Brooks: Congressional Dems ‘Don’t Want to Do Bipartisanship’

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that “aside from Joe Biden, I don’t think there’s any taste for bipartisanship in the Democratic Party,” and “we’re just not going to see” bipartisanship.

Brooks said, “Joe Biden ran on bipartisanship and unity. He had a chance when the ten Republicans put forth their $618 billion proposal to say, OK, let’s try for a week. I’m not going to give you more than a week, but I’ll give you a week, and we’ll see if we can get you over a trillion. The Republicans have already voted for roughly $4 trillion in aid. I think they could have gotten a fifth.”

He continued, “But the problem is, aside from Joe Biden, I don’t think there’s any taste for bipartisanship in the Democratic Party, sometimes with justified reason. They’ve just lived through the horror of the Trump presidency. They’ve just lived through January 6. They just don’t have much respect or trust for the Republican Party. And so, they don’t want to do bipartisanship. I think those ten Republicans really do. I think there are another ten or fifteen in the Senate who would prefer it. They’re not going to go as big as Biden wants to go, but I think they would like it.”

Brooks concluded, “[T]he trust is not there for bipartisanship in this Congress. I think Biden really wants to do it. It — the evidence of this week is, we’re just not going to see that.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett