Increasingly, it seems as though the substance of the legislation being bandied about at the Capitol doesn’t really matter. Instead, partisan fault lines are as predictable as Washington’s humidity, and both are swamping Democrats’ hopes of getting big-idea bills to President Joe Biden’s desk. If it weren’t so maddening, it would be laughable.
On Tuesday night, Senate Democrats attempted to begin the debate over a massive voting-rights package that would undo restrictive bills that have made their way into state laws in places like Georgia, Florida and Arizona. Along a party-line vote, Republicans blocked even the first steps on the measure. Backers describe it as an attempt to defend democracy its