COVINGTON, Ky. − President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, self-proclaimed friends despite their allegiance to different parties, met up in the senator's home state Wednesday to celebrate a bipartisan accomplishment many Kentuckians suspected was a pipe dream.
A project politicians tried and failed to make happen for nearly 20 years − the construction of a companion to the Brent Spence Bridge − finally got greenlit thanks to 2021's $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, which both men used their considerable political capital to support.
"For those of us who've run for public office in Kentucky over the years, every time you came to Northern Kentucky the issue was 'How are we going to get the bridge built?'" McConnell said as he stood on a stage in front of the Ohio River, framed by bridges, a riverboat and a sign that read ‘Building a Better America.' "And so today we sit in this wonderful, clear day with sun shining down on literally a legislative miracle."
The $3.6 billion project to build a new bridge and make direly needed upgrades to the Brent Spence, which spans the Ohio River between the Bluegrass and Buckeye states and is heavily used by commuters and commercial truckers, can move forward at last thanks to about $1.6 billion in federal grants that will help pay for it. That funding opened up thanks to the infrastructure law.
When Biden came onstage Wednesday afternoon in Covington, he praised Kentucky's longtime senator as a "man of his word."
"I asked permission if I could say something nice about him. ... I said I'd campaign for him or against him, whichever would help him the most," he joked. "Mitch, you know, it wasn't easy to get this done, and it wouldn't have gotten done no matter all the work so many others have done ... it wouldn't have happened without your hand.
"Leader McConnell and I don't agree on everything," Biden also said. "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. You can count on it, and he's willing to find common ground to get things done for the country. Thank you, Mitch."
Biden and McConnell go way back.
They served in the Senate together for over 20 years, and both publicly have called each other a friend and noted they forged several major, bipartisan compromises together when former President Barack Obama was in office. (For example, they brokered a deal in 2011, when Biden was vice president, to prevent the country from defaulting on its debts.)
Bipartisan deal-making has been a big part of Biden's pitch, both when he was on the campaign trail in 2020 and during his current term in the White House.
McConnell, on the other hand, has a record of obstructing Democratic priorities since he became the Senate Republicans' leader in 2007, and he criticized Biden and congressional Democrats when they enacted a couple of huge policy packages through party-line votes over the past two years. (GOP lawmakers opposed the proposals.)
But he was on board with the infrastructure law, which is expected to provide several billion dollars' worth of assistance to the commonwealth, and he pushed, along with former Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and others, to secure the federal financial support for the Brent Spence Bridge project. (Portman, also a Republican, spoke at Wednesday's event and praised McConnell for showing "political courage" and patience during negotiations over that law.)
McConnell noted Wednesday how senators of both parties came together to develop that legislation. He also gave Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear (who spoke at Wednesday's event and thanked McConnell for supporting that initiative) as well as Kentucky's Republican legislative leaders a shoutout for their efforts to advance this project at the state level.
The longtime senator noted that Biden signed the infrastructure plan into law, though he didn't praise the president effusively like Biden lauded him several minutes later.
"We all know these are really partisan times, but I always feel no matter who gets elected, once it's all over we ought to look for things we can agree on and try to do those even while we have big differences on other things," McConnell said. "And this bridge I think symbolizes the coming together of both sides on something that both sides thought was important to try to get an outcome.
"So if you look at the political alignment of everyone involved in this, it's the government working together to solve a major problem at a time when the country needs to see examples like this," he said. "It's an exciting day. I'm proud to be a part of it."
Reach reporter Morgan Watkins at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @morganwatkins26.
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