“‘My good friend’ is routinely used on the House and Senate floors when one colleague addresses another.” In October 2013, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell rebuked the Democratic majority leader, Harry Reid. He began: “With all due respect to my good friend, the majority leader.”
Senators also address each other in the third person, through the chair, for example as “the distinguished Senator.” Representative Gene Green of Texas joked about the phrase: “The joke we had was, when someone calls you their good friend, look behind you.”