If there's one thing the Senate's women can apparently agree on, it's that when the vice president offers you made-from-scratch cheese puffs, you eat and be merry, politicking be damned. The appetizer might not be the most obvious form of legislative olive branch, but no one can tell the former senator it didn't work: On Tuesday, VP Harris invited all 24 female senators to her home at the U.S Naval Observatory for a bipartisan meal, and all but three showed up.
The social event is the vice president's first since coming into the office five months ago, as well as her first at the newly renovated observatory. The dinner comes in the midst of Harris' push for a number of Democratic legislative priorities, including efforts to improve infrastructure, institute police reform and gun control, and pass the For the People Act, which would, among other goals, expand ballot access and place new restrictions on political donations.
Of the 24 women invited, only Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Cynthia Lummis, (R-WY), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) were not in attendance. Hyde-Smith and Lummis have not publicly explained their absence; Sinema's absence might be due to her recently broken foot.
But back to the cheese puffs for a moment. Tenderly placed in a bread basket and sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese, they were a clear callback not only to the Vice President's roots as a cook but to the bipartisan Senate dinners of yore. As reported by Politico, these quarterly potlucks, which started in the 1990s, were once a regular staple of the Senate, but fell out of fashion amid the vitriol of the 2016 election. That awkwardness continued into the 2020 election cycle, when multiple senators were running against one another for president.
But it's hard for even old enemies to grumble over a great meal, which included a “summer garden tower” with grape tomatoes and hearts of palm; a roasted mahi-mahi and rice entree; and a dessert of strawberry-rhubarb croustades and vanilla ice cream. The wine list included a rosé and Sauvignon Blanc from Harris' home state.
In a post-dinner interview with Fox News, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) revealed the meal apparently followed a no-work-allowed rule. “There wasn't a policy discussion at all,” she told the network, adding that it was “an evening of relationship building.” She also said the dinner has apparently become an annual event in recent years, and was canceled last year due to the pandemic. It remains to be seen if Harris snuck any diplomatic magic into those puffs—but the senators are back to business today, working off the memory of that rosé.
