Biden has a reputation for being an effective dealmaker.

He was the top-ranking Democrat on the highly influential Senate Judiciary and Senate Foreign Relations committees for decades. Then, in 2008, Biden served as a sounding board for Obama on national security and foreign policy, according to The New Yorker. And in the Obama White House, Biden subsequently took on a foreign policy-centric portfolio and served as the White House proxy in Congress during contentious moments, like passing the 2009 economic stimulus package and avoiding the fiscal cliff.

Biden’s reputation as a dealmaker throughout his time in the Senate and as vice president was forged by his unconventional partnerships across the aisle.

Sometimes, that meant compromise in addressing the fiscal cliff directly with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

While the compromise was touted as a victory by the Obama administration, some progressives said the administration should have held the line. Democrats such as Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet have subsequently argued “that deal extended almost all those Bush tax cuts permanently.”

In other instances, forging unconventional partnerships in order to get things done included policy debates with figures now considered to have values diametrically opposed to the ones Biden has said are at his core. That included co-sponsoring legislation with South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, a segregationist, on several crime bills. It also included hashing out several differences in a chemical weapons treaty with North Carolina Republican Sen. Jesse Helms in the 1990s. Helms, who died in 2008, used racial signals in campaigns and fought against establishing a Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday because he felt the civil rights leader held radical political views.

Biden’s return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this year also undoubtedly marks a shift in the way the American president approaches lawmakers on the Hill compared to how things were done over the last four years.

Now, there are fewer tweets from the commander in chief personally denigrating members of Congress. The new President in office is not just one who has brought Republicans in for meetings in the Oval Office early in his term, but one who has also congratulated Republican senators for winning their races. And so far, unlike what happened during the Trump years, there have been no known walkouts by the President during White House meetings with members of Congress.

Despite four years of a President calling to drain the swamp, Biden’s many years in Washington, allies argue, is for the better.

“(Biden’s past experience in) the executive branch is not only relevant experience, but I think it’s going to help them enormously as President. Whereas if went right from the Senate, there would certainly be a gap there,” Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. Bob Casey said. “The other thing is, I think he’s made it his business over the years to interact a lot with mayors and governors.”

Biden in action

It’s not clearly known what pushes Biden to pick up the phone or schedule a meeting with lawmakers these days to hash out a deal. But in his first months in office, it’s widely known that he’s making those calls and scheduling those meetings frequently.

When White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about Biden’s relationship with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin – the moderate Democrat who has already proved to be a crucial and fickle vote for the President’s legislative proposals – Psaki said Biden is talking to Manchin and many other lawmakers often.

Biden has a list of seasoned aides dedicated to legislative efforts, but the White House has suggested that he’s involved in a large portion of the direct negotiations with lawmakers himself.

“He speaks with a range of senators and members of Congress and members of the House regularly as well. Obviously, they have meetings here, but he, perhaps because he served for 36 years, certainly doesn’t hesitate to pick up the phone and have a conversation, whether it’s something he agrees with, disagrees with,” Psaki said. “That’s something he’s prone to do, even when it’s not on his schedule for that day. Just when it comes up and it’s an ask somebody makes on the team.”