The New York Times - 19.09.2019

THE NEW YORK TIMES NATIONALTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2019 N A

WASHINGTON — Mitch Mc-
Connell, the Senate Republican
leader and self-described “grim
reaper” of liberal legislative
dreams, settled into a routine of
sorts during Barack Obama’s sec-
ond term whenever he felt he was
cornered by Democrats.
Mr. McConnell would rise from
his chair in the Capitol, walk to his
scheduler’s desk, smile a tight
smile, and ask: “Can we get Joe
Biden on the phone?”
That was precisely what hap-
pened in late 2012, when Republi-
cans were still in the minority in
the Senate, and Mr. McConnell hit
an impasse with Harry Reid, the
Democratic leader, over the elimi-
nation of Bush-era tax cuts for the
wealthy.
As a New Year’s Eve deadline
approached, Mr. Biden and Mr.
McConnell hammered out an
agreement in a dozen phone calls,
aides to both men said, with Mr.
Obama signing off on every move.
The two sides struck a deal that
delivered some, but far from all, of
what Mr. Reid wanted. This year,
as he runs for president, Mr. Biden
cites that deal and others he cut
with Mr. McConnell as proof of his
skill in achieving bipartisan legis-
lation in an otherwise hyperparti-
san environment.
“I’ll work with Mitch McConnell
where we can agree,” Mr. Biden
said this month — adding that on
some issues, like gun control,
there was no room for compro-
mise.
That he could agree with Mr.
McConnell on anything is a con-
troversial statement for any Dem-
ocrat to make these days. But in a
sprawling field of 20 candidates,
Mr. Biden stands out for his endur-
ing belief in the good will of con-
gressional Republicans. He insists
that the G.O.P. has been bullied by
President Trump but that civility
and compromise will return to
Washington once Mr. Trump is
gone.
It’s a view that has been
branded as naïve and wistful by
some Democratic rivals as well as
by the ascendant left wing of his
party. That criticism is particu-
larly pointed with regard to Mr.
McConnell, whose decision to
block Mr. Obama’s nomination of
Merrick B. Garland to the Su-
preme Court in 2016 elevated him
from mere obstructionist to arch-
villain in the eyes of many Demo-
crats.
The criticism has only intensi-
fied in recent days as Mr. McCon-
nell has rebuffed Democratic calls
to quickly move ahead with gun
control legislation and lashed out
at Democrats for reviving attacks
on Supreme Court Justice Brett
Kavanaugh.
As a result, many in the party
say, Mr. Biden’s comfortable rela-
tionship with the Senate leader is
not only out of date, but danger-
ous.
“Mitch McConnell over the last
decade has basically been on a
crusade to destroy the Senate, so
this idea that just getting rid of
Trump would somehow send us
back to some Golden Age in the
Senate is ridiculous,” said Senator
Michael Bennet of Colorado, a ri-
val presidential candidate.
Mr. Bennet was one of three
Democratic senators to vote
against the 2012 budget deal,
viewing it as an unnecessary ca-
pitulation that has emboldened
Mr. McConnell.
“You have to have some pretty
seriously rose-colored glasses to
think that the last six years of the
Obama administration showed
great promise in terms of deliber-
ation or legislation,” Mr. Bennet
said.
Mr. Biden and Mr. McConnell

were not especially close in their

nearly 25 years together in the

Senate. But interviews with two

dozen people close to both men

show that their relationship, while

not quite an actual friendship, be-

came stronger — and more mutu-

ally beneficial — during Mr. Oba-

ma’s second term. Their negotia-

tions offered Mr. Biden a more

powerful role, and gave Mr. Mc-

Connell a congenial bargaining

partner and what the Senate

leader viewed as the path of least

resistance to striking a deal, in the

view of Biden critics.

Mr. Biden and his defenders say

he is being attacked for refusing to

accept what they consider a false

premise: that progress is possible

only through the use of uncompro-

mising political force.

“How in the hell are you going

to get a damned thing done if you

don’t talk to the other side?” said

former Senator Alan Simpson, Re-

publican of Wyoming, who struck

up an across-the-aisle friendship

with Mr. Biden in the 1970s.

