Washington (Washington Insider Magazine) -(CNN) President Joe Biden is using words not heard in Washington for many a long year, like “trust,” “consensus” and “compromise.” He’s even convinced that “friends” on the other side of the nation’s deep political chasm will keep their word.
The unusual outbreak of civility heralded by a bipartisan infrastructure deal may well turn out to be a rare exception to the rule of raging partisan warfare, given the intricate task that lies ahead in getting it into law.
The President can at least now look those who voted for him in the eye and tell them that so far he has delivered on a promise to suck the venom from politics and create space for lawmakers of goodwill to work.
After a succession of presidencies scarred by disconnects between the Oval Office and congressional leaders, and when democracy itself was attacked by ex-President Donald Trump, Biden is effectively offering a moment of national relief. The sight of the President surrounded by Republicans and moderate Democratic senators outside the West Wing on Thursday was a vision he had spent months invoking on the campaign trail that skeptics had doubted would happen.
To voters who chose the oldest President in US history and hoped he would restore some calm, moderation and normalcy to Washington after the volcanic Trump years, this may prove to be a powerful image.
But in the East Room of the White House on Thursday afternoon, Biden reflected on the deal, and conjured a fleeting picture of a functional Washington, working in a way that hasn’t happened for years.
“I don’t have any guarantee. But what I do have is a pretty good read over the years of how the Congress and the Senate works,” Biden said, laying out a give-and-take theory of government that contrasts with the absolutism in both parties in what is a deeply ideological age. He defended concessions in what was originally a bill worth more than $2 trillion as essential to securing some of what he wanted — for instance, in funding for Amtrak.
“I asked for 90 and got $66 billion,” Biden said. “Electric buses — $7.5 billion. I asked for 15. I couldn’t get all of it, but we compromised. Electric infrastructure … charging stations along the road. I asked for 15. I got seven-and-a-half.”
The President, who spent decades in the Senate, also showed generosity to political opponents who stand against much of his ambitious domestic agenda but for whom the differences aren’t personal.
Critics on both sides over infrastructure deal
