Biden promotes compromise at a moment of Republican chaos in Washington

COVINGTON, Kentucky - US President Joe Biden on Wednesday embraced his reputation for compromise and cooperation at a moment of peak Republican chaos in the House of Representatives, celebrating a vital new bridge alongside the Republican senator who has long vowed to block his agenda.

Standing in front of the Ohio River, the president joined Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, and an improbable mix of political rivals to highlight new funding for the Brent Spence Bridge, which connects Covington, Kentucky, to Cincinnati.

The rare joint appearance was an effort by Mr Biden, who has said he intends to run for a second term, to focus voter attention on moments of bipartisan accord during his first two years in office.

“We disagree on a lot of things,” Mr Biden said of Mr McConnell, who remains a political villain in the eyes of many of the president’s supporters. “But here’s what matters: He’s a man of his word. When he gives you his word, you can take it to the bank, you can count on it, and he’s willing to find common ground.”

The appearance by both men offered a remarkable split-screen moment in American politics.

In Washington, the House leadership debacle continued into a second day Wednesday. Representative Kevin McCarthy has repeatedly failed to win election as Speaker thanks to a small group of 20 conservative hardliners who accuse him of being insufficiently aggressive in opposition to Mr Biden’s presidency and the Democrats’ agenda.

The House remained in a leaderless limbo after Mr McCarthy lost three consecutive votes Tuesday for the top job – the first time that has happened in a century – and three more Wednesday.

For Mr Biden, the contrast was a perfect way to hammer home what he has long presented as his value and expertise: a willingness to embrace bipartisanship, even if that means working with politicians like Mr McConnell, whose values and priorities often diverge from the president’s.

And for both men, bipartisanship can be good politics as they seek to distance themselves from the Washington gridlock that has turned off many voters.

They rode to Wednesday’s event in the Beast, Mr Biden’s armoured car, a perk almost always reserved for the president’s allies.

But neither Mr Biden nor Mr McConnell is likely to walk away from his self-interests, which are certain to provoke political disagreements over the next two years.

Mr Biden has at times set aside his reputation for bipartisanship, pushing through trillions of dollars in federal spending without any Republican votes. And Mr McConnell has been a fierce partisan warrior for decades, blocking Democratic picks for the Supreme Court and frustrating efforts by Mr Biden to make progress on free preschool, family leave, immigration and other Democratic priorities.

Leaving for Kentucky, the president called the House’s failure to settle on a Speaker an embarrassment for Republicans with the world watching. He told reporters at the White House that the battle over who serves as Speaker was “not my problem,” but he pressed the contrast between his bipartisan event and the Republican infighting.

“How do you think this looks to the rest of the world?” Mr Biden mused about the Republican discord, which the House chaplain referred to charitably Wednesday as the “days of uncertainty.”

Mr McCarthy continued to scrounge for votes as Mr Biden and Mr McConnell arrived in Kentucky for their display of bipartisan bridge-building, standing in front of “Building a Better America” signs with a red-and-white riverboat floating in the background.

Governors Andy Beshear of Kentucky, a Democrat, and Mr Mike DeWine of Ohio, a Republican, were there. So were Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a Democrat, and former Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a Republican.

The senators and governors from the two parties gushed about one another, hailing the cooperative spirit that got the new bridge funded.

Mr Beshear crowed about “what’s possible when we push partisanship aside.” Mr DeWine urged Americans to “let our new bridge serve as an example of how we can come together.” Mr Portman called the event a “triumph of common sense and persistence over pessimism and partisanship,” while Mr Brown said it was an example of how “bipartisanship in the United States of America” should look.

Mr McConnell praised Mr Biden for signing the infrastructure measure into law and noted the divisions in the nation’s capital.

“We all know these are really partisan times,” the senator said. “But I always feel no matter who gets elected, once it’s all over, we ought to look for things we can agree on and try to do those, even while we have big differences on other things.”

The Brent Spence Bridge, which has been in need of an upgrade for decades, is a vivid symbol of the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. Led by Mr Biden, lawmakers from both parties, including Mr McConnell, voted last year to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to fix the bridge and others like it in communities across the country.

In spite of that recent history, few people in the White House or on Capitol Hill think there is much hope for significant new compromise in the coming two years. As of this week, Congress is once again officially divided, with Democrats still barely in control of the Senate and Republicans holding a new – but tiny – majority in the House. NYTIMES