Biden spells out why he thinks he can reach a coronavirus relief deal with McConnell


President-elect Joe Biden has made it clear he believes he can reach the other side of the aisle during his presidency. His first priority, he told The New York Times' Thomas Friedman, will be to push a major pandemic relief package through Congress, even before he gets into office. But that may be difficult while Republicans hold the Senate, which will be the case unless both Democratic candidates win their respective George Senate runoffs.
Biden, though, is optimistic, for two reasons. On the one hand, he thinks he has a solid enough working relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to get deals done, citing his days in the Senate and as vice president as precedent. "Let me put it this way," he told Friedman. "There are a number of things that when McConnell controlled the Senate that people said couldn't get done, and I was able to get them done with [him]. I was able to get them to, you know, raise taxes on the wealthy. I think there are trade-offs, that not all compromise is walking away from principle. He knows me. I know him. I don't ask him to embarrass himself to make a deal."
But the president-elect also doesn't think holding the majority means McConnell will have all the leverage. If the GOP stymies a relief bill just to prevent his administration from notching a win, Biden said, that could lead to trouble for the party at the voting booth in the 2022 midterms. Biden argued that layoffs, shuttered business, vaccine distribution issues, and bankrupt states will make it challenging for Republican lawmakers to block legislation for too long. Read more at The New York Times.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
Five policies from the Tory conference
Party leader Kemi Badenoch has laid out the Conservative plan for a potential future government
-
A House of Dynamite: a ‘nail-biting’ nuclear-strike thriller
The Week Recommends ‘Virtuoso talent’ Kathryn Bigelow directs a ‘fast-paced’ and ‘tense’ ‘symphony of dread’
-
The Finest Hotel in Kabul: a ‘haunting’ history of modern Afghanistan
The Week Recommends Lyse Doucet’s sensitively written work traces over 50 years of Kabul’s ‘Inter-Con’ hotel
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-off
Speed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feud
Speed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protesters
Speed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’
Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US