Biden lauds ‘bipartisan progress’ at dinner with Democratic, Republican governors

WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden appealed to Republican and Democratic governors on Saturday to continue working across political divides to improve Americans’ lives and rebuild the economy after the hardships brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at a black-tie dinner at the White House attended by Vice-President Kamala Harris and 31 governors, Mr Biden said the passage of laws by both Republicans and Democrats on investing in infrastructure and domestic manufacturing of semiconductors was evidence of “some bipartisan progress”.

“I hope we’re going to get a little bit – I’m going to try – a little bit less partisan and work on things that we can really get done to change people’s lives,” Mr Biden said after days of governors’ meetings in Washington.

He said he was still “ready to fight, as you all are”, and Republicans and Democrats would not always agree, but when they worked together, it made a difference.

Republican Governor Spencer Cox of Utah, vice-chairman of the National Governors Association, said it was “very symbolic” to have Republicans and Democrats “breaking bread together” at the White House.

Mr Cox added that he believed the majority of Americans wanted to see more collaboration across the political aisle.

“This is what is missing in our country,” he said, adding: “It’s hard to hate up close.”

Notably absent from the dinner was Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has challenged Mr Biden’s agenda on a wide range of fronts, from gun safety to LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) rights.

Country and western singer Brad Paisley played the guitar and performed his song American Saturday Night after the dinner, telling the crowd he had swopped out the second line of the song “because it mentioned Russia and I don’t do that any more”.

Instead, he sang: “She’s got Brazilian leather boots on the pedal of a German car. There’s a Ukrainian flag hanging up behind the bar.”

Mr Biden’s remarks echoed his State of the Union address to Congress last Tuesday, in which he challenged Republicans to help unite the country. 

The bipartisan laws passed in 2022 were game changers for the United States economy, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat who chairs the association, told a governors’ event at the White House on Friday.

The ability of the states to work together on other issues such as mental health disproved the “narrative that politics has gotten completely divisive”, he added. REUTERS