WASHINGTON (AP) – The calls can come late in the day, over the weekend, really any time a question pops into the mind of a legislator or aide. The meetings may dispense pleasantries from Team Biden – or get testy. The topic can be one arcane fact or a deep dive into the nuances of policy.
While President Joe Biden pitches his infrastructure plan to the American public with events at an Ohio college, a Ford plant in Michigan or an aging Louisiana bridge, this is where the real work of delivering his legislative agenda takes place: in phone calls to Capitol Hill, over Zoom meetings and during the occasional cup of coffee with members of his legislative affairs team.
Biden’s legislative team of 15 is charged with maneuvering and mapping out the process of actually getting his agenda passed on Capitol Hill. Led by Louisa Terrell, a Capitol Hill veteran, the team has had a vast footprint over the course of Biden’s first months in office, holding over 553 phone calls or meetings with lawmakers, their chiefs of staff and staff directors focused on the American Jobs Plan alone, Biden’s infrastructure package, as of May 21.
Their work on the massive coronavirus relief bill that passed in March helped Biden keep both progressives and moderates on board, with no defections and few public complaints.
They’re facing much bigger hurdles now trying to usher Biden’s infrastructure bill through Congress, with lots of other difficult issues stacked up in the queue behind it. Just recently, the legislative team, which tries to keep a low profile, got caught in the negotiating crossfire as Republicans accused White House aides of contradicting Biden’s commitment in private meetings to back a much smaller counteroffer.