WASHINGTON — On his way back to the White House after his Pittsburgh address to steelworkers on Wednesday, President Joe Biden had more stops to make.
Before reaching Pittsburgh International Airport and Air Force One, Mr. Biden went to a Sheetz convenience store.
Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato joined him as they bought sandwiches for construction workers, according to White House pool reports.
Mr. Biden wore his trademark aviator sunglasses and posted for selfies with customers when he entered the store. He also posed for pictures with the store’s employees after first handing over some bills and picking up bags of food to take out.
He then delivered the sandwiches to construction workers helping to build the new terminal at the airport. It’s being funded through the president’s bipartisan infrastructure law.
The president shook hands with more than a dozen workers in yellow vests, chatting with each one, and posed for a photo with the workers.
Update: On Thursday, during his trip to Philadelphia, Mr. Biden stopped at Wawa, Pennsylvania’s other classic convenience store chain, according to White House pool reports.
In other Washington news:
Fetterman on GOP’s Mayorkas impeachment: ‘Bad performance art’
Before the U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted along party lines to dismiss without a hearing the charges against impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman accused Republicans of turning Congress into an episode of Jerry Springer.
“The House GOP can’t seem to grasp that impeachment is a constitutional tool reserved for cases of ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ not political vendettas,” Mr. Fetterman, D-Pa., said Wednesday. “This stunt is nothing more than bad performance art and a waste of time. It’s charades like this that make people hate Washington. Let’s get to work, pass a bill to secure our border, and do our jobs.”
The House voted to impeach Mr. Mayorkas in February, with support from Western Pennsylvania’s three GOP members. That 214-213 vote, mostly along party lines, cited charges that outside observers said fell far below the “high crimes and misdemeanors” required by the Constitution.
House Republicans said Mr. Mayorkas deserved impeachment because he failed to enforce border laws. The vote came a week after Republicans killed a bipartisan U.S. Senate bill to tighten border security.
“Over the last three years, Secretary Mayorkas’ failure to secure the border has turned every state into a border state,” U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, said in February.
Mr. Fetterman, who has said the U.S. must have stronger border security and reforms to provide pathways to citizenship, urged Republicans to return to the negotiating table.
Former VP Pence to serve as visiting fellow at Grove City College
Former Vice President Mike Pence will become Grove City College’s first distinguished visiting fellow of a new center focused on supporting Christian values in public life.
Mr. Pence, who often talks about how his Christian faith informs his conservatism and his political life, will teach a course with Paul McNulty, the college president, along with speaking and writing and participating in events on campus.
The college said its new Center for Faith & Public Life is an extension of its grounding in conservative values, commitment to advancing common good, and “its mission to prepare young people for lives of Christian service and civic responsibility.”
The center will explore and support the presence of Christian faith in public institutions, including government, politics, business, education and media at a time when the college says Judeo-Christian values in the public square are “facing increased scrutiny and growing opposition.”
“No one has pursued this calling more sincerely than the former vice president,” Mr. McNulty said in a statement. “He is an extraordinary role model for what it looks like to lead with wisdom and winsomeness in public life, and he will be a leading source of thought leadership and an impactful voice of the center.”
Mr. Pence said in a statement that he was honored to serve a “pivotal institution in helping students grow in their faint and in understanding God’s calling.”
“Faith and engaging in public life are not mutually exclusive, nor should they ever be,” he said. “History shows that Christians steadily working toward the common good have changed the world, and Grove City College opening a center shows they are committed to continuing this work.”
Jonathan D. Salant: jsalant@post-gazette.com, @JDSalant; Benjamin Kail: bkail@post-gazette.com, @BenKail
First Published: April 18, 2024, 3:24 p.m.
Updated: April 19, 2024, 9:38 a.m.