Burgum participates in White House business session with Trump, Pence, cabinet officials

Statement

Gov. Doug Burgum today attended a business session at the White House with President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Cabinet secretaries following the conclusion of the National Governors Association's annual Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C.

The President and Vice President addressed the governors in the State Dining Room, delivering remarks on several topics, including increased funding for infrastructure, reducing prices for prescription drugs and improving trade relationships.

Prior to the dialogue with the President and Vice President, Burgum participated in a session on improving broadband and connectivity with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, White House representatives and seven other governors. Burgum discussed new technologies to improve access to broadband and the potential benefits to agriculture, energy and unmanned aircraft systems from President Trump's proposed budget, which includes billions of dollars of investments in connectivity infrastructure.

Burgum and seven other governors also discussed criminal justice reform with Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and other representatives from the Executive Office of the President. Burgum highlighted North Dakota's progress on criminal justice reform in recent years, including the Free Through Recovery program, which is helping support successful re-entry after incarceration.

"We're thankful for the President and his administration engaging with governors on the issues that matter most to our states and discussing the unique solutions states are successfully implementing to solve our most complex challenges," Burgum said.

Source