‘Jackie? Where’s Jackie?’ Biden Calls Out for a Congresswoman Who Died Last Month in a Car Accident
Speaking at a White House conference on Wednesday, President Joe Biden thanked members of Congress for making the event possible, specifically asking where Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) was. The congresswoman was killed along with three others in a devastating car accident last month.
Walorksi was part of the bipartisan group of legislators who made the conference possible, putting forward the bipartisan, bicameral bill to convene the second national White House conference on food, nutrition, hunger, and health. The first such conference was 50 years ago during Richard Nixon‘s administration.
At Wednesday’s event, the late Rep. Walorski was honored by her colleagues.
A tribute video honoring the late Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.) will play during the White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health today. She was a major advocate for the effort and among a handful of Rs who stuck behind it, even when the politics grew tough.
— Meredith Lee Hill (@meredithllee) September 28, 2022
As Politico’s Meridith Lee Hill observed, President Biden, who turns 80 in November, seemed unaware of that planned tribute and asked for the deceased congresswoman.
“Jackie, you here? Where’s Jackie?” Biden asked. “I didn’t think she was, she was going to be here.”
Biden, thanking bipartisan lawmakers for making the conference happen, appears to reference the late Rep. Jackie Walorski without realizing she passed away in August
“Jackie,” Biden said after thanking Sens. Booker + Braun. “Where is Jackie?” https://t.co/noST87bW6l
— Meredith Lee Hill (@meredithllee) September 28, 2022
A short time later, Susan Rice smoothed over the lapse.
Susan Rice a few minutes later thanking lawmakers during a panel says the group “of course” misses the late Rep. Jackie Walorski “who passed away in August”
— Meredith Lee Hill (@meredithllee) September 28, 2022
The video tribute to Walorksi was not played while Biden was there.
Walorksi was co-chair of the House Hunger Congress along with Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), and she was a committed advocate on issues of hunger and poverty, working with both her Republican and Democratic colleagues.
The bipartisan group of legislators that made today’s conference possible also included Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN).
Watch the clip above, via C-SPAN.
