Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday agreed with Sen. Tim Scott that “America is not a racist country,” but she also defended President Joe Biden’s war on systemic racism. 

Scott made the comment during his rebuttal to Biden’s speech to a joint session on Congress on Wednesday night. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, accused Democrats of using race as a “political weapon” and fighting “discrimination with different discrimination.”

When asked about Scott’s comments Thursday morning, Harris: “No, I don't think America is a racist country. But we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today. And I applaud the president for always having the ability and the courage, frankly, to speak the truth about it.”

The problems associated with institutional racism and the pursuit of equity have been common themes discussed by Biden in his first 100 days in office. He touched on them again Wednesday night when discussing jobs, education, housing, clean air and water, and criminal justice, while adding that the threat of violent white supremacists cannot be ignored.

“These are issues that we must confront,” Harris said. “And it doesn't help to heal our country, to unify us as a people to ignore the realities of that. And I think the president has been outstanding and a real national leader.”

Scott, who last year introduced a police reform bill, acknowledged that “our healing is not finished” but said race should not be used as a “political weapon to settle every issue the way one side wants.”

He pointed to Georgia’s new voting law, which critics have argued is racially motivated. 

“They want people virtue-signaling by yelling about a law they haven’t even read,” he said. “Fact checkers have called out the White House for misstatements. The president absurdly claims this is worse than Jim Crow. What is going on here?

“Today, kids again are being taught that the color of their skin defines them, and if they look a certain way, they’re an oppressor,” Scott also said. “From colleges to corporations to our culture, people are making money and gaining power by pretending we haven’t made any progress at all, by doubling down on the divisions we’ve worked so hard to heal.”