Meaning
In US politics, to negotiate with, cooperate with, or vote with the opposing party, especially against one's own leadership. The phrase comes from the center aisle dividing Democrats from Republicans on the floors of the House and Senate; 'reaching across the aisle' is the standard shorthand for bipartisanship, and a bill with sponsors from both parties has support on both sides of the aisle. Not to be confused with the British crossing the floor, which in the UK and Canada means leaving one's party for another and in Australia means voting against the whip; crossing the aisle usually just means cooperating with the other party, a milder act. Regional use: United States (British cousin: cross the floor).
Origin
The image is physical: the chambers of the US Congress are split by a wide central aisle, with the Senate desks in a semicircle around it; by tradition Democrats sit to the right of the center aisle, as viewed from the presiding officer's chair, and Republicans to the left (Wikipedia, Aisle (political term)). The OED's entry for aisle carries a United States politics branch dated to the 1880s, so the political figure of speech is at least that old, though no dictionary checked pins the full idiom's first use. The British cousin is crossing the floor, from the House of Commons, where government and opposition sit on facing benches; unlike the American phrase it usually means defecting to another party, as Churchill did in 1904 and again in 1924 (Wikipedia). Tourists are told the Commons front benches sit two sword-lengths apart; New South Wales Parliamentary Education calls that rationale likely a myth, since weapons have always been banned from chambers, though the red lines on the floor survive as 'sword lines'.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- across the aisle
- cross the aisle
- reach across the aisle
Usage Examples
- The infrastructure bill only passed because a dozen senators were willing to cross the aisle and supply the votes.
- She campaigned on a promise to reach across the aisle, but never once voted against her party in six years.
- Immigration reform keeps dying because nobody on either side of the aisle wants to compromise first.