“I see people saying he can’t be

president because he talked to

this one or that one,” Mr. Simpson

added. “Here’s what I want to tell

them: You think you can be a

United States senator, and do your

job, really do your job, by not talk-

ing to the other side? You have to

talk to the commies, the kooks, the

racists, the Tea Party, you have to

talk to everybody.”

Mr. Biden, 76, has said he is

bound to Mr. McConnell and other

opponents by “civility” and an un-

breakable, unwritten code that

the Democratic leader Mike

Mansfield preached to him early

in his career: “It’s always appro-

priate to question another man’s

judgment, but never appropriate

to question his motives.”

As senators, Mr. Biden and Mr.

McConnell had little interaction.

They served briefly together on

the Judiciary Committee in the

late 1980s, and worked on only one

significant piece of legislation to-

gether, a 2007 measure seeking to

improve human rights in Myan-

mar.

By 2010, however, Mr. McCon-

nell had reached two conclusions

that pushed him toward Mr. Bi-

den, according to a dozen people

close to both men, who spoke

anonymously to disclose private

discussions.

First, he did not believe he could

work with Mr. Reid, a former

prizefighter who viewed Mr. Mc-

Connell as an obstructionist who

needed to be thwarted at all costs.

Mr. McConnell, for his part,

thought Mr. Reid was not a good-

faith negotiator, and suspected

Democrats were leaking details of

negotiations, two people close to

him said.

Then there was Mr. Obama. The

two men felt deeply uncomfort-

able in each other’s presence, ac-

cording to their aides and their

own public statements. In his

book, Mr. McConnell admitted he

privately called the president

“Professor Obama” because he

was so prone to lecturing him. Mr.

Obama and his aides thought Mr.

McConnell was disdainful and

taciturn, according to former

members of Mr. Obama’s staff.

“From the beginning, it was

clear that President Obama

wanted Biden to take the lead with

McConnell,” said Ted Kaufman, a

longtime aide and friend to Mr. Bi-

den. “Biden had a very realistic

view of McConnell and knew that

they had major differences.”

After being overshadowed dur-

ing Mr. Obama’s first term, Mr. Bi-

den embraced the opportunity to

become a power player.

In 2010, Mr. McConnell and Mr.

Biden negotiated a last-minute

deal that prevented a government

shutdown. A year later, Mr. Mc-

Connell hit the Biden speed dial

again, this time to avert a poten-

tially catastrophic failure to raise

the debt limit precipitated by Tea

Party Republicans in the House.

All of that was a dress rehearsal

for 2012 and another showdown

over the debt limit, the so-called

fiscal cliff. Mr. Obama was fresh

off a convincing re-election win

over Mitt Romney that was pro-

pelled, in part, by his promise to

scrap tax cuts for families earning

more than $250,000, enacted by

George W. Bush in 2001.

Mr. Reid staked out a maximal-

ist position, saying he was willing

to go over the cliff; Mr. Obama, de-

spite having campaigned on the

issue, was worried “that a sudden

major tax hike and massive

spending cut could together trig-

ger another recession,” Gene

Sperling, a top Obama economic

aide, said in an interview.

Two days before the deadline,

the talks stalled. That’s when Mr.

McConnell placed his call to Mr.

Biden, who was on Air Force Two.

“Get off now!” Mr. McConnell said

in a voice mail message, accord-

ing to former aides to both men.

From there, things went fairly

quickly. Mr. McConnell, aides said,

was spooked by the election re-

sults and eager to cut a deal; Mr.

Biden operated within a narrow

range of parameters established

by Mr. Obama and his economic

team, but he also brought his own

reassuring presence to the talks.

“When he’d say, ‘Mitch, it’s Joe.

You know me. I am telling you

there is no way we can go there’ —

that kind of thing was always

more convincing coming from

him,” Mr. Sperling recalled.

At one tense moment, Mr. Biden

— hunched over a speakerphone

in his office with Mr. Sperling and

other staff members — struggled

to remember the name of Rohit

Kumar, the McConnell adviser

crunching the numbers for Re-

publicans.

“Oh, hell, can I just call you

Mitch’s guy?” Mr. Biden said, ac-

cording to a person who was on

the call — to laughter.

