Lawmakers say they want big legislation to be bipartisan, but it doesn't happen often

WASHINGTON — Not a single Republican in the House or Senate voted for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief legislation, which the Democratically-controlled House passed on Wednesday and which now heads to Biden’s desk for his signature.

And it follows a familiar pattern we’ve seen over the last 30 years in Washington: Bipartisan votes on major pieces of legislation have been the exception rather than the norm.

Especially during Democratic presidencies.

In 1993, no Republican in the House or the Senate voted or Bill Clinton’s budget deal, although Clinton did get bipartisan votes for NAFTA and welfare reform.

George W. Bush got a few Democratic votes to pass his 2001 tax-cut legislation, as well as his Medicare Part D expansion — and he got overwhelming Democratic support for his No Child Left Behind education law.

In 2009, just three GOP senators and no House Republicans voted for Barack Obama’s stimulus, and not a single Republican voted for Obamacare a year later, even though it was modeled after what a Republican governor (and later presidential nominee) had signed into law.

And in 2017, no Democrats voted for Donald Trump’s tax cuts, but every Democratic senator backed the major Covid-19 relief measures that Trump signed into law in March and December of last year.

The other pattern here: A president is much more likely to get bipartisan support for legislation the OTHER side wants — see NAFTA and welfare reform under Clinton, education and Medicare Part D under Bush, and Covid relief under Trump.

And so when we’re gaming out what Republican votes (if any) Biden could get on future legislation, maybe it’s on China, as the Washington Post reported yesterday.

Biden in primetime

At 8:02 p.m. ET from the White House, Joe Biden delivers his first primetime address as president — to mark the anniversary of the Covid-19 shutdown.

NBC’s White House team reports that Biden will discuss the sacrifices made by the American people, the more than 500,000 lives lost, and the current vaccination effort.

And although Biden will mention the Covid-19 relief measure that Congress passed, it won’t take up a significant portion of his speech.

Tweet of the day

Data Download: The numbers you need to know today

15 percent: The spike in the U.S. death rate in 2020 due to Covid, according to new data from the CDC.

29,342,26: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials. (That’s 57,915 more than yesterday morning.)

531,865: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far, per the most recent data from NBC News. (That’s 1,621 more than yesterday morning.)

95,721,290: Number of vaccine doses administered in the U.S.

9.8 percent: The share of Americans who are fully vaccinated

49: The number of days left for Biden to reach his 100-day vaccination goal.

100,441: The number of encounters between Customs and Border Protection and immigrants crossing the border illegally over the month of February, a 28 percent rise from January.

More than 40 years: How long since a Black woman had led HUD until yesterday’s confirmation of Marcia Fudge.

20: The number of GOP senators who voted for Merrick Garland’s confirmation to be Attorney General

$94 billion: The price tag of a new Democratic proposal to expand broadband access

Sixteen confirmed cabinet members in 50 days

After 50 days in office, President Biden’s Cabinet is close to fully taking shape. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed three of Biden’s Cabinet members: Merrick Garland (Attorney General), Marcia Fudge (HUD secretary) and Michael Regan (EPA administrator).

That takes Biden’s Cabinet to 16 confirmed nominees. And Garland’s confirmation sticks out for its bipartisanship.

NBC’s Pete Williams reports that Garland’s confirmation vote (70 to 30) is one of the largest margins for an attorney general in recent administrations. According to Williams, most attorney generals have been confirmed with votes in the 50s and 60s for the last few decades with three exceptions: Garland, the first African American attorney general, Eric Holder (confirmed with 75 votes) and the first woman to serve as attorney general, Janet Reno (confirmed with 98 votes).

Here’s how Garland’s vote stacks up to some of his other predecessors:

• Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions (Trump): 52-47 vote.

• William Barr (Trump): 54-45 vote

• Loretta Lynch (Obama): 56-43

• John Ashcroft (Bush): 58-42

• Alberto Gonzales (Bush): 60-36

• Michael Mukasey (Bush): 53-40

Biden Cabinet Watch

State: Tony Blinken (confirmed)

Treasury: Janet Yellen (confirmed)

Defense: Ret. Gen. Lloyd Austin (confirmed)

Attorney General: Merrick Garland (confirmed)

Homeland Security: Alejandro Mayorkas (confirmed)

HHS: Xavier Becerra

Agriculture: Tom Vilsack (confirmed)

Transportation: Pete Buttigieg (confirmed)

Energy: Jennifer Granholm (confirmed)

Interior: Deb Haaland

Education: Miguel Cardona (confirmed)

Commerce: Gina Raimondo (confirmed)

Labor: Marty Walsh

HUD: Marcia Fudge (confirmed)

Veterans Affairs: Denis McDonough (confirmed)

UN Ambassador: Linda Thomas-Greenfield (confirmed)

Director of National Intelligence: Avril Haines (confirmed)

EPA: Michael Regan (confirmed)

SBA: Isabel Guzman

OMB Director: Neera Tanden (withdrawn)

U.S. Trade Representative: Katherine Tai

Chair of Council of Economic Advisers: Cecilia Rouse (confirmed)

ICYMI: What else is happening in the world

Here’s the latest allegation against Andrew Cuomo, from an aide who says he groped her at the governor’s mansion.

What does the Covid relief bill mean for student debt and for-profit colleges?

The fight between blue cities and red states over mask mandates is coming to a head in Austin.

A Chicago suburb will be the first city in the country to fund reparations for Black residents.

Some House Republicans are starting to lose patience with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s procedural delaying tactics, but she says she’s not changing.

As they gear up for a potential recall election, California Republicans have their own divisions to work out.