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Bono Meets With Joe Biden at White House

'You witnessed the formation of a new band,' spokesman jokes

Bono speaks at Georgetown University in Georgetown, Virginia.
Leigh Vogel/Getty Images
November 13, 2012 3:35 PM ET

Bono met with Vice President Joe Biden at the White House today to discuss global development, AIDS and fighting poverty, according to a tweet from the Vice President's office.

"You witnessed the formation of a new band," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney joked during a press briefing.

Last night, Bono gave the keynote address at the Global Social Enterprise Initiative at Georgetown University. In it, the U2 frontman praised President Obama and discussed ongoing economic challenges and the disastrous impact that certain fiscal decisions could have on the extremely poor.

"Cuts can cost the lives of the poorest of the poor," he said. "It shouldn't be a hard case to make, but it is right now – in the halls of Congress, the Senate, maybe here in Healy Hall. But I put it to you: we must not let this economic recession become a moral recession. That would become a double cruelty."

While in Washington, Bono is reportedly also scheduled to meet with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers as a representative of the ONE Campaign, a grassroots activist group that fights extreme poverty and preventable diseases.

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