There are a couple of reasons that an infrastructure bill has not passed up to this point, but there still remains some optimism from Democrats that they could manage to pass this type of legislation in the near future. There’s little chance that it will include every little detail that they want, but getting something passed will likely take a few compromises and sacrifices.
At the same time, spending has gotten out of control ever since the pandemic started in March of 2020, Republicans are currently doing everything in their power to restrict government spending under Biden’s administration. This is one reason that all of the Republican counter offers to the infrastructure bill’s cost have been so low.
With previous rescue packages for stimulus checks and unemployment benefits, there was an eventual hope that both sides would agree. That ultimately never happened with the ‘American Rescue Plan’, but Democrats used every resource to pass it without Republican support. The same pathway does not exist for the infrastructure bill.
Biden’s agenda is dwindling down rapidly as Joe Manchin takes a stand against his partisan agenda that seeks to avoid compromise with the Republican Party. Very little legislation will likely get passed into law if the political climate stays the same until the midterms. At that point, there’s even more bad news for Democrats. Republicans are likely to take majorities in at least one, if not both chambers of congress.
While an infrastructure bill could still pass in 2021, it may be one of the only meaningful things to become law for quite some time.