Senate Democrats Pass $3.5 Trillion Budget Blueprint For "Human Infrastructure"

"Step two": the process continues:

Hours after the Senate advanced a bipartisan bill to improve the nation’s infrastructure, Democrats forged ahead independently on a second front — adopting a $3.5 trillion budget that could enable sweeping changes to the nation’s health care, education and tax laws.

The 50-49 vote came early Wednesday morning, after lawmakers sparred in a marathon debate over the proposed sizable increase in spending and its potential implications for the federal deficit. Its passage marked another critical milestone in Democrats’ complex economic agenda, which includes new public-works investments that Republicans support — and a slew of additional policy proposals that the GOP does not.

“The Democratic budget will bring a generational transformation for how our economy works for average Americans,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said after the vote.

Chiefly written by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the $3.5 trillion blueprint sets in motion Democrats’ plans to expand Medicare, combat climate change and boost federal safety net programs, including those that target children and low-income parents. It paves the way for universal prekindergarten and new family leave benefits, and it aims to help immigrants obtain legal permanent residency status. Democrats aspire to finance the array of new initiatives through tax increases targeting wealthy families and profitable corporations, undoing the rate cuts imposed under President Donald Trump.

Lawmakers still must translate their newly adopted budget into fuller legislation, meaning the more difficult fights over its exact contours are set to begin in earnest in September. But its passage still unlocks for Democrats the process known as reconciliation, which will allow them, once ready, to bypass a Republican filibuster in the narrowly divided Senate.  (our emphasis)

Along with the recently Senate- passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, this "human infrastructure" bill would indeed be transformational.  There'll be a lot of "sausage making" between now and the final language of the bill and when the votes are taken (mostly within the Democratic caucus, since universal Republican opposition is guaranteed).  The interest groups are already lining the halls of the Congressional office buildings looking to insert or strike provisions to benefit them.  But, at the risk of being overly optimistic, the odds just got better that Democrats are actually going to pull together and use their power to follow through on their commitments to make life better for most Americans for generations to come.

Now do voting rights!