Getting things done in a divided Congress, specifically with a 50-50 Senate split, requires "chemistry" among leadership, according to former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., on Newsmax TV.
Lott, who served as the majority leader of a divided Senate – with former Vice President Dick Cheney as the deciding vote – told Monday's "Spicer & Co." the relationship between President-elect Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will prove beneficial.
"Biden and McConnell have a pretty good relationship, and he ought to take advantage of that, because we are in a mess right now in our country," Lott told host Sean Spicer. "And we need our leaders to talk, develop a chemistry, and work together to get some positive things done."
Lott noted a 50-50 split does not portend a lot of power to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, because he had just two instances of a potential split vote and Cheney never wound up casting a tiebreaker under his watch.
"I think situations and problems help to create leaders," Lott added.
As for the overall political divide post-President Donald Trump, Lott urged leaders from both sides to move forward and end the obstruction.
"Tone the rhetoric down," Lott said, pointing to impeachment talk after the storming of the Capitol Building. "What we saw last week was a horrific experience."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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