Meet the new power couple in America: Biden and McConnell
From his position as leader of the outgoing Republican Senate majority, McConnell will tip the balance of American power after Biden's election.
During Barack Obama's presidency, Joe Biden's propensity to strike deals with Mitch McConnell had become a source of irritation to liberals. Now it will be the key to getting something concrete – writes Politico .
"Some Democrats would say, 'Joe always wants to make a deal.' . And I think, 'Hell, yeah, that's his job' ”. Senator Joe Manchin (Dem.) Said in an interview Thursday. "Why wouldn't he want to make a deal?" Surely Biden would have preferred a Senate led by Chuck Schumer who could quickly confirm his candidates and help an ambitious legislative program alongside President Nancy Pelosi. On paper, McConnell's Republican Senate looks like a bad score for a Democratic White House under Biden, given McConnell's effort to torpedo the priorities of the previous Democratic president.
And perhaps most importantly, Biden and McConnell have a real relationship – forged over the years as Senate colleagues and fighters. McConnell was the only Republican in the Senate to attend the funeral of Biden's son Beau in 2015 and stayed away from GOP attacks on Biden's other son Hunter.
“They've already negotiated great things in the past. They've been through some tough and even bitter battles for judicial confirmations, ”Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), A close ally of Biden, said in an interview. "But I think they managed to remain friends or have a business and professional relationship even in the most difficult moments".
McConnell and Biden may have reason to find common ground. Under Trump's leadership, McConnell has already succeeded in his long-standing goal of reshaping the judiciary; his role will soon pass to Washington's most powerful Republican, who must also defend a very thin majority. And Biden was elected not on the more liberal agenda, but partly on his ability to work with the other side, predicting "you will see an epiphany among many of my Republican friends" should Trump lose.
"I campaigned as a Democrat, but I will rule as US president," Biden told reporters Wednesday. "The presidency itself is not a partisan institution."
Democratic officials are already acknowledging that their legislative ambitions are much smaller than a week ago, but they think there is room for a deal on things like a coronavirus aid package, infrastructure, higher education, and gang. wide in rural areas. Republicans mostly agree. Both old Senate bulls before their time at the highest levels of American politics, McConnell and Biden will have to rekindle their old give and take almost immediately. Biden's entire cabinet will be on the hunt for a possible McConnell vote, and his appointments will certainly be more centrist than if Schumer were head of the Senate.
There is no hope that liberal icons like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren will win Cabinet confirmation – although reality may also prevent intra-party struggles between Democrats trying to form a Biden administration.
"Mitch McConnell will force Joe Biden to negotiate with him every single cabinet secretary, every single district court judge, every single US attorney," said Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). "My guess is that we will have a fairly immediate constitutional crisis."
But Manchin argued that "this country does not want lightning rods" in the cabinet and that Biden and McConnell could actually agree on a group of non-ideological candidates that would not turn into all-out brawls between the two sides.
Things are certainly not all smooth between McConnell and Biden. Biden shot McConnell in September for the failure of Congress to pass a new coronavirus bill, warning that “the states are in serious trouble, and to quote my good friend Mitch McConnell, he said: 'Let them States go bankrupt '”. McConnell said earlier this year that Biden would have to release more documents to face former aide Tara Reade's sexual misconduct allegation against him.
Yet under the sniper there is a deep relationship – even of friendship – that could challenge the predictions of absolute stalemate of the Capitol.
McConnell called Biden his "old friend" on Wednesday. And he paid public tribute to Biden in a 2016 speech, just before the vice president left office, calling him a "trusted partner." In 2011, Biden appeared at McConnell Center in Kentucky, noting that audiences want to “see if a Republican and a Democrat really like each other. Well, I'm here to tell you that it is ”.
"It's a long relationship, and they understand each other," said a Republican senator who knows both men. McConnell and Biden refused to comment on this story. And Trump's outbursts on Twitter against the vote count have mostly prevented Republicans from talking about how they would work with a Biden president. The GOP is still wary of challenging Trump.
“Senate Republicans are in a very strong position to lead the next two years for the country, regardless of the outcome. My hope is that President Trump wins, ”said Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 3 of the GOP. "Our role will be significant".
Among the various deals liberals loathed, McConnell and Biden negotiated the fiscal cliff deal to raise taxes and cut spending in 2012.
Kumar also said that Biden 's negotiating style was superior to Obama's.
“Biden handles the negotiations as a very practical matter. We have to find an agreement ”. You have to trust me when I tell you what I can and cannot do, ”said Kumar, who now helps lead PricewaterhouseCoopers' national tax office. "This was a pretty stark contrast to the way Biden and Obama handled the negotiations."
Chuck Hagel, who served as Obama's defense secretary and alongside Biden as a GOP senator, expressed optimism about the prospect of bipartisan cooperation.
Biden will be “personally involved. Obama's style was different, ”Hagel said. "Obama didn't really understand Congress, the Senate, like Joe."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/vi-presento-la-nuova-coppia-di-potere-in-america-biden-e-mcconnell/ on Sat, 07 Nov 2020 17:09:14 +0000.