President Joe Biden, while speaking at the White House Conference on Nutrition, Hunger, and Health on Wednesday, asked the audience where Rep. Jackie Walorski was — almost two months after the Indiana Republican congresswoman was killed in an automobile accident in Indiana in August.
Biden made the gaffe when he was calling out the bipartisan work that members of Congress have done, thanking Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Rep. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Walorski for their work.
"Jackie, you here?" Biden said. "Where's Jackie? She must not be here."
He then went on with his speech.
The clip was shared on Twitter.
Walorski and two members of her staff died in the two-vehicle crash on Aug. 3 in Indiana. The Republican congresswoman had represented the state's 2nd Congressional District since 2012.
On the day she died, Biden issued a statement through the White House press office saying that he and his wife Jill were "shocked and saddened" by the news.
Biden also mentioned Walorski's work with the conference he was to speak at on Wednesday, commenting that Walorksi "served as co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus, and my team and I appreciated her partnership as we plan for a historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health this fall that will be marked by her deep care for the needs of rural America."
Walorski, Booker, Braun, and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., introduced the legislation that led to the conference.
It comes more than 50 years after the first such event, held while President Richard Nixon was in office, which led to creating and expanding SNAP, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, and the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program, reports NBC News.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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