Biden and Bipartisanship: Does it Matter?
By Martin Burns
“Ever notice how often Washington commentary privileges generalities over specifics, and politics over substance? The conversation comparing President Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic rescue package to the $618 billion offering from 10 Senate Republican,” E.J. Dionne, the Washington Post, February 3, 2021
In recent days, there has been a lot of debate in Washington, DC and on the various cable news shows about whether the Democrats and President Biden should either “go it alone” or try to pass a COVID-19 19 relief bill with just Democratic votes. As the wise E.J. Dionne points out in the Washington Post, this conversation reflects Washington’s preference for debates of politics over substance. When you think about it, this makes sense — it is a lot easier to talk about politics on the various cable TV channels and of course policy and social media do not mix at all.
Washington can be an echo chamber even in the best of times. I think that we can all agree that where we as a country right now is not the best times. The question we really need to be asking ourselves is does bipartisanship matter? Do people really care that a particular law or policy has both Republican and Democratic support?
A recent Monmouth poll shows public support Democrats and Republicans working together: “Most Americans (71%) would rather see Republicans in Congress find ways to work together with Biden than to focus on keeping Biden in check (25%). The desire for bipartisan cooperation is higher than it was just after the November election (62%) and includes 41% of Republicans (up from 28% in November) as well as 70% of independents (68%) and 94% of Democrats (92%).”
So, we can probably conclude that most Americans would like to see the GOP and Democrats working together and therefore accomplishing something. However, this desire to see cooperation and collegiality does not obscure the fact that in the final analysis what people care about. Paul Waldman eloquently makes this point: “But if you asked a hundred Americans what the congressional vote was on Medicare, 99 of them would neither know nor care. They like Medicare because Medicare gives seniors secure health coverage, not because 13 Republicans in the Senate voted for it in 1965. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with bipartisanship per se. If a really good bill gets support from both parties, that’s great — it might even help build some cross-party relationships that could bear fruit on future legislation. But there’s no reason at all to think that having a bill crafted by members from both parties produces better policy.”
It appears that the bipartisanship question may for the moment be moot as early on the morning of February 4th the Senate approved a budget blueprint without a single Republican vote. Likely, the House of Representatives will also approve the budget plan without any GOP support.
Moving forward with only Democratic support is a political gamble for the Biden administration and congressional leadership. If Biden’s plans do not stem the tide of COVID-19 19 and keep the economy from going into freefall there will certainly be a political price to pay. However, voters will in the end judge Biden and Democrats on the impact of the legislation, not on how many Republicans voted for it.
