华盛顿-乔·拜登总统在白宫正式招待了共和党和民主党的州长，并举杯祝酒。
站在亚伯拉罕·林肯的画像下，他告诉房间里的人记住他们是谁。“我们是美利坚合众国。如果我们齐心协力，就能做成大事。”
“干杯!”人群回答道，玻璃杯的叮当声在国宴厅回荡。
拜登在他的政府中首次在白宫为全国州长协会的成员举办晚宴。这通常是一个传统，但晚宴去年在乔治·华盛顿的弗吉尼亚州弗农山庄举行，实际上是在2021年，因为新冠肺炎。
晚宴举行之际，联邦领导人似乎一如既往地存在分歧，众议院新的共和党多数派正在就高风险的债务上限摊牌。
然而，周六在白宫，传达的信息是团聚——不仅仅是因为房间里挤满了州长、配偶和内阁成员。拜登和两个协会的领导人，犹他州的共和党州长斯潘塞·考克斯和新泽西州的民主党州长菲尔·墨菲谈到有必要搁置越来越充满敌意的政治分歧，以便共同努力改善国家。
“我认为当我们共同努力时，它是可行的，”拜登说，并补充说他将努力成为一个更具两党性的人，并赞扬了州长们的工作。
桌子上摆放着紫色天鹅绒桌布(两党合作的标志)，印有总统印章的瓷器以及白色和粉色的大型花卉装饰。
内阁成员和穿着舞会礼服、晚礼服和闪闪发光的州长们混在一起。密歇根州州长格雷琴·惠特莫坐在商务部长吉娜·雷蒙多旁边。马里兰州州长韦斯·摩尔和纽约州州长凯西·霍楚尔都是民主党人，他们坐在副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯旁边。不远处是共和党州长。田纳西州的比尔·李和北达科他州的道格·伯根。
第一夫人吉尔·拜登周六早些时候为配偶举行了一次服务项目活动，但她不得不缺席周五的活动，因为她感觉不舒服。她的新冠肺炎病毒检测呈阴性。
不喝酒的拜登用左手祝酒，他解释说，他的祖父告诉他，当你的杯子里没有酒时，你就会这么做。考克斯也不喝酒，他祝酒时也这么做，告诉房间里的人这是姜汁啤酒。
考克斯说:“共和党人和民主党人一起进餐具有象征意义。”。“这就是缺少的东西。”
“我相信我们国家的人民，至少是筋疲力尽的大多数人，希望我们在这方面做得更多。”
考克斯在介绍墨菲之前感谢了拜登和第一夫人，墨菲开玩笑说，他肯定是右手拿着杯子。他说，他们的党派关系没有“美国人”这个共同的绰号重要。
晚餐后，客人们鱼贯进入东厅，乡村歌手布莱德·派斯里演唱了歌曲《美国周六夜》和其他曲子。
Biden hosts GOP, Dem governors at White House for dinner
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden, hosting both Republican and Democratic governors for a black-tie affair at the White House, raised his glass for a toast.
Standing under a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, he told the people in the room to remember who they were. “We’re the United States of America. We can get big things done if we do it together.”
“Cheers!" the crowd replied, as the clink-clink of glasses rippled about the State Dining Room.
Biden hosted the dinner for members of the National Governors Association at the White House for the first time in his administration. It's usually a tradition, but the dinner was held last year at Mount Vernon, George Washington's Virginia estate, and virtually in 2021 because of COVID-19.
The dinner came as federal leaders seemed as divided as ever with the new Republican majority in the House courting a risky debt ceiling showdown.
On Saturday at the White House, though, the message was togetherness — and not just because the room was tightly packed with governors, spouses and Cabinet members. Biden and both associations' leaders, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah and Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, spoke about the need to put aside the increasingly rancorous political differences in order to work together to better the nation.
“I think when we work together it works," Biden said, adding he'd work to be a little more bipartisan and praised the work of the governors.
The tables were set with purple velvet tablecloths (wink wink on bipartisanship), china bearing the presidential seal and large floral centerpieces in white and pink.
Cabinet members were mixed together with governors in ball gowns, tuxedos and sparkles. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sat near Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, sat near Vice President Kamala Harris. Not far away were Republican Govs. Bill Lee of Tennessee and Doug Burgum of North Dakota.
First lady Jill Biden held a service project event earlier Saturday for spouses, but she had to skip a Friday event because she wasn’t feeling well. She tested negative for COVID-19.
Biden, who does not drink, gave the toast with his left hand, explaining he'd been told by his grandfather that that's just what you did when you don't have alcohol in the glass. Cox, who also doesn't drink, did the same when he toasted, telling the room it was ginger ale.
“It's symbolic to have Republicans and Democrats breaking bread together,” Cox said. “This is what is missing.”
“And I believe that the people of our country, at least the exhausted majority, wants us to be doing more of this.”
Cox thanked Biden and the first lady before introducing Murphy, who joked that he was definitely holding his glass in his right hand. He said their party affiliations were less important than the shared moniker of “Americans.”
After dinner, the guests filed into the East Room, where country singer Brad Paisley performed the song “American Saturday Night” and other tunes.