The deal they struck was a par-

tial victory for Democrats, raising

top tax rates for families earning

more than $450,000 and extend-

ing some unemployment insur-

ance benefits. “I feel very, very

good,” Mr. Biden told reporters on

New Year’s Day.

Others did not. A handful of pro-

gressive Democrats — including

Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jeff

Merkley of Oregon, Tom Harkin of

Iowa and Bernie Sanders of Ver-

mont — stormed into Mr. Reid’s of-

fice to complain, according to

Democratic aides. He told them to

vote with their consciences and

informed the White House he

would back the deal, but would not

sell it. The measure passed easily.

During a follow-up meeting in

the Oval Office in early 2013, Mr.

Obama pressed Mr. McConnell to

work on a long-term budget pack-

age before the 2014 midterms,

when he would be running for re-

election in Kentucky, Mr. Reid re-

called in a recent phone interview.

Mr. McConnell said that was im-

possible — Republican primary

challengers could use it against

incumbents.

Mr. Biden responded by saying,

“Mitch, we want to see you come

back,” Mr. Reid said.

In recent years, Mr. Biden has

not been shy about criticizing Mr.

McConnell’s actions, especially

the decision to block Judge Gar-

land. But he has been loath to de-

nounce him personally — to the

annoyance of some of his own

staff members, according to a cur-

rent Biden adviser.

Neither man has much incen-

tive these days to highlight their

bonhomie: Mr. McConnell will

also be running for office in 2020,

seeking a seventh term. His office

declined to comment for this story.

But both men spoke affection-

ately about each other when there

was less at stake politically.

In December 2016, Mr. McCon-

nell offered an emotional send-off

to Mr. Biden from the well of the

Senate, recounting a boyhood bat-

tle that echoed his own struggles

with polio as a toddler.

“The man we honor today was-

n’t always a talker,” he said. “He

suffered from a debilitating stut-

ter for most of his childhood. He

was teased for it. But he was de-

termined to overcome it. And so

he did.”

When Mr. Biden’s son Beau died

in 2015, Mr. McConnell was the

only Senate Republican to attend

his funeral, a gesture that deeply

moved Mr. Biden, according to a

person close to Mr. McConnell.

In 2011, Mr. Biden, commenting

on the large crowd that saw him

speak at the University of Lou-

isville’s McConnell Center, peered

at his host and said: “You want to

see whether or not a Republican

and Democrat really like one an-

other. Well, I’m here to tell you we

do.”

At a 2009 meeting, above, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was flanked by Senator Mitch Mc-

Connell of Kentucky and President Barack Obama. Mr. Biden, at left stumping in Galivants Ferry,

S.C., cited his deals with Mr. McConnell as proof that he could cut through the partisan divide.

RON EDMONDS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

TRAVIS DOVE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A relationship that is

criticized as out of

date and dangerous.

By GLENN THRUSH

Biden Has Faith in McConnell. Some Democratic Rivals Wonder Why.

OTAY MESA, Calif. — One
thing President Trump loves
about his job is signing his name.
He relishes signing executive or-
ders, letters to foreign leaders and
even red Make America Great
Again hats. But on Wednesday, he
signed a wall.
At the invitation of the team
building his new barrier along the
border, he affixed his distinctive
signature to one of the steel slats
that have risen just opposite Mex-
ico in recent months, the most
physical manifestation of what he
plans to make his argument for a
second term next year and, he
hopes, his place in the history
books.
Mr. Trump flew to this dusty
community outside San Diego on
a hot, sunny day to highlight the
progress, however halting, that he
said was finally being made after
a couple of years of frustration
and political opposition. Like a
builder showing off a new tower in
New York, he talked in detail
about the new barrier, explaining
how the 30-foot slats are erected
with rebar inside and then filled
with concrete and boasting that it
would be the most impenetrable
wall in the world.
“The wall has a ways to go, but
we’re building it at breakneck

speed,” he said, surrounded by

Border Patrol agents and con-

struction workers. “When this is

completed,” he added, “there

won’t be a border anywhere like

this.”

What he sees as security, of

course, is viewed much differently

by others who see it as a waste of

money or even a symbol of intoler-

ance. Critics say the wall repre-

sents a departure from the values

of a country built on immigration

and is hardly the most cost-effec-

tive way to reduce the number of

people illegally living in the

United States.

