PROVIDENCE – Federal health care policy and the North American Free Trade Agreement were main topics of discussion Friday at the National Governors Association 2017 Summer Meeting held in Providence.
The issues were highlighted by Vice President Mike Pence and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who addressed more than 30 governors and hundreds more business leaders, lobbyists and other interested individuals at the R.I. Convention Center.
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“President Donald Trump is going to lead this Congress to rescue the American people from the collapsing policies of Obamacare,” Pence told those in attendance. “The simple truth is that Obamacare is imploding all across America, and working families and small businesses are paying the price every day.”
The vice president spoke at length about how the Senate health care bill, proposed Thursday by Republican leaders, would strengthen the United States health care system.
United States governors, he added, would subsequently receive greater flexibility on how they could spend federal dollars under the new bill.
“We can put you back in the driver’s seat,” he said.
Pence’s health care pitch, however, was received with tepid applause.
Many governors, including Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, are wary of the proposed legislation, as changes to the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, could negatively impact federal funding levels and health insurance coverage at the state level.
“There is by no means consensus among governors that I’ve spoken to here that they’re going to get behind this bill,” Raimondo said during a press conference earlier in the day.
The federal legislation is also opposed by some Republican members of the Senate, and most Democrats, including the Rhode Island congressional delegation.
“This is the same train wreck of a bill, just sprinkled with a few sweetheart deals to try to scrape together enough Republican support,” said U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the Rhode Island Democrat. “The truth is there is no way to make this bill palatable to the American people.”
NGA organizers said the Providence meeting has yielded the largest number of governors and attendees ever for a summer meeting. The association also holds a winter meeting in Washington, D.C., each year, which often yields higher attendance than summer-time meetings.
More than 30 governors made the trip to the Ocean State, and nearly 1,800 tickets were sold for events on Friday, according to organizers. Some of the heightened buzz was likely attributable to Trudeau, who became the first head of state ever to attend an NGA meeting.
Trudeau spoke mostly about the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which Trump has described as the “worst trade deal ever.” The United States, Canada and Mexico are preparing to renegotiate the trade treaty, which Trudeau called the “most successful economic partnership” in history.
“To boil this down to one point: Canada is America’s biggest, best customer – by far,” he said.
The prime minister warned against taking “politically tempting shortcuts” when it came to rethinking the agreement, saying they wouldn’t help families in the mid or long term.
“Such policies kill growth,” he said.
Pence, who lauded the “remarkable relationship” that’s developed between Trump and Trudeau, said the president plans to modernize NAFTA for the 21st century.
“We’re looking forward to bringing NAFTA into the future,” he said.
Meanwhile, outside the Convention Center, a group of about 75 people were protesting the trade agreement, calling it a radical expansion of corporate greed.
“The people united will never be defeated,” the group chanted.
Also taking place on Friday at the Convention Center was a Girls Who Code hackathon, in which 30 middle and high school girls looked at policy issues that included access to health care, education, cybersecurity and infrastructure. Ark. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Girls Who Code Founder and CEO Reshma Saujani and Council of Chief STate School Officers’ 2017 National Teacher of the Year Sydney Chaffee were expected to judge the final projects.
The NGA meeting will continue through Saturday. Famed businessman Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is scheduled to address the governors Saturday afternoon, and the meeting will conclude later that evening with a clambake at the Eisenhower House in Newport.
Eli Sherman is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Sherman@PBN.com, or follow him on Twitter @Eli_Sherman.
