It looked so easy when the bipartisan JOBS Act cleared the Senate (73-26) and the House (380-41) and was signed into law by President Obama last week. But passage of a strong bill wasn’t a snap. Only the maneuvering of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell kept the measure from being delayed, angrily debated, and then watered down.

McConnell is extremely skillful in recruiting enough Republican votes to use the filibuster effectively to shape or kill legislation. But this time it looked like he would fail when Democrats sought to attach reauthorization of the Export-Import bank to the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) bill, a measure designed to help entrepreneurs raise money for their startups.