Coons, Biden’s eyes and ears in the Senate, reaches for bipartisan agreement
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Coons, D-del., was hurrying to a vote through the Capitol’s cavernous underground tunnel system on a recent day when his phone rang. It was Pete Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation, calling for a quick briefing before an infrastructure meeting he had scheduled with a group of Republican senators.
Coons brushed off the reporters trailing him, propped his computer tablet against a railing next to the Senate subway track, and began typing away, taking notes, as he lowered his voice to share the skinny on the Republicans.
“These are Republican senators he doesn’t know,” Coons said of Buttigieg after the two hung up. “So it’s just sort of tactical advice about specific members. What are their interests? What’s the background? Do you think there’s room for progress?”
Before the end of the day Coons’ phone would ring several more times, with various White House officials on the other end — seeking counsel, scuttlebutt and insight that President Joe Biden needed to navigate his agenda through the Senate. Steve Ricchetti, Biden’s counselor, wanted to talk through various complaints Republican senators had raised. Louisa Terrell, who runs the White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs, called for one of their frequent debriefing sessions.
“They’re trying to figure out what is the best possible bipartisan package of policy and investment on infrastructure that we can get done,” Coons said.
To trail Coons on Capitol Hill is to wit
ness how he operates as an extra pair of eyes and ears for the Biden administration in Congress, a kind of consigliere trusted by both the president and the senators — many of them Republicans — whom Biden needs to succeed.
It is a far less prestigious job than the one that Coons — who interned for Biden three decades ago, became his mentee on the New Castle County Council, campaigned for him in Iowa and now holds the seat that once belonged to him — initially sought in the Biden administration, where he had hoped to serve as secretary of state. But it can demand the same kind of shuttle diplomacy and high-stakes negotiation.
In a Senate where the legislative filibuster still rules, effectively imposing a 60-vote threshold to do most anything, Biden needs at least 10 Republicans to move forward on key elements of his agenda. With centrist Democrats like Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona opposed to scrapping the rule, Coons often finds himself explaining to allies the difficult political calculus he is facing.
“I’m getting texts from people that are like, ‘Pass the bill!’ and I’m like, I don’t know what part of Sinema and Manchin saying, ‘We will not do this,’ don’t they understand,” he said.
Even so, Coons — who has moved into the office formerly occupied by Sen. John Mccain, an Arizona Republican known for his ability to forge bipartisan deals, and proudly displays framed copies of bipartisan bills he has sponsored on the walls — has set out to try to play the same role on a host of major issues Biden is pursuing.
As he walks the halls, offering himself up as a sounding board for concerns and engaging in side negotiations, Coons has been involved in bipartisan talks on legislation now before the Senate to increase America’s competitiveness with China in emerging sciences and manufacturing. As a former county executive who oversaw the police, he has been quietly involved in talks on overhauling policing. And he has been urging his fellow Democrats to find a compromise with Republicans on funding infrastructure, which he says could be the biggest public works bill to pass Congress during his tenure.
Sen. Todd Young, R-ind., a lead sponsor of the competitiveness bill, said Coons had been a crucial envoy to the White House and a key partner for Republicans, in part because he is perceived to have Biden’s ear.
“If you need someone to assist in smoothing over hurt feelings, or breaking down barriers, I can think of no one better,” Young said.
Even so, Coons has lately begun warning that Congress is running out of time to get big things done. If no bipartisan deals emerge by midsummer, he argued, they will never materialize this term, instead falling victim to partisan politics as the 2022 midterms near.
“If we’re going to do anything bipartisan in this Congress, it kind of has to come together between now and July,” he said.
So Coons is using what little time there is to turbocharge Biden’s outreach to Republicans.
Coons also does a fair amount of cajoling of members of his own party. Publicly and privately, he has been pushing for Democrats to take a smaller infrastructure deal, more palatable to Republicans, in the range of $800 billion or $1 trillion, far smaller than the $2.3 trillion package Biden proposed or his latest offer of $1.7 trillion. Republican senators outlined a $928 billion proposal Thursday.
“That would be the single largest infrastructure bill ever,” he said of a pareddown plan. “Cool! What’s the problem?”
Coons lays the gridlock plaguing the Senate at the feet of the Republican leader, Mitch Mcconnell of Kentucky, who as majority leader turned the chamber into a legislative graveyard for liberal policy bills passed by the Democratic-led House, refusing even to consider major legislation and try to modify it.
“That really eroded our confidence as a Senate,” Coons said. “You lose the muscle memory of how to really legislate.”
Nevertheless, Coons said he remained optimistic about the prospects for an infrastructure deal, based on a recent conversation with Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the No. 4 Republican and a top negotiator on the plan.
“I talked to Blunt on the floor,” Coons said, “and he’s like, ‘We can get this done.’”