President Biden at National Prayer Breakfast: 'We can redeem the soul of America'

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden Thursday called on Americans to come together and treat each other with respect to "redeem the soul" of the nation at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

Biden said America has lost so much in recent years, with a million lives lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, record bouts of extreme weather and politically "seeing each other as enemies rather than as competitors" but ultimately struck a chord of hope.

"While we have profound differences over the last two years that divide us, we've proven we can come together to do big things for the country," Biden said. "We can redeem the soul of America."

He said Americans can "go forward together" to progress on the serious issues facing the country.

"Let's be the doers of the word. Let's keep the faith. Let's remember who we are. We are the United States of America. We're born out of an idea. No other nation is born of an idea," Biden said.

That idea, he said, is that all men and women are created equal, endowed by their creator with inalienable rights to life and liberty.

Biden said his prayer for this National Prayer Breakfast is that "we start seeing each other again, to argue like hell with each other, but still go to lunch together."

"That's what Kevin and I are gonna do. Not a joke," Biden said referring to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. "We had a good meeting yesterday. I think we got to do it across the board. Doesn't mean we're gonna agree and fight like hell. But let's treat each other with respect."

Biden met with McCarthy to discuss a range of issues, including the national debt limit, which the United States reached last month.

The White House said the two had a "frank" and "straightforward" discussion and McCarthy said he was encouraged that there was an opportunity to come to an agreement on lifting debt ceiling and coming to an agreement on spending.