This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox.

There are only a handful of challenges that can unify Washington. Hurricane-relief packages and tornado-rescue plans are up there. Wildfires and earthquakes, too. The opioid epidemic bled across Red States and Blue States alike. COVID-19 tested that unity thesis, as did the need to reassess criminal justice.