Biden veers off script to thank McConnell, but makes few other bipartisan overtures
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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden was elected on a promise to work across the aisle. But his first address to a joint session of Congress made few overtures to Republicans — until he ad-libbed some personal gratitude for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
While Biden didn’t opt to attack Republicans, the minimal appeals for cooperation are another sign of the continued division in Washington.
In a mostly empty House Chamber because of Covid-19 restrictions, Republicans stood to applaud only a small handful of times, such as when Biden called for defeating cancer and said most police officers “serve their communities honorably.”
“I know of nothing that is more bipartisan, so let’s end cancer as we know it. It’s within our power to do it,” Biden said as lawmakers from both parties stood to cheer.
But Republicans otherwise largely sat stone-faced behind their masks as he laid out his agenda and asked for their support on everything from infrastructure to police reform.
“I applaud a group of Republican senators who just put forward their proposal,” he added. “We welcome ideas.”
But there was little else for Republicans. For instance, he mentioned “jobs” more than 40 times and “vaccines” 14 times, but said “Republicans” just six and “bipartisan” just twice.
The president’s only mention of McConnell came when he strayed from his prepared remarks to personally thank the top Senate Republican, whose filibuster powers represent the biggest obstacle to Biden’s agenda.
Biden recalled a bipartisan cancer research bill that passed Congress at the end of his time as vice president, which McConnell suggested be named after Biden’s late son, Beau, who died from a brain tumor in 2015.
Video: Pelosi on Biden address: ‘We are so pleased with what has happened so far in the first 100 days’ (NBC News)
Pelosi on Biden address: ‘We are so pleased with what has happened so far in the first 100 days’
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“You’ll excuse the point of personal privilege. I’ll never forget you standing, Mitch, and saying, ‘name it after’ my deceased son,” Biden said.
He mostly urged Republicans to move his position, though. “We need more Senate Republicans to join with the overwhelming majority of their Democratic colleagues, and close loopholes and require background checks to purchase a gun,” he said.
“If you actually want to solve the problem — I have sent you a bill, now pass it,” he said of immigration and the border.
Republicans have shown little evidence they’re genuinely interested in working with Biden and blamed him for the lack of bipartisanship.
“A lot of us who know Joe and worked with Joe, are wondering what happened to that guy? Seems like he’s tied up in a basement somewhere,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told reporters, echoing a frequent campaign criticism by former President Donald Trump that Biden remained at home during the pandemic.
South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott, delivering the GOP’s official response to Biden’s address, said he didn’t want to be partisan before knocking Biden for being too partisan.
“A president that promised to bring us together should not push an agenda that tear us apart,” Scott said. “Our nation is starving for more than empty platitudes. We need policies and progress that brings us closer together.”
Scott said Republicans had successfully passed five bills responding to the pandemic last year when they controlled Congress before Democrats decided to “go it alone” on Biden’s $1.9 trillion package.
And he said Biden and Democrats’ infrastructure plan is loaded with “partisan wish list” items. “They won’t even build bridges to build bridges,” Scott said.
Many Democrats believe Republicans have no interest in working with Biden and just want to slow or derail his agenda so they can blame him for its failure.
But the White House has stepped up its efforts to court Republicans in recent days, an acknowledgement he will need at least 10 Republicans to pass most legislation.
Even Biden’s call to cure cancer earned sarcastic derision from the conservative news site Breitbart.
“President Science Calls for End to Cancer 🙄” the site declared in a headline on its front page, with an eye-rolling emoji.