W.When they were both in the Senate, Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Senate Majority, maintained a strong working relationship that has survived some of the most partisan legislative battles in decades.
That relationship will now undergo a new test when Biden is sworn in as president of the United States and McConnell will be the country’s top Republican.
It’s a scheme Biden is familiar with: When he was vice president, Barack Obama had to battle a hostile McConnell, who at one point said the Senate Republicans’ top priority was to make Obama a “president for one term.” to make.
The difference between the beginning of that match – between a Democratic president who only spent a few years in the Senate and a leader of a Republican minority – and now is significant. McConnell, unlike at the beginning of the Obama administration, will be able to command a small Republican majority in his chamber when Biden takes office.
Last week, McConnell finally delivered a speech to the Senate floor congratulating Biden on becoming president-elect, effectively driving another nail in the coffin of Donald Trump’s repeated baseless claims of widespread fraud and attempts to reverse the results. to make. Later that day, Biden said publicly that he spoke to McConnell on the phone.
“I had a great conversation with Mitch McConnell today,” Biden said Tuesday. “I called him to thank him for the congratulations. I told him that while we disagree on many things, there are things we can work on together. We agreed to meet sooner rather than later. And I look forward to working with him. “
Most importantly, the two have a history of working together during their decades in Congress. Biden was first elected as a senator for Delaware in 1972; McConnell was first elected to the Kentucky Senate in 1984.
They have since been co-sponsors of 318 bills, according to a Guardian census. During a controversial debt limit in 2011, Biden was the Obama administration’s preferred contact for McConnell. Biden has long been proud of his deep bipartisan ties to the Senate.
“A number of times I couldn’t get things done on my own and then I called Joe Biden,” Harry Reid, the former Democratic Senate leader, said in an interview with the Guardian. “The reason I would call on Joe Biden at a time of my personal crisis for not getting things done on my own was that he was very trusted by the Republicans, it was with all my Senate colleagues. Joe Biden had been there a long time. He had built up a lot of chits with many people. “
Biden and McConnell seem to be opposites. Biden is known for his lavish kindness and talkative public attitude. McConnell is more reserved and careful with his words. Still, the two will both say they can work together or say nothing at all.
“They are both civil,” said former Montana Senator Max Baucus in an interview. “They’re not going to berate each other for knowing each other for so long and if you’ve known someone for so long, you’d rather not call them names.”
McConnell and Biden appeared jointly at the McConnell Center of the same name at the University of Louisville in 2011. Introducing Biden, then vice president, the Senate Republican said, “Now that he’s moved to the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, I am glad to say that our working relationship is still strong. ”
Biden described McConnell at the same event as someone he understood and a prime example of the then-vice president’s deep connections in the Senate.
“The relationship between Senator McConnell and President-elect Biden was professional, enabling them (and, more importantly, their staff) to negotiate in good faith,” said Jon Kyl, a former Arizona senator who has taken over the leadership of the Republican. Senate served. “Certain things have to happen in every government; as professionals, these two know how to get the necessary results. “
McConnell was also the only Republican senator to attend the 2015 funeral of Beau Biden, the son of the president-elect.
Running in
There is a residual level of mutual bitterness between McConnell and his community of former and current staffers and that of Obama and his former staff. In Obama’s recent book, he talks about the interaction between Biden and McConnell.
Joe told me about an attack he had on the Senate floor after the Republican leader blocked an account that Joe sponsored; When Joe tried to explain the merits of the bill, McConnell raised his hand like a traffic cop and said, ‘You must have the wrong impression that I care,’ wrote Obama. “But what McConnell lacked in charisma or interest in policy, he more than made up for with discipline, cunning, and shamelessness – all of which he used in the purposeful and unemotional pursuit of power.”
But less when it comes to Biden and McConnell. That may be in part because McConnell and Biden will have to deal with each other in the future. The two have been in something of a detente. McConnell hasn’t spoken particularly badly about Biden and vice versa.
Baucus said if Biden leaves with some sort of initiative appealing to Republicans, it could extend the honeymoon between him and McConnell.
“If Joe makes a proposal and starts with an infrastructure bill, it will help because that’s twofold,” said Baucus.
Baucus added that McConnell “wants to work with Joe the best he can because they know each other”. But the former Montana senator also noted that McConnell’s motivations include remaining majority leader and protecting his caucus, interests that are of course inconsistent with a Democratic president.
That silence can only last so long. In the event where the Senate is split 50/50 between Republicans and Democrats with Kamala Harris as the casting vote, or where Republicans have a narrow majority, the president and the leader of the Republican Senate will have to work together.
Asked if Biden and McConnell will be able to work together in harmony, Reid said, “I think we’ll find out pretty soon, because President-elect Biden will have to act very quickly on certain things when he becomes president.
“He has a portfolio full of things to do and he will have to choose what to do and I hope there are enough Republicans to help out,” Reid added.
Asked about their different personalities and whether they will be able to work together, Kyl said in an email, “Yes, they are very different personalities, but they have found that they can trust each other. And again, a lot of it depends on their staff working together as well. If they don’t have the same kind of staff as, say, 2010-2012, it wouldn’t work as well. “