WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 (Reuters) – (This Feb. 11 story has been corrected to say that the Governor of New Jersey’s name is Phil Murphy, not Chris Murphy, in paragraph 12)
US President Joe Biden appealed to Republican and Democratic governors on Saturday to continue working across political divides to improve the lives of Americans and rebuild the economy after the difficulties that brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at a black-tie dinner at the White House attended by Vice President Kamala Harris and 31 governors, Biden said the passage of legislation to invest in infrastructure and domestic semiconductor manufacturing by Republicans and Democrats is a evidence of “some bipartisan progress.”
“I hope we can get a little – I’ll try – a little less partisan and work on things that we can really do to change people’s lives,” Biden said after days of meetings with governors in Washington. .
He said he’s “still ready to fight, just like all of you,” and that Republicans and Democrats don’t always agree, but when they work together, it makes a difference.
Republican Governor Spencer Cox of Utah, vice-chair of the National Governors Association, said it was “very symbolic” to have Republicans and Democrats “cutting bread” in the White House.
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Cox added that he believes most Americans want to see more collaboration across the political aisle.
“This is what our country lacks,” he said, adding, “It’s hard to hate nearby.”
Notably absent from the dinner was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has challenged Biden’s agenda on many fronts, from gun safety to LGBTQ rights.
Country-western singer Brad Paisley played guitar and performed his song “American Saturday Night” after dinner, telling the crowd that he changed the second line of the song “because it’s about Russia and not I will do that.”
Instead, he sang: “He’s got Brazilian leather boots on the pedal of a German car. There’s a Ukrainian flag hanging behind the bar.”
Biden’s words echoed his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, in which he challenged Republicans to help unite the country.
The bipartisan laws passed last year were gamechangers for the US economy, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat who heads the association, told a governors event at the White House on Friday.
The ability of states to work together on other issues such as mental health belies “the narrative that politics is completely divisive,” he added.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
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