Moreover, it is not even the wall

that the president promised as a

candidate in 2016. At the time, he

vowed to build 1,000 miles of barri-

er that he insisted would be paid

for by Mexico. Instead, he has re-

duced his goal to 500 miles and

has diverted money from military

construction projects and other

government programs over the

objection of Congress, which re-

fused to give him the money.

Of the 500 miles, the adminis-

tration has so far built only 66

miles of replacement barriers in

areas that previously had either

battered fencing or vehicle block-

ades. But Mr. Trump’s administra-

tion has yet to extend the new

steel frames, ranging from 18 to 30

feet, to any part of the border that

did not previously have some sort

of impediment.

Mr. Trump’s photo op at the bor-

der was his only public appear-

ance during two days in Califor-

nia, a state that has been a hotbed

of opposition to his presidency

and policies. While fund-raising

for his re-election, he made a point

of taking on California and its

Democratic leaders, portraying

its biggest cities as awash in

homelessness and crime while

moving to overturn the state’s ef-

forts to thwart his environmental

deregulation initiatives.

He met with none of California’s

top elected leaders while in the

state and appeared before no au-

dience except those paying thou-

sands of dollars to attend any of

four fund-raising events that col-

lectively were expected to draw at

least $15 million for his re-election

campaign and Republicans.

Mr. Trump returned to the same

section of the border that he vis-

ited in March 2018 to inspect

prototypes of his new wall. This

area has also been a flash point for

another hotly disputed policy en-

acted by the administration. The

policy forcing migrants seeking

asylum to remain in Mexico for

the duration of their case began at

the San Ysidro port of entry this

year, forcing hundreds of migrant

families to wait in shelters in Ti-

juana.

The policy has since been ex-

tended farther east to more dan-

gerous Mexican cities like Nuevo

Laredo, where migrants have

been subjected to kidnappings

and violence. More than 40,

migrants have been returned to

Mexico under the policy, which

the administration says is needed

to weed out fraudulent asylum

claims and ease the burden on a

detention system that experi-

enced extensive overcrowding

this year.

The president was joined by

Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting

secretary of homeland security,

and other top officials who are

also still serving in an acting ca-

pacity, underscoring the exten-

sive turnover at the department

as the president has repeatedly

fired officials who disappointed

him in cracking down on immigra-

tion, including its general counsel,

who was dismissed just this week.

“I wasn’t happy with the job they

were doing,” Mr. Trump said, but

added that he would announce

permanent appointments soon.

Mr. Trump said he still expected

to get nearly all of the 500 miles

completed by the time he stands

for re-election next year and said

more was not needed because of

natural barriers along stretches of

the border. While Mexico is not

paying for the wall, he noted that it

is paying for its soldiers to stop

migrants in a more aggressive

campaign begun in recent months

under pressure from Mr. Trump.

The characteristically money-

conscious president repeatedly

noted that this was the most ex-

pensive possible variant, saying

he had originally wanted a simple

and less costly concrete barrier

but was convinced by Border Pa-

trol professionals that it would be

better to have a slatted barrier

that they could see through to ob-

serve any potential threat on the

other side. “That’s the Rolls-

Royce version,” he said in a cha-

grined tone.

Mr. Trump said the steel slats

would be wired — the Army gen-

eral accompanying him declined

to elaborate — and added that

they would absorb heat so that

they would be too scalding for po-

tential migrants to even touch,

much less scale. “You can fry an

egg on that wall,” he said.

Mark Morgan, the president’s

acting commissioner of Customs

and Border Protection, called the

new barriers “a game changer”

that has reduced illegal crossings.

“There’s a false narrative out

there that this wall is the presi-

dent’s vanity wall,” Mr. Morgan

said as Mr. Trump listened. “I’m

here to tell you right now that’s

false.”

Mr. Trump was then told that it

was tradition for those working on

the wall to sign it and was asked to

follow suit. He happily took the

pen.

A Signature Trump Moment at the Border

By PETER BAKER

Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed
reporting from Washington.

President Trump signing a portion of the new barrier going up

across from Mexico in Otay Mesa, Calif., on Wednesday.

ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Pointing to progress

on a wall in a bid to

bolster his campaign.