Vice President Kamala Harris has invited all 24 female senators to the Naval Observatory for dinner next Tuesday in a show of bipartisanship.
The vice president‘s guest list consists of 16 Democrats and eight Republicans. The dinner marks a resurgence of dinner parties among female politicians in Washington, D.C., which have become less frequent in recent years as the 2016 and 2020 elections have led to deep divisions along party lines.
The dinner would come as talks between President Biden and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) on the infrastructure package broke down. However, a bipartisan group of senators is working on their own infrastructure package. The dinner will provide an opportunity for female senators to discuss the matter in a casual setting.
The dinner, which was
started by former Sens. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), is set for June 15. The dinners began to fade after Mikulski retired in 2017, according to Yahoo News.The Republican senators invited to the dinner include Cynthia M. Lummis (R-WY), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Capito.
The Democratic senators invited to the dinner include Krysten Sinema (D-AZ), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Tina Smith (D-MN), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Margaret Wood Hassan (D-NH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
Harris has also been
dealing with backlash from both sides of the political spectrum regarding the southern border. Republicans have been attacking Harris for more than 100 days after President Joe Biden visited the border. At the same time, Progressive Democrats, including New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the ACLU, have expressed disappointment in Harris telling Central American residents not to come to the border.