In the nonstop media coverage of discussions, deliberations, debates, and decisions in Congress, there are very few updates that include the words bipartisan cooperation.
Since Donald Trump was sworn into his second term, Congress has been deeply divided, with countless committee and floor votes decided along party lines.
The latest divide in the Senate is not on legislation, but on consideration of President Trump’s most recent slate of nominees for executive and judicial positions that require Senate approval.
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer insisted that consideration of these nominees is contingent on President Trump reversing certain federal spending cuts.
Despite this ongoing division, two recent proceedings in the Senate prove that bipartisan cooperation, while relatively rare, can occur.
It happened with the Senate’s Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, which has thirteen Republican senators and eleven Democratic senators.
There are striking differences between all the committee members, but especially so with regard to the chair and ranking minority member.
The committee’s chair is Rick Scott, a conservative Republican Senator from Florida who is a staunch supporter of President Trump.
The committee’s ranking member is Elizabeth Warren, a progressive Democratic Senator from Massachusetts who is a frequent critic of President Trump.
Despite their differences, Scott, Warren, and their committee colleagues unanimously approved the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream Housing Act of 2025, aka the ROAD Act.
The goals of the legislation include expanding and preserving e America’s housing supply, improving housing affordability, and increasing e oversight and efficiency of federal regulators, and federal housing programs. It is the first bipartisan federal housing bill in over ten years (a period that spans President Trump’s first term and President Biden’s first and only term.)
Following the committee’s unanimous vote on the ROAD Act legislation, Senator Scott said, “[Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren] and I don’t agree on almost anything, but here’s where a place where all Americans agree…Housing prices are too high, the supply too low, and regulations too much. So, we went to work a couple of years ago to get this done. Working together as a committee proves to the American people that we can get things done, and it requires, frankly, bipartisanship.”
Maryland Democratic U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks, a member of the committee, recently reinforced that message by telling a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, “It’s important for people to know that these kinds of efforts are happening …in a unified Republican government, that there are still ways that we have been able to try to work together.”
Senator Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican member of the committee, has said, “…we have to work together collaboratively to figure out how to make that dream (more housing) more accessible.”
There has also been bipartisan cooperation on other Senate housing legislation.
Maryland Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen has collaborated with Republican U.S. Senators John Boozman of Arkansas and Tim Scott of South Carolina on legislation to provide more information for military veterans on their home loan options.
Given the current environment in our society and in Congress, it is highly likely that bipartisan cooperation will be the exception, rather than the rule in the near future.
Going forward, bipartisan cooperation in Congress requires at least three key elements.
First, citizens need to relay their concerns and opinions to their members of Congress early and often.
Senator Alsobrooks has said it well. “Housing, I have to tell you, is one of the issues I have heard, and it resonates from every single corner of our state. Work on this particular piece of legislation … is informed by the many, many meetings that I have had with people across the state involving this issue about housing.”
Secondly, citizens need to remember that despite how strongly held their own opinions may be on any given issue, those opinions may not be widely shared by others.
When decisions are made in any legislative body, including Congress, an unwritten rule is that the minority will always have their say, and the majority will always have their way.
Accordingly, citizen positions should be based what is possible and not all that is wanted.
Again, Senator Alsobrooks said it well. “There are many, many things [from the Trump administration] that we are pushing back against. But we’ve also understood that, in order to get things done for our constituents, we’re going to have to find partnerships on the places where we can agree on things to get things done.”
Thirdly, citizens, members of congress, and presidents need to keep in mind that every two-years congressional election are held, and the results determine which political party will have congressional majorities for the following two years.
After those majorities are determined, every member of Congress should be held accountable for their commitment to and results on advancing partisan cooperation to get things done that will help bridge the current deep divides in our society.
David Reel is a public affairs and public relations consultant who lives in Easton.
