Some in Washington determined to never let a crisis go to waste: Reporter's Notebook

President Biden, congressional Democrats and even some Republicans are remolding Hurricane Ida as justification for Congress to approve the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

And, as cynical as it sounds, that means you should never let a crisis go to waste. Hurricane Ida spun through the Gulf Coast. Slashed up the South. The post-tropical depression then pelted the Northeast with historic rainfall, spawning deadly and unprecedented flooding. President Biden, congressional Democrats and even some Republicans are remolding Hurricane Ida as justification for Congress to approve the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Democrats will certainly use Ida as a reason to approve the $3.5 trillion "Build Back Better" measure. So it’s natural that the president deploy that phrase, in the aftermath of a monster storm, in a region which needs so much built back.