For all its talk about unity and bipartisanship, President Joe Biden’s administration has little experience joining with Republicans and, in many cases, has rejected working with the GOP.
The proof is in the latest “Bipartisan Index” from the Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, which scores House and Senate members and their outreach across the aisle to co-sponsor major legislation.
Consider Vice President Kamala Harris, the former California senator. Of the 250 senators ranked between 1993 and 2018, she scored 246, at the bottom and well below notable partisans Hillary Clinton of New York, Jesse Helms of North Carolina, and liberal Californian Barbara Boxer.
Other Team Biden members were nearly as bad. The report said that former Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico, the new interior secretary, ranked 220th of 437 House members scored, with a slightly positive rating. Former Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio, who runs the Department of Housing and Urban Development, ranked 250th with a slightly negative score. Former Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, who heads the Office of Public Engagement, ranked 326th.
That leaves Biden, who was ranked 47th out of the 250 on the “lifetime” list. He had a slightly positive score of 0.5. By comparison, the top bipartisan senator last year, Maine Republican Susan Collins, had a score of 4.6.
