Mitch McConnell is smelling like a rose after House debacle

In contrast to the divisive House Republicans, the Republican Senator appeared with President Joe Biden to celebrate bipartisan legislature to rebuild the country's aging infrastructure

By

Columnists

January 9, 2023 - 3:01 PM

President Joe Biden shakes hands with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, left, in front of the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge in Covington, Kentucky, on Jan. 4, 2023. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

The television split screen told the story.

On one side, Republicans in the House of Representatives labored through the fourth of the 15 ballots they needed during four days of gridlock to choose Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

On the other side, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell stood beaming with President Joe Biden as they congratulated each other for a bipartisan success: a $1.6 billion deal to replace a crumbling highway bridge across the Ohio River.

On one side, partisan dysfunction. On the other, an old-fashioned deal.

Biden seized the moment to ladle compliments on his longtime sparring partner — and to drive home a lesson.

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