sanders now sharethe relationship between biden and sanders goes back years the president having already spent decades in the senate by the time the vermont lawmaker was elected in 2006while biden was the ultimate senators senator sanders has always been an outsider on capitol hill a declared independent rather than member of the democratic party with his rumpled suits gruff demeanor and unrelenting focus on liberal causesask sanders any question on almost any topic and his answers are almost always the same its time for the government to stop catering to the rich and powerful and instead focus on the working people of this countryonce seen as outlandish sanders views have captivated millions of americans who filled arenas to hear him speak particularly after the great recession and amid a growing awareness of the nations gaping inequality he almost won the partys presidential nomination in 2016 but was defeated by hillary clinton and again in 2020 before he lost to bidenin returning to the senate sanders quickly became a focal point of republicans opposed to bidens agenda the president intends to finance his plan with tax hikes on corporations and americans making more than 400000 a year republicans see sanders as an influencer alongside rep alexandria ocasiocortez dny and other prominent progressives pushing the president to liberal extremesthe president may have won the nomination but bernie sanders won the argument senate republican leader mitch mcconnell said recently back home in kentucky on the same day he said he was 100 focused on stopping bidens agendabut in developing the investment package with the president sanders showed another side of his skill set that of a pragmatic legislatorword circulated monday that the two were huddled in the oval office a key moment as democrats were struggling to build consensus bidens jobs and families plans total more than 4 trillion in traditional public works and human infrastructure investments sanders had presented a bolder 6 trillion proposalsanders had been imploring his colleagues not to focus on price tags but rather on priorities helping the middle class fighting climate change aiding older adults he had also been insisting that the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes it is the same argument inside the rooms as it is in the arenas senators saythe meeting was substantive warm and friendly which also describes the nature of their relationship going back years said white house deputy press secretary andrew bates the president values his skilled leadership he saida bipartisan group of senators is compiling a slimmer 1 trillion package of roads and other public works spendingbut with republicans opposed in lockstep to bidens broader proposal democrats are pressing ahead on the more robust package they could pass on their own under special budget rules of 51 votes for passage rather than the 60 typically needed to overcome objections from a filibusterif biden sanders and schumer can keep all 50 democratic senators united vice president kamala harris can cast a tiebreaking vote