Biden, McConnell visit to Kentucky bridge a roadmap for White House
under split Congress
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[January 04, 2023]
By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden and Senate Republican leader
Mitch McConnell will make a rare joint appearance on Wednesday at a
bridge in Kentucky in a display of bipartisanship that offers a guide to
how the White House hopes to govern in months to come.
As hardline Republicans create turmoil in the House of Representatives
by blocking the rest of the party's chosen leader, Kevin McCarthy, Biden
and McConnell's visit is likely to paint a sharp contrast - and that's
just what Biden aides and allies are hoping for.
Biden and McConnell, both 80, will visit the Kentucky side of the Brent
Spence Bridge connecting Covington and Cincinnati, Ohio, to tout how
funds from the $1 trillion infrastructure law that passed Congress with
bipartisan support will be used to repair the congested crossing.
Both veteran politicians have their political reasons for appearing
together. McConnell wants to get credit from voters in his home state of
Kentucky for the spending project, while Biden wants to highlight the
on-the-ground impacts of lawmakers working together.
Vice President Kamala Harris and other top administration officials are
fanning out across the country for similar events in coming days.
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Biden has enjoyed Democratic control of Congress during his first two
years in office. But after midterm elections in November, Republicans
now in control of the House plan to try to stall his agenda and launch
investigations into his family and cabinet members.
That's the opposite of what the White House thinks voters want.
Democrats' unexpected success in the last midterms shows "the American
people said very loudly and clearly they wanted us to come together and
work for a common ground,” White House press secretary Karine
Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday.
Biden’s political aides’ strategy for the 2022 midterms was to paint the
opposition party as beholden to its more extremist elements still wed to
the legacy of former Republican president Donald Trump. They now see it
as a dry-run for Biden’s own 2024 re-election campaign, as well.
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![](../images/010423PIX/news_g21.jpg)
U.S. President Joe Biden gestures as he
boards Air Force One at Rohlsen Airport to depart after a New Year
holiday visit to Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, U.S.
January 2, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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NOT ABOUT FRIENDSHIP
Biden, who was a long-time Democratic senator from Delaware, has had
sharp differences with McConnell on economic policy and the
government's role in America. McConnell's decision to refuse to
consider then-President Barack Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland
as a Supreme Court justice, when Biden was vice president and
McConnell was Senate majority leader, was a source of tension.
Biden told reporters on Monday that while "we've been friends a long
time," the trip has nothing to do with his relationship with
McConnell.
"It's a giant bridge, man. It's a lot of money. It's important," he
said.
The two will be joined by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, former Ohio
Senator Rob Portman, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Ohio
Governor Mike DeWine.
The 2021 infrastructure law includes $27 billion over five years to
fix and replace thousands of aging bridges.
Four moveable bridges crossing the Calumet River in Chicago,
Illinois; the Gold Star Memorial Bridge in New London, Connecticut;
and the famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, will
also receive funding.
McConnell, of Kentucky, was among a handful of Republicans who voted
for the infrastructure law while many House Republicans including
McCarthy opposed it.
(Additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Heather
Timmons, Robert Birsel)
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