Cooling the temperature: Biden faces fractious Congress
WASHINGTON >> Can lawmakers all just listen to the president, even for one night?
Recent history is not assuring. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson shouted, “You lie!” at President Barack Obama when he was giving a joint speech to Congress in 2009.
Eleven years later, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up a copy of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech as she stood behind him on the House rostrum.
Partisan tensions have only deepened on Capitol Hill since Pelosi’s defiant act last year, which came days before the Senate acquitted Trump in his first impeachment trial. Since then, the U.S. Capitol has been through the Jan. 6 insurrection, the second impeachment of Trump and another acquittal.
Trust between the parties, and between members themselves, has cratered as Joe Biden prepares to address the House and the Senate for the first time in his presidency.
While Trump often added a reality TV star’s drama to his congressional addresses, Biden, who has spent most of his adult life in government service, has the chance to play the elder statesman. Lawmakers in both parties say Wednesday’s address to Congress presents an opportunity for him to push past some of the antics and anger, for a few hours at least.
“I think the tension is high, but the one person who can cool the temperature in the room is Joe Biden,” especially if he reaches across the aisle, said former Rep. Tom Rooney of Florida, the Republican who retired two years ago and has expressed frustration about the decline of congressional decorum and civility.
Light attendance
Biden’s first speech to Congress, called an “address to a joint session of Congress” instead of a “State of the Union,” as is customary in a president’s first year, will already be unlike any other, as attendance will be limited due to COVID-19 safety protocols.
With the House out of session for the week, many, if not most, House Republicans are expected to skip the event, increasing the chances that Biden will speak to a mostly friendly audience of Democrats. The Senate is in session, but some Republicans from that chamber are expected to skip as well. Texas Sen. John Cornyn said Monday that he’s thinking of watching the speech on TV because “it sounds like Speaker Pelosi doesn’t want us to attend.”
Other traditions have also been jettisoned for the address. Lawmakers can’t bring guests, removing one source of drama and speculation. Nor will there be guests of the first
lady in the gallery, depriving Biden of the ability to humanize his policy proposals and manufacture feel-good moments.
Even if there is bad behavior in the room, the White House says the president’s goal is to focus on the voters outside the Capitol.
“It’ll look different, but from his vantage point it still is an opportunity to speak directly to the American people,” press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday. “We are looking for ways to engage with the American public, whether it’s through viewing parties or ways to communicate about what the president is proposing. But it won’t look or feel or sound like it has in the past.”
Members of the Biden
team have made no secret of their strategy to bypass GOP lawmakers and seek a solid foothold of support from Republican voters. They say that their policies are generally popular, and the result appears to be less resistance from GOP supporters. An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs poll in March found that 60% of people approve of Biden’s performance on the economy, including 25% of Republicans. About half of
Republicans approve of how Biden has handled the pandemic.
Because Biden’s team believes the policies are popular, they have been more willing to invite public debate with Republicans. It can feel like a return to greater civility, even if Republicans are still grumbling about his proposals.
David Barker, director of American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, said Biden’s speech may not move policy, but “it may help him with a few voters around the edges, putting Republicans in swing districts in a bit of a squeeze” to explain why they are voting against his plans.
Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said he plans to skip the event and give his spot to a freshman lawmaker. But “in the end, what he says is going to be important, and I hope his speech is more focused on unifying as opposed to just having a go-italone strategy.”