President Joe Biden insisted during his first White House press conference that he is committed to bipartisan cooperation with Congress and transparency on the border — as long as both happen on his terms.
Asked if he had “rejected bipartisanship” after signing a nearly $2 trillion spending bill that passed without a single Republican vote, Biden replied, “No, not at all.” He rejected Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s characterization of him as a captive of the far Left.
“When is the last time a president invited the opposite party down at least a half a dozen times to talk about issues?” Biden asked. “Everything from how we work — we’re working with a group of 20 members of the Senate right now and House on how we reestablish our ability to make computer chips and how we get ahead of the game, how we can work together. And we’re working together on a bunch of things.”
Biden suggested that he is willing to work with Republicans in Congress — provided they support much of his agenda. And he signaled that his support for the filibuster, which effectively sets a 60-vote threshold for most legislation to pass the Senate, was contingent on getting at least some of their cooperation.
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“Successful electoral politics is the art of the possible,” Biden said when asked why he didn’t want to scrap the filibuster outright already. “Let's figure out how we can get this done and move in the direction of significantly changing the abuse of even the filibuster rule first.”
Biden sought to drive a wedge between Republican elected officials and their voters. Some liberal policies, such as raising the federal minimum wage or increasing some federal spending to stimulate the economy during the pandemic, poll reasonably well with self-identified GOP voters.
“But, look, I know Mitch well. Mitch knows me well,” Biden said. “I would expect Mitch to say exactly what he said. But this is a matter of making sure that — I would like Republican, elected Republican support, but what I know I have now is that I have electoral support from Republican voters. Republican voters agree with what I'm doing.”
“He must not be getting the same constituent calls we are,” a Republican congressional aide said when asked about Biden’s remark.
“And so, unless Mitch says the last thing I did is, the last piece of legislation is so far left, well, then he ought to a look at his party,” the president continued. “Over 50% of them must be over that edge as well because they support what I did.”
This tracks with what Biden said after meeting at the White House with Republican senators who suggested a smaller stimulus package, closer to $600 billion in size. He wanted, and hoped to have, Republican votes for the American Rescue Plan but was not willing to shrink the spending much to get them.
McConnell said recently that he barely speaks with Biden, with whom he served in the Senate for a quarter of a century. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a centrist Republican, reported at the beginning of the month that she has fielded multiple telephone calls from the president.
Sometimes, this combination of friendly cajoling and sticking with the ideological program can work. Former President George W. Bush won 12 Democratic votes for his 2001 tax cuts in an equally divided Senate. But political polarization has increased since then.
Biden also vowed to give the media access to facilities housing minors who have streamed across the border in the opening weeks of his administration — just not right now.
“I will commit when my plan, very shortly, is underway to let you have access to not just them, but to other facilities as well,” Biden told reporters.
“I will commit to transparency and — as soon as I am in a position to be able to implement what we are doing right now,” he added in response to a follow-up question.
“And just to be clear: How soon will that be, Mr. President?” came the next try. Biden shot back, “I don’t know, to be clear.”
A reporter said at a White House press briefing on Friday that it appeared Biden was saying, “I will let more cameras in once I'm satisfied with the conditions.”
“That's not actually what he meant,” press secretary Jen Psaki responded, later adding, “What he was conveying is, right now, his focus is on moving these kids out of these Border Patrol facilities — right? — and making sure it's done in a way that keeps them safe and keeps everyone safe.”
Neither the media nor political observers have been satisfied with their level of access yet.
“Most of the Republican women in the [Texas state] Senate were down in the valley,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a GOP strategist in Texas. “They were denied access to some of the facilities.”
“It just screams hypocrisy,” Steinhauser added. “It’s a problem. They’re tired of the hypocrisy. They want to fix it.”
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Biden campaigned on both transparency and bipartisanship last year.
“Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, and uniting our nation,” he said in his inaugural address.
These pledges helped Biden make inroads with suburban voters who normally cast their ballots for Republicans. But he also assured the liberal wing of his party he would deliver on a sweeping legislative agenda for them.
