White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday dismissed a new report that said governors were upset President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had not continued the previous administration’s tradition of being involved with their weekly COVID-19 calls.
“We have never conveyed it as a call that would be a part of his agenda, so I’m not sure there’s a big controversy here,” Ms. Psaki told Real Clear Politics reporter Philip Wegmann during a press briefing.
Real Clear Politics reported earlier Monday that while former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence played a central role in the weekly calls with the nation’s 50 governors, Mr. Biden had not attended a single meeting and Ms. Harris attended only one since they took office in January. Instead, the scandal-plagued Democratic governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has been leading the calls as chairman of the National Governors Association, the outlet reported.
“It’s been a real frustration, I think it’s safe to say, for all 50 governors,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, told Real Clear Politics. “It would go a long way if the president would just get on the phone, or the vice president would get on the phone and take questions. Allow us to ask the folks in charge questions.”
“It really is not the type of bipartisan partnership that the president promised when he came into office in his inaugural address,” he said. “It really is much more of a top-down, we-are-going-to-do-what-we-are-going-to-do thought process.”
“President Biden hasn’t been on any of [the calls] and Vice President Harris has only been on one, but that was for about five minutes and she didn’t take any questions,” Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, told the outlet,
Ms. Psaki dismissed the criticism but did not deny that Mr. Biden had been absent from the calls.
“The intention was never … for the president to be leading that call,” she said. “The intention was for our COVID coordinator to be providing an update directly from the president, directly from our work across the federal government, to get the pandemic under control.”
.@PressSec is asked by @PhilipWegmann about reports that governors are upset that Pres. Biden hasn’t joined weekly covid calls:
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 26, 2021
“We have never conveyed it as a call that would be part of his agenda, so I’m not sure there’s a big controversy here.” pic.twitter.com/k1DzmV7GMm
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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