President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden rented Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s “Disagree Better” initiative during a meeting between the president and 42 governors as part of the National Governors Association’s annual meeting at the White House on Friday.
Biden also used the opportunity to ask governors to help push the border bill through the Senate to clear the House.
Cox, who this year chairs the National Governors Association, compared policies enacted at the state level with the status quo in Washington, DC.
“As governors, we do not have the luxury of taking partisan positions. No matter what happens in Washington, our states depend on us to get things done – to balance the budget, to keep parks open and schools funded and potholes filled, to turn the lights back on after disasters natural,” Cox said. “And governors are working together on these priorities more than people realize. »
Cox: “Toxic polarization” is stopping the country from getting things done
During NGA meetings, Cox said governors are studying how to address issues such as artificial intelligence, housing affordability, disaster response and workforce development. He said they “welcome the opportunity” to work with the Biden administration on these issues.
“That doesn’t mean we always agree. I can assure you that this is not the case. We have our arguments and our disagreements,” Cox said. “…But we are determined to give an example for the country on bipartisan cooperation.
But, he added, “we cannot make progress on any of the challenges I have mentioned unless we resolve the overarching challenge, the challenge of the toxic polarization that is tearing our country apart.”
First lady Jill Biden said she was grateful to Cox and Abby Cox for recently welcoming her to Utah. She said the governors are “showing that we can turn down the volume, stop the yelling and actually listen to each other, and that, yes, as Governor Cox says, we can disagree without being disagreeable.”
During his speech, President Biden said he enjoys working across the aisle.
“I appreciate Governor Cox’s efforts to make the NGA’s mission to get those of us who disagree with each other to listen and treat each other kindly. a sense of dignity and respect,” he said.
Biden spoke about the infrastructure bill and other spending bills he passed early in his presidency, as well as his climate change initiatives, and said he wanted to work with States to encourage job growth and manufacturing sector growth.
On the crisis at the border, which caused friction between governors and the Biden administration, Biden continued to tout the border bill that was approved by the Senate but was not taken up by the House. Biden said the bill failed to pass due to the intervention of “petty politics.”
But House Republicans say The bill doesn’t go far enough to resolve the border crisis and wants Biden to return to the negotiating table.
At the White House on Friday, Biden asked governors to speak to their state lawmakers to encourage them to vote for the Senate border bill.
“Look, this is the strongest border agreement our country has ever seen. It also includes the fairest and most humane reforms to legal immigration in a long time,” he said.
