CHARLESTON, W.Va. — During his inaugural address Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden spent most of his 22 minutes stressing the importance of unity and cooperation.
“Politics need not be a raging fire destroying everything in its path,” the president said. “Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war, and we must reject a culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.”
Biden’s first day in office came two weeks after the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, in which supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the legislative building and delayed the certification of the election results.
Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., said Biden hit the right themes in his address; speaking to MetroNews after the inauguration ceremony, the congresswoman said all policymakers who come to Washington, D.C. want to make their districts, states and the country better.
“You need to start making relationships with people and learning the ropes,” she said. “I’m going to concentrate on trade, getting good investment into West Virginia and letting other places understand what a wonderful place West Virginia is to live and work and raise a family. … There are many things I will be concentrating on.”
Miller’s second term in the House of Representatives will have her again as part of the minority party; Democrats control the chamber and the Senate, with the latter because Vice President Kamala Harris has the responsibility to break any possible ties on votes.
“It was important for me to find common ground in order to move forward,” Miller said. “Sometimes, you can’t quite pull that together, but it’s always better to work in the positive rather than work in the negative. I think it’s time for the bitterness and those kinds of things to go away, and let’s concentrate on what we can do with the greatest country in the world.”
Fellow Republican Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney tweeted messages supporting a peaceful transfer of power. Mooney and Miller earlier this month objected to certifying some states’ votes in the presidential election.