She’s not an out-front type of Republican, though that could be changing. She was given the unenviable responsibility of responding to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. But Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) isn’t some placeholder, it would seem. Punchbowl has her being the gal behind the scenes who clinched a key compromise between Democrats and the Trump White House: a ban on future federal worker layoffs.
The Trump camp initially rejected the proposal but soon did a 180, with Britt acting as the interlocutor. This provision was key for Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) to hop on board the deal to end the Schumer shutdown, and credited Britt for essentially securing his vote:
Just minutes after announcing his support for a bipartisan deal to end the government shutdown, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) beelined toward Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) on the Senate floor to shake her hand.
Britt had spent the last few days quietly working to secure White House support for Kaine’s push to reverse the administration’s mass layoffs of federal workers during the shutdown. The White House got on board, even endorsing back pay for federal workers.
But Kaine, who represents 320,000 federal employees, needed more than that: A ban on future layoffs, known as reductions-in-force (RIFs). The White House initially rejected this but eventually agreed. The reason why, Kaine said, was Britt.
“I said, ‘Thank you for helping convince the White House on the RIFs,’” Kaine said of his handshake with Britt. “They really did not want to do it… And I said, ‘I’m a no if you don’t do that.’”
“When I explained it to her, she said that’s a reasonable ask. But the White House didn’t want to do it,” Kaine added. “And she was the go-between on that.”
The bipartisan deal to end the longest shutdown in history would’ve collapsed without Kaine’s support, and Republicans credited Britt with helping get that.
Britt’s maneuver was just the latest example of the first-term senator flexing her dealmaking prowess and MAGA bona fides by leveraging her close ties with the White House, including Vice President JD Vance, to resolve cross-aisle impasses.
In general, I’d rather tell Democrats to pound sand. They did this to shake down $1.5 trillion for NPR funding and illegal alien health care benefits. But after 40-plus days, some talks had to happen. In the end, Democrats essentially got nothing, which is why there’s total fury erupting within their caucus.
So, I take that as a good sign that the farm wasn’t given away. Chuck Schumer guillotine memes pervaded Bluesky.