Commentary: This Congress showed that democracy can work | Opinion Columns

The 117th Congress opened with the political bang of Donald Trump’s second impeachment and is ending with the legislative bang of a $1.7 trillion spending bill.

It’s a fitting conclusion to a term that’s been notable not so much for its legislative accomplishments — which are significant, though not historic — as for the relatively quiet and orderly way they came together. As my colleague Jonathan Bernstein has written, this is in part a testament to the diligence and professionalism of Democratic leaders, whose approach stands in stark contrast to the crash-and-burn legislative efforts of congressional Republicans in 2017 and 2018. But it also underscores the extent to which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has confounded his longtime critics by making a real effort to show that American democracy can actually work.

This has at times devolved into absurdity, as when McConnell committed all Republicans to voting “no” on an increase in the statutory debt ceiling without making any demands whatsoever of Democrats. All he wanted was for his members to be able to say that they voted no. But he didn’t want the U.S. to breach the debt ceiling, so he agreed to create a mini-exception to the filibuster allowing Democrats to do it on a party-line vote.

Alec MacGillis’ excellent 2014 biography of McConnell is titled “The Cynic,” and the leopard hasn’t much changed his spots. But this was cynical politics with heavy guardrails in place: Yes, he was trying to win the political game, but he was also trying not to blow up the economy.

Something similar happened to prevent a last-minute derailment of the spending bill.

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah got the idea of attaching an amendment to the bill that would require the federal government to keep the Trump-era policy of expelling asylum-seekers at the southern border. This was shrewd politics, as the issue has divided moderate Democrats from the White House.

The problem is that it was almost too shrewd — for a moment, it seemed like the amendment might pass. That was a deal breaker for House progressives, which would have meant the omnibus could have passed only with some GOP support. And even though the bill had strong bipartisan support in the Senate, House Republicans were uniformly opposed.

What McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer eventually worked out was a deal to vote on two separate border amendments, one of which would include extra money for immigration judges. Moderate Democrats will support the version that includes the money, while Republicans will support the version that doesn’t. Everyone will be able to say they supported the expulsion policy, but it magically won’t end up in the bill and thus won’t die in the House.

This averts a government shutdown and, on a purely cynical basis, works for Republicans — because they can still run against Biden on immigration policy. But beyond maneuvering to keep the lights on, the 117th Congress has also passed a lot of low-key bipartisan bills.

Several of them relate to military…