And yet, the two longtime rivals’ willingness to put their past acrimony aside amounted to a remarkable sign that, while the House devolves into ever-harsher partisanship, the Senate’s two leaders see themselves as something of a beacon of stability in a tumultuous Washington. Schumer even joked as much two weeks ago at a formal dinner with much of official Washington, riffing off his fellow Brooklynite Jay-Z, that he had “99 problems, but Mitch ain’t one.”
“We changed the rules of the Senate without Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell having a personal conversation,” said Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who was intimately involved in the monthslong Ukraine fight. “Here, I think they were speaking nearly every day. And when we were going back and forth in the discussions, they had an idea about what purpose we’re all trying to serve.”
Serving that purpose came with a serious cost, particularly for McConnell. Days before his 82nd birthday, the GOP leader continues to take political body blows from his critics as he diverges from House Speaker Mike Johnson — who, unlike McConnell, is vocally pro-Trump. The more that Trump and others on the right prioritize squashing Ukraine aid, the greater the challenge to McConnell. As is clear to anyone in Congress, aiding Ukraine is his top priority.
Which makes it all the more revealing that McConnell has benefited from the uncharacteristic patience of Schumer. It couldn’t have happened without McConnell’s willingness to keep his distance from Trump. It’s also a 180-degree
turn from the 2017 Supreme Court battle that served as their opening act together, when Schumer mounted a filibuster that led McConnell to change Senate rules.
“It’s been a pretty rare thing,” said Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). “We ought to see this from leaders more often.”
CONSTANT COORDINATION
The Ukraine debate might serve as a capstone to a post-Trump thaw between McConnell and Schumer, who ended up collaborating on a series of bipartisan bills during President Joe Biden’s first two years in office. McConnell didn’t do that out of charity: He wanted to save the legislative filibuster and knew blocking everything risked hastening its demise.
But Ukraine was different — a last stand from the party’s Reagan wing as Trump’s grip on the GOP tightens. And with a Democratic president in office, Schumer and his party prioritized the fight against the Russians in a strikingly hawkish manner.
In separate interviews this week, Schumer and McConnell gave each other careful praise. McConnell said that “on this particular issue, which is unusual, we’re generally in agreement.” Schumer barely deviated from that sentiment:
Behind the scenes, though, the process revealed how closely they coordinated on an effort that appeared near-collapse every few days. Sometimes they chatted in conspicuous one-on-one office meetings, other times in just a few quiet words on the Senate floor. McConnell had to manage growing resistance within his own ranks, while Schumer had to handle Democrats who don’t trust the GOP leader.
McConnell insisted that Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a fastidious conservative, be the GOP’s lead border negotiator, which Schumer took issue with: “I went to him and said, ‘Lankford is not a good negotiator.’ He would never take Lankford out of it,” the Democrat recalled.
Ultimately, Trump’s pull proved stronger than Lankford’s. But the Sooner stuck with a deal that most of his party abandoned.
It was a telltale sign of shifting fates for the two leaders. Schumer has faced scrutiny for his management of the Democratic caucus over the years, but today the heat is mostly on his counterpart. McConnell’s conservative critics have latched onto his work with Schumer, which Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) deemed part of an “unholy…
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