Biden heads to Kentucky to talk bridges and deploy McConnell as a political buffer

When Joe Biden makes his first public appearance of 2023, he will do so next to a Republican lawmaker reviled by progressives, one who had pledged to make the last Democrat in the White House a one-termer.

The president will join Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell in his home state of Kentucky on Wednesday, a rare joint appearance meant to celebrate last year’s infrastructure law.

It is an effort to signal the White House’s eagerness for cooperation ahead of a potentially combative next two years.

It’s also an attempt at political inoculation. The White House, which organized the event, specifically invited McConnell along with other senators and governors from Kentucky and Ohio.

Biden aides and allies say they’re counting on the minority leader to remain something of a bulwark against the GOP’s riskier impulses — hammered home this week by chaos on the House floor over the election of a new speaker. The White House recognizes the need to avoid a government shutdown, keep aid to Ukraine flowing and stave off a catastrophic breach of the debt ceiling. They see McConnell as key to all those items.

“There’s still going to be strong partisan differences on a large majority of issues,” said an adviser to the White House. “But they both understand that when you can agree, you should if it’s in the best interest of the country and it serves your political purpose.”

The Biden-McConnell relationship is, to a degree, an anachronism. The two men served for decades together in the Senate. And they have a history of cutting deals dating back to the Obama era, when they reached agreements on extending the Bush tax cuts, lifting the debt ceiling and the so-called fiscal cliff, which averted an economic meltdown. Biden, as vice president, appeared at the McConnell Center in Louisville in 2011, where he lavished praise on the senator at a time when the Kentucky Republican was openly trying to dislodge his boss from power. Four years later, McConnell was the lone Republican to attend the funeral for Biden's son, Beau.

“They’ve known each other for decades,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a close McConnell ally. “And Joe Biden is a hard guy not to like, even though you may disagree with him on policy.”

Since Biden was elected, aides to both men said, the two have maintained a working relationship as well as a shared belief that the Senate can still get things done. McConnell helped pass the bipartisan infrastructure law as well as shepherd bills to boost semiconductor manufacturing and improve gun safety.

Biden on occasion has gone so far as to refer to McConnell as a “friend,” and sought his advice in crafting U.S. policy toward Myanmar, an area in which the Republican leader maintains a deep interest. At one point last year, the White House planned to nominate an anti-abortion judge favored by McConnell to Kentucky's district court — a scheme halted only after fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul refused to sign off on what he called the "secret deal."

Paul and newly sworn-in GOP Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio were also invited to appear with Biden on Wednesday, a White House official said, but neither are expected to attend.

The event in Covington, Ky., is part of a broader administration blitz to promote Biden’s legislative accomplishments, focusing on the roughly $1.6 billion in funding from that infrastructure bill that will go to a major bridge project between Kentucky and Ohio.

It also comes at a political crossroads for both men, with Biden having one eye on a likely reelection campaign and McConnell picking up the pieces of a failed effort by Republicans to win back control of the Senate.

It is a particularly opportune time for the administration, offering a split screen moment with House Republicans as they spend a second day feuding over who they should pick to lead them. By highlighting the investment in McConnell’s state, officials are explicitly seeking to broaden Biden’s cross-aisle appeal with voters — and draw a clear contrast with the partisan hostility that the White House anticipates from the newly GOP-controlled House.

“Biden is absolutely sending a message to the American people that there are people you can trust to govern,” the adviser to the White House said of the calculations behind the event. “And then there’s the House Republican caucus.”

But while McConnell’s appearance may represent the possibilities of bipartisanship over the next two years, the standoff in the House underscores the challenges facing Biden. As he prepares for a series of showdowns on critical issues like the federal budget, funding for Ukraine and the debt ceiling, there is little to suggest that the White House will have any luck moving legislation through a GOP-led House chamber.

Administration officials have sought to play up Biden’s record in reaching compromises — and make clear to McConnell and other deal-minded Republicans that they’re open to bipartisan coalitions aimed at finding even small areas of agreement.

“I think that will begin to reach people there: Look what bipartisanship looks like,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who will also be at the event. “This is a $1.6 billion investment. It took a new president and a new Senate to do it.”

Though McConnell has opposed much of Biden’s agenda, he’s resisted the most extreme demands of the GOP’s conservative base — including flatly rejecting the idea of impeachment.

Both Biden and McConnell allies, however, cautioned against reading too much into Wednesday’s joint appearance. There’s little expectation on either side that Biden and McConnell will immediately find a slew of other shared legislative goals. The Brent Spence Bridge event, they noted, serves to benefit their respective interests.

For McConnell, funding for the project will help break a lengthy impasse over how to pay for repairs to a critical roadway between Kentucky and Ohio — and deliver a win for a lawmaker who has reinforced his political power over decades by consistently delivering for his constituents.

“This is a bridge that has been a major national issue for 25 years, and my top transportation project for decades,” McConnell said in a brief interview. “And it’s going to be fully funded by the infrastructure bill, which I supported.”

The White House, for its part, is using the occasion to kick off what’s likely to be an extended campaign to emphasize the impact of infrastructure legislation that aides believe most voters haven’t yet fully grasped. Biden advisers view that public relations effort as crucial to the president’s popularity ahead of an anticipated reelection bid, especially with his policy ambitions likely limited by the GOP blockade in the House.

"President Biden at the end of 2022 spoke to the country about how his most significant achievements of his first two years of his term were bipartisan achievements,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who added that Wednesday’s event with McConnell demonstrates the president “understands that we make our best progress as a country when we do it together.”

Burgess Everett contributed to this report.