It is still unclear how this impasse will be resolved. What is clear, however, is that the Republican Party would be foolish to bail the Democrats out of their current jam in the House. Earlier in the year, we warned Republicans against acquiescing to another half-trillion dollars in new spending, this time on infrastructure. The bill is another exercise in spending money that we don’t have; the legislation includes progressive priorities on climate and other matters that stray beyond roads and bridges; and any bill Republicans helped write was clearly going to be folded into the Democrats’ larger spending project. And so it has come to pass. A month ago, we warned Republicans that, with the progressives digging in, Nancy Pelosi would soon come looking for their help in passing the infrastructure bill. That, too, has come to pass.

By the latest count, it seems possible that up to ten Republican representatives — including Don Young (Alaska), Don Bacon (Neb.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Fred Upton (Mich.), John Katko (N.Y.), and Blake Moore (Utah) — could provide Pelosi with the votes that she cannot wangle from her own party.

There is a case that if the infrastructure bill passes, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema would feel emboldened to walk away from the reconciliation bill — exactly what the progressives fear. But if Pelosi continues to fail to muster the votes for the infrastructure bill, there’s a chance that the internal Democratic dynamic becomes more poisonous. And time is not on the party’s side, especially with a potential Glenn Youngkin victory looming in the Virginia gubernatorial race next week. Regardless, Republicans shouldn’t lend bipartisan credibility to any part of a historic spending blowout, much of which involves extending the social-welfare state on the assumption that new programs will never be rolled back.