Vice President-elect J.D. Vance won’t be far from the Capitol next year as he carves out a role for himself as President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy to Congress.
Vance spent three days shuttling in and out of House Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) office this week to retool a spending deal that Trump torpedoed Wednesday.
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He’s made separate visits to the Senate, shepherding Trump’s more controversial Cabinet nominees to meetings with reluctant senators.
Vance’s public posture on Capitol Hill has so far been partisan. He dared Democrats to reject a GOP-only compromise on spending Thursday as Congress lurched closer to a government shutdown.
On nominations, his tone has been just as bombastic. He dismissed allegations that Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for defense secretary, had committed sexual assault as a “sham hearing from the American media.”
Yet behind the scenes, Vance is viewed by Republicans as a constructive force who can help Washington weather the tumult of the next four years.
In a series of interviews, senators described him as a clear communicator who wants to reach a compromise that satisfies the various factions of the unruly House, not to mention the demands of a president who seems to relish confrontation.
“His presence here, I think, is helpful as he’s talking to folks in the House, talking to folks in the Senate, and trying to figure out how you find a path out of the woods,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), one of the Senate’s centrists.
Vance’s MO is consistent with his two years in the Senate. Trump chose him for vice president because of his outspoken loyalty, but he’s also regarded as a serious legislator, coming close to passing a rail safety bill with Democrats this past year.
Vance would have been returning to Capitol Hill regardless next year, given Republicans’ relatively narrow majority in the Senate. As Trump’s vice president, he is given the constitutional role of casting tiebreaking votes.
However, Republicans expect his impact will be more substantive as Trump prepares to pass an ambitious second-term agenda that includes tax cuts, energy reform, and border security.
On Thursday, he briefed Senate Republicans on the spending impasse at a lunch that Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) called a “very rational conversation.”
“I think J.D. will be up here for another reason. He’ll be up here for his big brain,” said Kennedy.
“He exercises power maturely. He doesn’t get excited. He’s human, but he’s not vindictive,” he added. “I mean, he’s a deep thinker.”
There are clear limitations to Vance’s influence. He and Trump were unable to get Congress to lift the federal debt limit, a last-minute demand that threw bipartisan spending talks into chaos.
He is also a junior member of the Senate who generally antagonized leadership in his first term.
Still, Republicans have a soft spot for Vance as one of their own. He may have butted heads with his colleagues, in particular over funding for Ukraine, but he is also viewed as a good faith actor who can serve as a bridge between Trumpworld and centrists.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a Trump critic, told the Washington Examiner she’s been in touch with Vance during the presidential transition.
“To be able to have that kind of access is really important. And he knows all of us, which is also a plus. So, I think it’s been very helpful,” said Collins, who will chair the Senate Appropriations Committee in January.
Vance will not be the first vice president to play an outsize role on Capitol Hill. Joe Biden, at the time President Barack Obama’s No. 2, was instrumental in averting a breach in the federal debt limit thanks to his decadeslong relationship with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Years later, ex-Vice President Mike Pence served as Trump’s conduit to Congress, meeting with leaders in both chambers to resolve repeated stalemates over government funding.
Pence served in the House for 12 years, which helped ease negotiations with GOP leadership and the Freedom Caucus. However, he lacked a personal history with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in the Senate.
The two men met one-on-one as Trump demanded border wall funding to keep the government open in 2018 yet walked away without a deal.
To this day, the stalemate precipitated the longest shutdown in U.S. history, a lapse of 35 days.
This term promises to be just as chaotic. Trump spent this week urging congressional Republicans to play hardball on government funding, though Johnson narrowly averted a shutdown on Friday by ignoring his demand.
On the debt limit, Trump has threatened to recruit primary challengers to the 38 House Republicans who voted against an extension.
Trump will not rely exclusively on Vance as a line of communication to Capitol Hill. The president-elect is known for calling lawmakers liberally to solicit their feedback and plays golf with many of them.
He also has James Braid as his director of legislative affairs, with budget advisers such as Russell Vought playing an important role this past week as well.
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The value Vance adds, according to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), is his temperament and communication style.
“He doesn’t get flustered. He’s not an ego guy,” said Tuberville, a close ally of the president-elect.
