A new bipartisan group of 20 senators convened behind closed doors in Washington on March 17 to discuss a range of issues, including infrastructure, in a bid to avoid the partisan rancor that has bedeviled Congress since President Joe Biden took office. “I think it was very valuable for us to get together, and everyone is so very committed to working together on a host of issues,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters after the meeting. “I could tell you that we solved all the world’s problems and that we straightened out Congress. But that would be an overstatement,” she added. The group is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. While Democrats hold the tie-breaking vote in the 50-50 Senate, gridlock is all but guaranteed without agreement from both sides of the aisle to reach the 60-vote threshold to end a filibuster and bring a bill to the floor for a …