July 13, 2021: GOP Senators go wobbly on BIF
It was after 9 p.m. on Friday, and staff for the bipartisan Senate infrastructure working group were hammering out legislative text over Zoom. Suddenly, the girlfriend of a staffer for Sen. Angus King walked into the room to announce they had a visitor. In walked the senator himself to thank those on the call for their hard work.\nThought No. 1: These people really know how to live it up on a Friday night.\nThought No. 2: This could all be for naught. Here\u2019s why.\nAnd, it's Groundhog Day for the Democratic Party when it comes to voting rights. Once again, civil rights leaders and the left are clamoring for President JOE BIDEN to nix or alter the filibuster in order to pass the party\u2019s voting rights bills. And once again, Biden is likely to disappoint.\xa0\nRaghu Manavalan is the host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO Audio.\xa0Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.