I don’t find Kevin McCarthy to be a particularly effective leader of House Republicans and would be fine with seeing someone else lead the GOP in the chamber. But let’s note that no party leader has much leverage over a retiring member, and three of the 13 — Tom Reed of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, and Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio — are retiring at the end of this term. Those three, along with the 215 House Democrats who voted yes, guaranteed passage of the bill, even with existing vacancies — Florida’s 20th district, where Alcee Hastings passed away recently, is one such vacancy — and six House Democrats defecting. Every other Republican could have voted no, and the bill still would’ve passed.

The Squad voted “no” late in the vote-counting, after it was clear the legislation was going to pass. If there hadn’t been enough Republican “yes” votes to ensure passage, the chances are good that enough Democratic “noes” would have flipped to make sure the bill went on to the president’s desk. The Squad got to symbolically show they weren’t willing to accept the promises of the moderates without tanking Biden’s legislative agenda.

Maybe House Republicans need new leadership, but if that’s the case, it’s not because McCarthy couldn’t keep the infrastructure bill from passing.