However, there is a catch. Democrats are still allowed to pass at least one more reconciliation bill this year — a bill that cannot be filibustered and can therefore pass the Senate with only the 50 Democratic votes. Reconciliation bills are usually limited to one per year, but Democrats were allowed a second bill this year because last year’s Senate Republican majority did not pass one (and it is possible that a budget law technicality could allow additional reconciliation bills). So what is to stop Senate Democrats from passing the rest of the $4 trillion infrastructure package themselves through reconciliation? Republicans provide bipartisan cover for the first $580 billion, even agreeing to new tax revenues, and then all the other taxes and extraneous spending that Republicans worked to strip from this package would simply be passed by Democrats in a party-line vote shortly thereafter... So then what is the point of Senate Republicans spending months negotiating this slimmed-down bill? With the promise of a follow-up reconciliation bill, they are merely giving bipartisan credibility to a process in which Democrats will ultimately retain a blank check for whatever they want.