Let's do lunch: Senators seek comity over lobster, ham

Susan Davis | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Substance was not on the menu, but over a lobster and country ham lunch on Wednesday, senators embarked on what they hope will become a new tradition aimed at easing Washington gridlock.

"I thought it was a very worthwhile session, one that hopefully will lay a foundation and allow us to build some relationships that will make us get some good things done for the country," said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who came up with the idea during morning gym sessions alongside Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz, and Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.— who built a cross-party friendship after spending a week together on a deserted island for a Discovery Channel TV special — also helped organize the private meal.

Schumer told reporters that the group is working to institute a monthly bipartisan, full Senate social lunch in which lawmakers can get to know one another better. At Wednesday's session, freshman senators addressed their colleagues on their goals as new members, and more senior lawmakers shared tales of comity and "what it was like back in the day," said Thune.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., both attended and spoke as well.

Senators did not discuss the topics that are currently dividing them, including a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security that Republicans want to use to block President Obama's executive orders on immigration, and a controversial congressional invite to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint Congress next week.

"We did not get into these substantive issues," Schumer said. The goal of this new lunch, he said, is purely social.

"They say the number one reason that things have gotten as fractured as they are is we don't know each other. We all go home on weekends. We don't get to know each other's families and spend leisurely time together," said Schumer. "This is a step that doesn't seem as consequential as maybe it will be in bringing us together."

Senators at Wednesdays lunch were required to sit next to a lawmaker from the opposing party. The menu was also bipartisan: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, brought the lobster. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., brought the ham.