State of the Union 2023 will spotlight Biden-McCarthy relationship: NPR
President Biden and President Kevin McCarthy listen to a sermon as they sit together at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 2.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
President Biden and President Kevin McCarthy listen to a sermon as they sit together at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 2.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
When President Biden delivers his 2023 State of the Union address on Tuesday night, he’ll have a new person looking over his left shoulder: Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
In a new era of divided government, the two men will be forced to reach agreements on a wide range of issues over the next two years. More immediately, they will need to figure out how to defuse a debt ceiling standoff that could crater the economy, if not resolved before the United States defaults on its debt.
Both Biden and McCarthy are political lifers — two men who place a high priority on the value of personal relationships. So the concise and direct answers they have recently given to each other speak volumes.
“I think he’s the Republican leader, and I haven’t had many opportunities to talk to him,” Biden said, before quickly changing the subject when asked about McCarthy in the aftermath of the November election.
Before their first meeting in the Oval Office last week, McCarthy responded to a similar question with a long verbal shrug.
“We met several times – before he was president,” he continued, telling reporters. “Not as often, him being president. But I can’t wait for it to work out.”
There are several reasons the two haven’t spoken much for the past two years.
Unlike the Senate, the minority party in the House does not have much influence. And, especially in the wake of the January 6 attacks, Democratic relations with House Republicans have frozen to arctic levels.
President Biden shakes hands with Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell January 4 in Covington, Ky., during a funding announcement for repairs to the Brent Spence Bridge.
Patrick Semansky/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Patrick Semansky/AP
President Biden shakes hands with Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell January 4 in Covington, Ky., during a funding announcement for repairs to the Brent Spence Bridge.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Biden has a good working relationship with the Senate’s top Republican
It’s a stark contrast to Biden’s relationship with the other top Republican in Congress – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
When McCarthy was fighting for his job last month in round after round of speaker votes, Biden and McConnell were hosting a political event together marking the bipartisan infrastructure law.
“I asked permission if I could say something nice about her,” Biden joked, praising McConnell from the stage. “I said I would campaign for or against him, whichever would help more. Mitch: It wasn’t easy doing that.”
In Biden’s final days as vice president, McConnell gave memorable praise to Biden and decided to rename a bill after Biden’s late son, Beau, as Biden presided over the chamber and wiped away tears. of his eyes.
President Biden and Chief McConnell have known each other for decades. In this 2015 file photo, Biden — then vice president — and McConnell take part in a swearing-in ceremony.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
hide caption
toggle caption
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden and Chief McConnell have known each other for decades. In this 2015 file photo, Biden — then vice president — and McConnell take part in a swearing-in ceremony.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Here’s how Biden and McConnell worked out a debt ceiling deal
Although the pair didn’t agree on much, Biden and McConnell worked together to hammer out three major bipartisan deals during the Obama era – including a 2011 deal when the US was about to quit. default on their debt.
Neither man attempted to convert the other during these high-stakes talks.
“Biden repeatedly said, I won’t tell you your policy, you won’t tell me mine. If you tell me you can’t do something, I’ll take you at your word. If you tell me I can’t not do something, you take my word for it,” said Rohit Kumar, one of McConnell’s top employees at the time, who now co-heads Pricewaterhouse Cooper’s national tax office.
Kumar viewed the 2011 debt standoff as almost identical to how the 2023 negotiations begin: with the House, not the Senate, Republicans leading the charge to impose spending cuts and having more leverage for the TO DO.
By 2011, talks had stalled and default loomed as Biden and McConnell sat down together.
Kumar recalled the blunt and direct mindset of the pair as they sought an agreement: “Okay. These are the parameters we have to operate from. We have no choice but to work within those parameters, and we’re going to get it done,” he said.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy leaves the West Wing after meeting with President Biden on February 1.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy leaves the West Wing after meeting with President Biden on February 1.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
There are two main differences in McCarthy’s dynamics
Biden’s working relationship with the Senate leader is predicated on two things McConnell has that McCarthy doesn’t: decades of time in the legislative trenches alongside Biden; and perhaps most importantly, a firm grip on his caucus politics.
McConnell is the longest-serving Senate leader of either party. McCarthy, on the other hand, needed 15 ballots to win the presidency this year. With the narrow margins his party holds, he is constantly at the mercy of any small group of House Republicans threatening to vote no.
It’s a position the White House has been happy to underscore and exploit politically.
Since Republicans took control of the House, the Biden administration has attempted to portray the GOP as split into two wings: one that is sometimes willing to help govern and pass bills on a bipartisan basis; the other, an extreme faction still in thrall to former President Donald Trump.
“We understand what the president is going through,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday. “He’s got a caucus that’s put forward some pretty extreme ideas. Extreme options in front of the American people. Cut Medicare, cut Social Security. That’s what he’s dealing with.”
At a fundraiser in New York last week, Biden spoke of McCarthy’s position with an incredulous tone. “Look what he had to do” to win the presidency, Biden said. “He had to make commitments that are absolutely insane for a Speaker of the House, in terms of being able to become the leader.”
Kevin McCarthy, then House Republican leader, met with President Biden and other congressional leaders on November 29.
Andrew Harnik/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Andrew Harnik/AP
Kevin McCarthy, then House Republican leader, met with President Biden and other congressional leaders on November 29.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Biden and McCarthy are both ‘very well met,’ Rep. Cole says
Despite their differences, Biden and McCarthy will have to work together. House Republican Tom Cole thinks it’s possible.
“I always thought they could have a good relationship,” he said. “I think they are both career civil servants. I think they are both extremely political. I think they are both pragmatic. And I think they can both make a deal.”
The first potential deal on their agenda has global issues: avoiding the almost certain instantaneous recession that would come from defaulting on the federal government’s debt.
Biden says a vote on the Congressional debt ceiling should not come with preconditions. McCarthy refuses to raise it without an agreement to cut spending elsewhere.
Last week, the president and the speaker met in the Oval Office for an hour.
“He gave me his perspective. I gave him our perspective,” McCarthy said afterwards. “I believe that by hearing both points of view, like anything else, whether it’s business, whether it’s in family, whether it’s in relationships — that you can find common ground.”
One thing is different about these types of relationships: the fate of the whole economy usually does not depend on their ability to be on the same page.
NPR’s Barbara Sprunt contributed to this report.
npr
