The budget reconciliation process is the rare chance to pass major legislation with a simple Senate majority, and Democratic leaders are hoping to include as much of the progressive agenda as possible in the $3.5 trillion measure. The budget rules require that items included under reconciliation must have a fiscal or revenue impact; otherwise they are out of order.

That pretty much precludes using reconciliation to get voting rights. Biden, Schumer, and company will have to find another way to bring Joe Manchin around for a one-time filibuster waiver. These negotiations are ongoing. Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, at ground zero of voter suppression, has been a key bridge to Joe Manchin.

But labor law reform is another, more ambiguous story. The latest version of Wagner Act reform, the PRO Act (standing for Protecting the Right to Organize) is much tougher than its failed predecessors, which also suffered from only lukewarm backing by presidents Obama, Clinton, and Carter.

The PRO Act would prohibit management from propagandizing workers in the context of union representation elections, a management right that was added in the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 over President Truman’s veto. PRO would also overturn Taft-Hartley’s ban on sympathy strikes by other unions; and it would undercut the "right to work" provision of Taft-Hartley, which allows states to pass laws barring unions from collecting union dues.

The PRO Act would strengthen fair elections for union representation in other ways as well. It passed the House last March—and of course faces a filibuster in the Senate.

Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, however, referred to "labor enforcement and penalties" when he introduced his summary of the budget resolution. This was approved as a reconciliation framework by a 50-49 majority.

There are some who think that a version of the PRO Act could pass the revenue test in budget reconciliation by imposing stiff fines or taxes on employers found in violation of worker rights. This option has anti-union forces worried. But it’s pretty clear that the whole PRO Act could not be passed as part of reconciliation.

Worker rights are as important in a democracy as voting rights. In all of the complex jockeying about the details of budget reconciliation and Senate rules, it remains to be seen where restoration of worker rights ends up, in the hierarchy of goals of the Democratic leadership. This is further complicated because business Democrats support voting rights. They are hostile to labor rights.

With all of the attention on the public-investment package, voting rights and labor rights, and for that matter immigration rights, are as important as public investments. They are important in their own right, but they will dictate whether Democrats can keep governing.

These other issues may well require Senate rules change, and should be seen as all of a piece. Schumer and Pelosi need to lead on this, as on public investments. There is simply no higher priority.