Press: Biden delivers master class on bipartisanship  

There’s been no lack of coverage. By now, every line of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, which President Biden signed into law on Saturday, has been carefully read, reviewed and reported on. We know which programs were cut and which were not. We know what points Biden won and where Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) came out on top. And, of course, we know that the final Biden-McCarthy deal saved the nation from total economic meltdown.  

But, despite that Niagara of coverage, the most important point of the final budget agreement has gotten lost. It’s simply this: that such a big deal was even made at all. And the fact that it did represents a huge break from the ugly, divisive politics of the last few years and a hopeful, albeit slim, sign of better times and more progress ahead.  

We escaped fiscal chaos, we didn’t go over the brink, and this bill passed both houses of Congress and made it to the president’s desk for one reason only: because leaders of both parties were willing to compromise.   

Unfortunately, “compromise” has become a dirty word in today’s divided political world. Unfortunate because, unless one party has an overwhelming majority in both the House and Senate, compromise is the only way to get things done.   

So let the word ring out from the rooftops. Look at how Congress just saved the United States from defaulting on our debt. Let that be a lesson in how government works. Compromise is not capitulation. Compromise is cooperation. Compromise is recognizing reality. And the reality is that, in any negotiation, neither side gets everything it wants, both sides must be willing to give, and the end result, while not perfect, is, more often than not, better than no deal at all.  

At first, it didn’t look promising. Biden insisted he’d never accept anything but a clean lifting of the debt ceiling, with no strings attached. McCarthy refused to consider any relief on the debt ceiling without a massive $3.2 trillion cut in federal spending. But, to their credit, both Biden and McCarthy, recognizing that tanking the economy was really not an option, rose to the occasion, acted like grown-ups, hammered out a deal and convinced an overwhelming majority of Republicans and Democrats to support it. And, in the end, Biden was more than willing to share the credit with McCarthy. How unusual is that?  

In fact, one other point gets lost in all the coverage: For Biden, this is no aberration. This is who he is, and this is exactly how he promised to govern, by reaching out across the aisle and bringing both parties together in common purpose. “I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days,” he said in his Inaugural Address on Jan. 20, 2021. But “unity is the path forward.”   

There were many who dismissed his inaugural plea of “Let’s begin to listen to one another again, hear one another, see one another. Show respect to one another.” But today there’s no doubt that, with his old-fashioned approach, Biden’s had an extraordinary record of bipartisan success: the massive COVID-19 relief bill, a historic infrastructure bill, the first gun-control measure in decades, the bipartisan $280 billion Chips and Science Act — and now, after conducting a master class in bipartisanship with Speaker McCarthy, the economy-saving budget deal.   

And we thought bipartisanship was dead? It’s not. There are many other important issues crying out for bipartisan action. Congress should stop bickering and get to work.  

Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”