Former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday veered from his message about fighting climate change to lament a time when Republicans and Democrats could work together.
“I get in trouble,” Biden said at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. “I read in the New York Times today that one of my problems is if I were ever to run for president is I like Republicans. OK, well bless me, Father, for I have sinned,” he said as he made the sign of the cross.
A New York Times report Wednesday said Biden was paid $200,000 from the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan to address a Republican-leaning audience three weeks before the 2018 elections. In the speech, Biden praised Republican Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, in a close race against his Democratic challenger. Biden’s comments were used in Republican advertising and Upton won his race by four-and-a-half percentage points.
On Thursday, Biden asked how lawmakers could get anything done if they’re not reaching across the aisle.
“This is a pretty dysfunctional town,” he said. “It’s like we’ve divided the country into pieces. How can we be one America if we continue down this road? I don’t care what your party affiliation is.”
Biden focused most of his remarks urging mayors to continue fighting climate change and investing in renewable energy, at times raising his voice in frustration over the Trump administration’s rollback of Obama administration policies.
“The administration’s walked away, but there’s no reason we can’t pull us back on the path. There’s unanimity in my party. That vast majority of Republicans agree, and they support the goals as well. They’ve got more of a political problem — I’m not being a wise guy — they’ve got more of a problem with an administration.”
President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement in 2017, making the U.S. one of only two other countries — Syria and Nicaragua — who have not agreed to the accord. After the withdrawal, dozens of mayors around the U.S. signed their own climate accord vowing to continue to cut the nation’s greenhouse emissions.
“This position cannot be sustained,” Biden told the mayors. “But you are the key to keeping it from sliding back from what it was before.”
