shades fills you in

During the Biden administration, Congress quietly passed a series of bipartisan bills, even though they’ve been gridlocked on a bunch of hot button issues

The WSJ reports that this is because Senate Dems stopped “letting the perfect be the enemy of the good”

Vox agrees that we’re seeing more bills passing because the Democrats have backed down, but that has a cost. Big agenda items -- like police reform, gun control, and immigration -- are off the table

But Substacker Yglesias says the real reason these bills are passing is that the media isn’t focused on them. The “secret” of the secret Congress is to trade public partisan wins for good policy

The Atlantic agrees: Congress passes laws when voters don’t pay attention. Some might think the presidential “bully pulpit” has power, but the truth is that high profile laws are harder to get through