Washington — President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will deliver remarks Thursday as they continue preparing to take the helm of the federal government in January amid the raging coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis.
The comments from Mr. Biden and Harris will follow a virtual meeting with the National Governors Association’s executive committee, which is led by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican. The president-elect is expected to discuss COVID-19 with the governors and calling on states to impose mask mandates and ramp up testing and contact tracing.
The Republican and Democratic governors attending the briefing were Cuomo, Hutchinson, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, Utah Governor Gary Herbert, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Delaware Governor John Carney.
How to watch President-elect Joe Biden’s remarks
- What: President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris deliver remarks
- When: Thursday, November 19, 2020
- Time: TBD
- Location: Wilmington, Delaware
- Online stream: Live on CBSN in the player above or on your mobile or streaming device
In remarks to the governors, Mr. Biden lamented that his team has not yet been able to gain access to information related to the pandemic due to the lack of formal acknowledgement from the General Services Administration that he is the winner of the presidential race.
“But we will take what we learn today and build on that for our planning,” he said.
Mr. Biden pledged to the governors that “I will be your partner in the White House.”
“I don’t see this as a red state issue or a blue state issue. I see this — all of us together,” he said.
Mr. Biden’s remarks and his meeting with the governors come as coronavirus infections are surging across the country and hospitalizations have reached more than 79,000. On Wednesday, the U.S. surpassed 250,000 deaths from the coronavirus, and there have been more than 11.6 million confirmed cases.
While President Trump continues to falsely claim widespread voter fraud in the general election and has yet to concede 16 days after Election Day, Mr. Biden has spent the last two weeks meeting with transition advisers, business and labor leaders, and his COVID-19 advisory board on how best to tackle the pandemic.
Mr. Biden and his transition team, however, still do not have access to federal dollars, resources and agency staff, including the Trump administration’s plans for distribution of a coronavirus vaccine, due to the GSA’s decision not to allow the transition to begin in earnest.
Mr. Biden, however, has continued to make appointments to his White House team, tapping longtime aides and senior campaign staff for top positions in government.
