President-elect Joe Biden says he spoke to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) after the Republican leader publicly congratulated him on his electoral victory.
Biden told reporters on Tuesday that he had a “good call” with the Republican leader.
“I called to thank him for the congratulations, told him although we disagree on a lot of things, there’s things we can work together on,” he added.
He also said the two men “agreed we’d get together sooner than later,” and that he is “looking forward to working with him.”
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President-elect Joe Biden: "I had a good conversation with Mitch McConnell today. I called him to thank him for the congratulations. Told him that although we disagree on a lot of things, there's things we can work together on." pic.twitter.com/fDrlvCnEoU
— The Hill (@thehill) December 15, 2020
In the days since the presidential election, McConnell was reluctant to declare that Biden is the president-elect. Last week, he was asked if he would acknowledge Biden as the winner of the election.
“This has become a weekly ritual,” McConnell said, adding, “The Electoral College is going to meet on the fourteenth and cast a vote. We’re going to have a swearing-in of the next president on the twentieth of January.”
Separately, he urged people to “quit all the hand wringing” about Trump refusing to concede the election.
However, after the Electoral College voted on Monday, and made Biden’s win official, McConnell congratulated Biden as the president-elect, as IJR reported.
During a floor speech on Tuesday, he said, “Yesterday electors met in all 50 states. So, as of this morning, our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president-elect.”
“Today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. The president-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He’s devoted himself to public service for many years,” he added.
While Biden and McConnell had a track record of making deals under the Obama administration, Politico notes that their relationship appears to have soured in recent years.
After the election, Democrats noted that their legislative agenda would likely not be as ambitious as they had hoped as they fell short of outright flipping control of the Senate.
Unless Republicans lose Georgia’s two Senate seats in runoff elections on Jan. 5, they would maintain control of the upper chamber. That would give McConnell the opportunity to be a bulwark against Biden’s agenda, or someone who takes a more pragmatic approach and cuts deals with the new president.
