President Joe Biden praised Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Wednesday for his loyalty during an event in Kentucky celebrating the 2021 infrastructure bill that cost American taxpayers $1.2 trillion.
“I asked permission if I could say something nice about him,” Biden prefaced.
“Mitch, it wasn’t easy to get this done,” he said about the bill’s passage. “It wouldn’t have happened without your hand.”
“We don’t agree on everything, in fact, we disagree on a lot of things, but here’s what matters: He’s a man of his word. When he gives you his word, you can take it to the bank,” Biden continued.
“It wouldn’t have happened without your hand,” Biden continued to gush. “It just wouldn’t have gotten done and I have to thank you for that.”
“He’s willing to find common ground to get things done for the country. So thank you, Mitch,” Biden said.
Biden also joked he offered to campaign for his longtime Senate colleague.
“I said I’d campaign for him or against him, whichever would help him the most,” Biden said:
McConnell accepted Biden’s thanks and stated that working with Democrats solved many of the challenges facing the nation.
“If you look at the political alignment of everyone involved, it’s the government is working together to solve a major problem at a time when the country needs to see examples like this, of coming together and getting an outcome,” McConnell said.
McConnell’s strategy to work with Senate Democrats to pass the infrastructure bill was highly controversial because Democrats might not have had the votes to pass the massive $1.2 trillion bill.
The legislation has given Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tremendous power to direct millions of funds throughout the nation.
It is not the first time McConnell has worked against conservatives in recent years. In 2022, McConnell defunded conservative midterm campaigns, funded establishment candidates against conservatives, voted to give Ukraine over $100 billion dollars, supported gun control measures, and refused to condemn Biden’s speech in Philadelphia that labeled “MAGA Republicans” a threat to the nation.
Moreover, under McConnell’s leadership, the national debt has risen by nearly $20 trillion, illegal immigration has continued, and real wages for American workers have not increased. Obamacare was enacted in 2010. Big banks were bailed out in 2008, and social media companies have silenced individuals without repercussions. In December, McConnell voted to approve $45 billion more aid for Ukraine.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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