Congress Takes a Break for Annual Baseball Game — and Biden Brought Them Ice Cream

Lawmakers on either side of the aisle went bat-to-bat on Wednesday night, competing in the Congressional Baseball Game, an event that’s been held annually since 1909 but was paused last year due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The game — played at Nationals Park — pitted Republicans and Democrats against one another at a tense time in national politics, amid negotiations on avoiding both a government shutdown and a default on the national debt.

What’s more, Democrats are trying to resolve internal disagreements in their party to narrowly pass two major spending bills over the Republican minority’s opposition.

While Wednesday’s game couldn’t entirely escape politics, it focused on a different set of stakes.

Congressional baseball game.Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty

“[The game] builds relationships, and creates a timeout from some of the harshest, I think, partisanship atmospheres I’ve seen in Congress. So I think in fact it’s probably needed now more than ever,” Republican Rep. Kevin Bradytold Reutersahead of the bipartisan event.

As the members of the teams began making their way to the dugout — Republicans clad in custom red uniforms, Democrats in jerseys for their hometown teams — a special guest made an appearance on the mound.

PresidentJoe Bidenstrode onto the field at the top of the second inning, showing up to a mix of cheers (from Democrats) and boos (from Republicans), according to reporters at the event.

He also came bearing gifts: Dove Vanilla Ice Cream Bars dipped in milk chocolate, and featuring a special wrapper with the presidential seal.

Joe Biden at the 2021 Congressional baseball game.Susan Walsh/AP/Shutterstock

Earlier in the day, Biden wasinducted into the Congressional Baseball Hall of Fame, with Naomi accepting the honor on his behalf.

Congressional baseball game.Alex Brandon/AP/Shutterstock

Ultimately, Republicans won the game for the first time since 2016, beating the Democrats 13 to 12.

“I believe that is the first out-of-the-park home run in this game in more than 40 years,” noted an announcer on the C-SPAN broadcast.

Steube tweeted after the game to share a video of his home run with the caption: “Hey Biden, watch this!”

Other noteworthy moments took place off the field, such as when Speaker Pelosi was pictured havingheated discussions on her cell phone.

As a charity event, the game raised $1.2 million for local Washington, D.C., organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington.

Speaking to The Hill, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise —who was shotwhen a gunman who opened fire during a practice session for the annual game four years ago — said of the event: “You need to do this every now and then, where you get away from the madness and come out and play the kid’s game in the big league ballpark. You’re competing, and it was very intense competition.”

“We’re going to go back to work tomorrow,” Scalise said, “but it’s nice to just come and do something like this where you can build better relationships.”

source: people.com