Spot on NYT op-ed by Michelle Cottle...

Among the more farcical developments of the early Biden presidency has been congressional Republicans’ newfound passion for bipartisanship.

After years of Republican lawmakers treating Democrats’ concerns with all the respect of used Kleenex, reasonable observers might have assumed the G.O.P. disdained cross-party cooperation. Few legislators practice partisan obstructionism with the zeal of the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell.

But with Democrats now holding unified, if narrow, control of government, Republicans have had an epiphany. Bipartisanship has become their North Star, their holy grail. Democrats need to aggressively move to reclaim the concept in a way that better serves not only their political aims but also the American people.

Calls for bipartisanship occurred the moment President Biden took office. The early wave of executive orders he signed spurred howls from Republicans, who denounced such unilateral action as a thumb in the eye of unity.

Mr. Biden’s staffing choices are being subjected to a comity litmus test as well. The nomination of Neera Tanden to head the Office of Management and Budget has stalled in the Senate — not because Ms. Tanden is ideologically radical or unqualified, but because she is known as a meanie on social media. Her Twitter pugilism demonstrates “exactly the kind of animosity that President Biden has pledged to transcend,” sniffed Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who is among those Ms. Tanden has attacked. A spokeswoman for Senator Mitt Romney of Utah expressed similar concern about the threat Ms. Tanden posed to “comity and respect.” Even Senator Joe Manchin, the conservative Democrat from West Virginia, has gotten in on the action, declaring his opposition to Ms. Tanden in the interest of charting “a new bipartisan course.”

But it’s the push to pass more Covid relief that seems to have really reminded Republicans how much they cherish bipartisanship. They charge that the president’s $1.9 trillion plan is too costly and not targeted enough. Few members of the minority in either chamber are expected to support it. The $600 billion counteroffer made by a group of Republican senators did not come close to meeting Mr. Biden halfway — much less meeting the magnitude of the crisis — and some Biden aides suspect Republicans are mostly looking to bog down negotiations, as in the Obama years. So Democrats are set to pass a bill using a maneuver known as reconciliation, which would allow the bill to pass with a simple majority of votes — i.e., without any Republicans.

During the Trump presidency, Republicans used reconciliation to pass tax cuts, and they tried, unsuccessfully, to use it to repeal key elements of Obamacare. Now they are denouncing the process as a thuggish affront to bipartisanship. Power-drunk Democrats aren’t even interested in compromise, they charge with conspicuous umbrage.

Senator Rob Portman, the Ohio Republican, has been especially outspoken on the matter. He recently lamented to CNN’s Dana Bash that Democrats passing a relief bill through reconciliation would “poison the well for other bipartisanship we will need on so many issues.” For those keeping track at home, Mr. Portman was among the senators who backed using reconciliation for the 2017 tax cuts and for gutting Obamacare.

Unencumbered by self-awareness, Mr. Portman expanded on his concerns in a Feb. 23 op-ed. “Biden faces an early choice,” Mr. Portman lectured. “He can act on the hopeful bipartisan rhetoric of his inaugural address — and his presidential campaign — or contradict that message by trying to jam a $1.9 trillion bill through reconciliation with no G.O.P. support.”

Mr. Biden indeed ran on a pledge to unify America — to start draining the partisan poison from the body politic. It was a winning vision for a weary public. Republicans are clearly aiming to exploit that vision in their quest to block Mr. Biden’s agenda. Because if Republican lawmakers don’t sign on to a proposal, then a plan isn’t bipartisan. And for Mr. Biden to proceed with a plan that isn’t bipartisan, well, that’s a betrayal of his promise to the American people.

Got it?

Mr. Biden does face an early choice — just not the false one Mr. Portman presented. The president and his party should double down on the bipartisanship message, even as they redefine and refocus it away from Congress.

For a host of reasons — including the growing polarization and ideological extremism of members of Congress — the policies that a bipartisan majority of Americans favor often have little overlap with the positions their elected leaders stake out. All too often, even lawmakers who support a bill are bullied into opposing it by their leadership or threatened with retaliation by the more extreme, more intransigent elements of their party. Broadly popular policies fall victim to congressional game playing.

In recent years, for instance, there has been strong bipartisan support for modest gun control measures such as expanded background checks and red-flag laws, but Mr. McConnell’s Senate never got around to making those happen. Neither have lawmakers provided legislative relief to Dreamers, immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children, despite bipartisan public support for providing legal status and a path to citizenship.

Last August, the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy issued a report, based on a survey of more than 80,000 Americans, enumerating nearly 150 issues on which majorities of Democrats and Republicans agree. These range from raising the eligibility age for Social Security to creating a national registry for police misconduct, and from strengthening campaign finance laws to imposing congressional term limits.

As for Mr. Biden’s relief plan, currently awaiting congressional action: 76 percent of Americans, including 60 percent of Republicans, support it, according to a Morning Consult poll out Wednesday.

Going forward, Mr. Biden should think, and talk, about bipartisanship as it relates to the American public — not whether a few tribal warriors in Congress can be coaxed into crossing party lines. His team has explicitly nodded in this direction now and again. “Even with narrow majorities in Congress, he has the opportunity to build broad bipartisan support for his program — not necessarily in Congress but with the American people,” his adviser Anita Dunn told CNN in January, regarding Covid relief.

This should be the standard party line. If, say, 70 percent of the electorate supports a policy, including a majority of Republicans, it is bipartisan — regardless of what McConnell & Company think of it. By hammering home this more expansive definition, Mr. Biden can start nudging people — maybe even lawmakers — to think more in terms of a policy’s widespread appeal than about what the loudest voices on either side are demanding.

This would be a step toward making government work better for everyone. Except maybe Mr. McConnell.