Biden, Harris speak on COVID-19 after meeting with governors
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris kicked off her and Biden's afternoon remarks by outlining the call they had with the National Governors Association’s Executive Committee, saying the bipartisan group of governors focused on COVID-19 and how to make testing and vaccines free and accessible to the public.
Drawing from her experience in local and state government, Harris said she appreciates the critical role governors play in American life and assured them that they’ll have “partners in the White House starting on Jan. 20."
“President-Elect Biden and I will make sure you have the resources and support you need to save lives and help get our economy back on track. And we will also make sure that our federal state, local and tribal authorities are working closely together so we can tackle these challenges as effectively as possible,” Harris said, before introducing the president-elect.
Biden began by saying all of the governors on his call, five Democrats and five Republicans, recognized his win -- even if the Trump administration still refuses to, thus hindering his access to pandemic planning.
“Each of the governors emphasized that we might be Democrats and Republicans, but we're all American first. They congratulated us heartily for the -- our win,” Biden said.
Biden said the group discussed a nationwide mask mandate, a practice he has pushed and asked governors to work on him with, before later reinforcing that he would not impose a total national shutdown.
