Amid the bickering over ballrooms, weaponization funds, and voting rights, something unusual took place on Capitol Hill last week: a spasm of overwhelming bipartisanship.
First, the House passed an affordable-housing bill 396-13, a margin more identified with uncontroversial post office renamings than major legislation. The measure will be merged with a comparable bill the Senate adopted in March by a similarly bipartisan margin of 89-10. Two days later, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee—by a 62-2 vote—forwarded a far-reaching surface-transportation bill to the full House.
In addition, the Senate by unanimous consent last week passed legislation to protect government and contractor whistle-blowers from retaliation. And 30 House Democrats joined almost every Republican in passing a bill boosting benefits for disabled veterans and their survivors.
Lawmakers routinely spar with each other, especially when President Trump gets involved. But last week’s votes on highways and housing reveal an appetite to get big things done, too, with a looming midterm election that’s expected to upend the power dynamic of Congress next year—and compel Republicans to act now before they lose a chamber or two.
Other opportunities for achievement loom as well: a farm bill the House forwarded to the Senate; reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; permitting reform that has new momentum this year; and the annual National Defense Authorization Act scheduled for markup by the House Armed Services Committee next week. Many of the measures Congress is taking up have to do with improving affordability, an issue that’s top of mind for voters as gas prices and inflation have surged.
Whether they reach the finish line is another matter. The farm bill is stuck on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding. FISA reauthorization has been temporarily extended twice to resolve differences over privacy protections. Time is running out for permitting reform—just as it did last Congress. Housing legislation somehow has Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Maxine Waters siding with Republicans in their respective chambers instead of with each other.
But after a period of partisan gridlock that’s helped keep public disapproval of Congress hovering around 80 percent, deal-making might be making a comeback.
“Today, we proved Washington still works,” House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill declared after the lower chamber passed the housing bill.
It helps that the primary season is starting to wind down. Lawmakers can worry less about pandering to the extreme elements of their respective parties and focus on accomplishments that play better in the general-election campaign. Plus, dozens of House and Senate members heading for the exits find themselves newly interested in cementing their legacies.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves won’t be around in 2027 to shepherd a surface-transportation bill, so he’s motivated to get it done this year. In his opening statement on the bill, known as the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th Act (BUILD America 250 Act), the Missouri Republican hoped to convince committee members that passage was not just good policy but good politics as well.
“Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, this bill delivers for your district and for your constituents because it delivers for every single American,” he said.
Graves ranked as the most effective GOP House member in the previous Congress by the Center for Effective Lawmaking. Hill ranked 9th.
This feeling of good will and achievement could be fleeting. An acidic Truth Social post from the president pressuring Republicans to push his agenda or efforts by hard-liners of both parties to torpedo compromise could sink opportunity in a year when campaign season means fewer days to settle differences and pass laws. And midterm politics could still complicate things.
“I believe in bipartisan work,” Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock told Politico. “But it has been my experience that the closer you get to an election, the harder it is to get that kind of work done.”
