After butting heads over a controversial multinational trade deal, President Barack Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi seemingly made amends Friday in San Francisco.
Just a week ago, Pelosi, D-Calif., led the opposition against Obama's legacy Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord, temporarily delaying its progression and forcing the White House and Republicans to reassess their strategy going forward.
The President and his closest ally in Congress barely spoke in a week, but on Friday, Obama planted a kiss on Pelosi's cheek while the two were on stage at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Pelosi's hometown of San Francisco, Reuters reported.
Later that night, the two lavished praise on one another at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser at the home of billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, where more than 50 wealthy Democratic donors each paid up to $33,400 to help House Democrats win races in 2016.
Pelosi thanked Obama for executive actions taken to curb greenhouse gases - including new regulations announced Friday to establish fuel economy standards for trucks and buses - and for the climate change deal Obama struck with the Chinese president, according to USA Today. "These are remarkable changes the president has done by executive action," she said, also thanking him for rescuing the economy in the wake of the 2008 crash and for reforming health care. "Thank you, Mr. President, for this," she said.
Obama admitted that "none of those things would have been accomplished had it not been for an extraordinary partner in Congress."
"Nancy Pelosi has been that partner, and I could not be prouder to work with her," he said, USA Today reported.
"As I think some of you may have noticed, it's not like I agree with my Democratic caucus on everything," Obama said, drawing laughter from the crowd and a blush from Pelosi. "But on 98 percent of things, they're moving in the right direction and I know where their heart is, and I know what their values are, and I know what they care about."
Many Democrats are hesitant to support what is one of the largest trade deals in history, in part over concerns that the secretive deal could work to protect the interests of corporations at the expense of American jobs, international workers, consumers and the environment. Obama has instead forged a rare alliance with Republicans to help push the accord forward.
