From a New York Times staff editorial about how congressional Democrats might work with President Trump after the midterm election:
With Republicans likely to retain control of the Senate, the odds of even a vaguely progressive bill of any real significance making it through the upper chamber are slim. It's hard to imagine Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, allowing his members to come within 100 miles of, say, a costly infrastructure plan.
This isn't actually "hard to imagine" at all. It's easy to imagine. The Times doesn't mention it, but Senator McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao, is the federal transportation secretary. Any more money McConnell appropriates is more money for Chao to spend. Many Republican senators share with Democrats a love for announcing new federal grants to support airports, bridges, bicycle lanes, parking garages, and ferry terminals in their home states. They'd be particularly happy to do that if the infrastructure spending were combined with Davis-Bacon reform that meant government was getting more bang for its infrastructure spending buck.
It's funny, too, that the Times concern with budget deficits, a concern that predictably swells whenever Republicans propose or enact a tax cut, is nowhere to be found when advocating a "costly infrastructure plan."