The bipartisan group met on Wednesday afternoon for lunch and left the meeting optimistic about the potential for cooperation, promising to meet every two weeks. Divided equally between Republicans and Democrats seeking a deal, the bloc could become a center of critical power in the 50-50 Senate of Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer.
After all, it is no accident that 10 Republican senators are in the group: this is the exact number that Schumer needs to break an obstruction. Therefore, the 117th Congress could represent the definitive test case for whether bipartisanship on major issues is still possible, with Democrats holding narrow majorities in both chambers and President Joe Biden presenting himself as a bridge builder with long ties date with the Senate.
While Biden’s nominees received some support from Republicans, Democrats used the so-called budget reconciliation process to approve their $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package along party lines. But they can only take advantage of this obstruction protection once again this year. And with no change in Senate rules for now, the only option to do anything else is to work with the Republican Party.
Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.) Described the group as “very important” for preserving legislative obstruction, adding that his discussions are “good for democracy” and “can be very good for the Senate”. The senators discussed possible changes to the rules to bring bipartisan projects directly to the floor, their latest effort to shake up the House’s obstinate stalemate.
“Some ideas came up about how to do some things if you have an absolute majority of votes on a bill on a committee that goes straight to the floor,” said Tester after the meeting. “This is the kind of thing that can really make a difference.”
The group includes Democrats like Sens. Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona, Joe Manchin from West Virginia, John Hickenlooper from Colorado, Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire and Angus King from Maine, an independent who agrees with the majority. All of them, including Tester, oppose or have expressed reluctance to completely eliminate the 60-vote limit needed to move most of the legislation in the Senate.
A majority in the Senate Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Who supports the obstruction reform, as well as the Democrats sens. Maggie Hassan from New Hampshire, Mark Warner from Virginia and Mark Kelly from Arizona are also part of the cohort.
In addition to Young, the group’s Republicans include Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Shelley Moore Captain of West Virginia, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Jerry Moran of Kansas .
It is a heterogeneous team, but it is essentially the only bipartisan game in the city two months after Biden’s presidency. Two members of the House who lead the Problem Solvers Caucus, Tom Reed (RN.Y.) and Josh Gottheimer (DN.J.), also attended Wednesday’s meeting.
“What the group wants to do is find out how to make the Senate work better in a bipartisan way,” said Portman. “We haven’t done anything this year, except nominations, which [take] 50, and the Covid account, which [took] 50. ”
Shaheen added that the senators are anxious for the House to return to its days before party polarization is established, when legislation and amendments could be brought to the floor: “Everyone I know in the Senate, Republicans and Democrats, wants to go back to that place. “
But pulling the Senate back to legislative life in a political environment that is bringing new and bitter lows will not be easy. Some members of the group particularly doubt that major advances are coming. They are working against snowball energy to retrofit the obstruction, while activists cite a growing list of bills passed by the House now blocked in the Senate – including legislation to enact police reform and expand voting rights. , which many Democrats see as an existential issue for their party.
There are already signs that previously bipartisan policy ideas could soon hit a wall. Members of both parties say that deals can be struck on issues such as immigration, especially due to the current increase in migrants on the border, but no glimpse of bipartisan alliances on specific topics has emerged so far in the Senate.
And while both parties have long claimed infrastructure as a potential area for collaboration, some Democrats are already signaling that they want to use reconciliation to force a package along party lines.
G-20 members insist that they are not specifically focused on preserving the obstruction. But there are precedents for a bipartisan group with substantial influence when it comes to determining how the Senate works. In 2005, the so-called “Gang of 14” brokered a pledge that Democrats agreed not to obstruct the nominees and Republicans agreed that they would not implement the “nuclear option” to eliminate the 60-vote limit.
Sixteen years later, the obstruction for nominees is over and only two senators from that extinct group remain in office: Senator Lindsey Graham (RS.C.) and Collins.
“It was very valuable for us to be together,” said Collins after Wednesday’s meeting. “And everyone is very committed to working together on a number of issues. I can say that we have solved all the problems in the world and straightened the Congress. But that would be overkill. ”