President-elect Joe Biden says he understands the political challenges he will likely face once he assumes the presidency, and that he is ready to “fight” to pass his legislative agenda in Congress.
During a phone call with columnists this week, Biden said that he would “get a lot more cooperation” from Republicans than many expect.
Jonathan Capehart, a columnist with The Washington Post, asked Biden during the call what his message is to those who do not believe he will be willing to “use all the power available to him to get his agenda through Congress.”
“Well, let me tell you something. You guys have been saying that about me since the day I ever got into office,” Biden said, adding, “You said that when I announced, that I was a nice enough guy but didn’t get it, didn’t know what was going on.”
He continued, “I respectfully suggest that I beat the hell out of everybody else. I won the nomination, got everybody to come around, and won by over seven million votes. So I think I know what I’m doing, and I’ve been pretty damn good at being able to deal with the punchers. I know how to block a straight left and do a right hook. I understand it.”
“I haven’t changed how I approach politics since I got involved. And part of it is just establishing with your opponents that if they want to play, I’m ready to fight. I’m ready to fight.”
However, he argued that “when you get into one of those kind of blood matches … nothing gets done.”
He added that he feels he will “be able to get stuff done on the environment that none of you are going to believe.”
“I could not have gotten it done six years ago, but all of a sudden, they now realize, ‘Holy, God!’…’ Holy mackerel, I didn’t realize. When you have a part of the West Coast burn as big as the state of New Jersey to the ground, something’s up. Something’s wrong,'” he explained.
While Biden expects to receive cooperation from some Congressional Republicans, he said, “I’m not going to get, you know, anyone, from the Proud Boys to some of our really, really strident Republicans, 20 of whom I’m told in the Senate don’t want to vote for anything.”
“I don’t have to get those folks, I don’t think,” he added.
Biden could be the first Democrat since 1885 to enter the White House without his party controlling both chambers of Congress.
Democrats maintained their majority in the House, but the balance of power in the Senate will be determined by two special elections in Georgia. If Democrats fail to pick up both of Georgia’s Senate seats, Republicans will maintain their majority in the Senate and could be a roadblock for Biden’s agenda.
