. It shouldn't be to take part in a historic spending spree that Biden didnt win a mandate for and which isnt justifiable by the conditions in the country. For instance, it is not true that the nation's infrastructure is falling apart.Aside from that, the Senate passed a $200 billion China Competition Bill by a 68-32 vote just weeks ago. The old rule was that $200 billion was a lot of money. But now, it isn't, especially when $6 trillion is on the table.When Biden specifically linked the passage of the reconciliation bill to the passage of the infrastructure agreement, the deal went from being a gloriously alive thing to dead.It was revived when Biden walked it back and promised a dual track on the bills.It doesn't make sense for Republicans to insist on these two tracks. Instead, Democrats should allow for a reasonable time before continuing with their spending. Democrats will try to pass reconciliation regardless of whether or not the bipartisan agreement passes.There is only one track at the end: Democrats will spend as much money possible. Although the bipartisan agreement might reduce spending on hard infrastructure priorities, Playbook reports that the White House doesn't want to double-dip, for example, on electric cars or broadband. The deal will give them some money and then the reconciliation bill will give them more. However, the focus is going to be on spending across the board.Republicans support the bill because they believe that a bipartisan package will take some heat off Sen. Joe Manchin or Kyrsten Sinema's resistance to the filibuster.While a deal that passes will be signed into law, it is hard to imagine them changing their mind about the filibuster if it falls apart.Both are so vocally and insistently in support of the filibuster, that any attempt to climb down would be embarrassing and dangerous politically. They may believe that the filibuster has institutional importance for the Senate. They can also use politics to present themselves as a different kind of Democrat.They can flip-flip the filibuster and release the brakes on the left-most portions of the Democratic agenda. This will result in them taking many tough votes on priority issues dear to the Democratic base.Republicans who support the deal believe that it will make it harder to pass the reconciliation bill. First, the deal will include the infrastructure parts that have the most support and bridges. This is not the reconciliation bill. The reconciliation bill will contain the tax increases that are not welcome and have been excluded from the bipartisan agreement.Although it is not a crazy calculation, it isn't necessarily incorrect. It is more difficult to pass reconciliation bills if the top-line number for them is higher than they are. The overall reconciliation bill number will decrease if Democrats are allowed to defer some of their spending to bipartisan deals. The bipartisan agreement could make partisan reconciliation more manageable than difficult to pass.If so, then bipartisanship is in service of a partisan goal.Biden doesn't pretend to be fiscally prudent on any other fronts. He is only cautious in the one area he sees as a national investment that has unmistakable returns. He is not universally profligate. Republicans need to be in the opposition on four square because of his reckless spending (except for defense).The bipartisan bill is not exemplary legislation. It uses all the Beltway tricks to make it appear that it was paid for. However, its spending is just as reckless as the rest.While bipartisanship does have its uses, so does partisanship. Joe Biden would like to be remembered for his FDR-like and LBJ-like spending on government, as he believes it is the key to political success. That's fine. Let him and his group own it.
