Analysis: Biden rebuts doubts, wins bet on bipartisanship

NEW YORK (AP) — For a president who had campaigned on his ability to work across the aisle, Joe Biden’s announcement of a bipartisan deal on a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package was a victory. He was flanked Thursday by Democrats and Republicans alike, who dutifully spoke about the virtues of consensus. But the accomplishment itself was fragile, one that faces opposition on the liberal flank of his own party and one that is far smaller than Biden first proposed. And the president’s promise that he would only sign the bipartisan deal if a far larger, $4 trillion reconciliation bill also came to his desk made very real the possibility that Thursday’s celebration was fleeting.