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Transcript of Pelosi Press Conference Today

February 4, 2016

Contact: Drew Hammill/Evangeline George, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press conference today. Below is a transcript of the press conference.

Leader Pelosi. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for your patience. I'm running behind schedule because we had a really wonderful [National] Prayer Breakfast this morning. And it didn't seem long, but it took longer. And I wish you could have heard – and perhaps you did – the President's speech. It was lovely.

I had the privilege, provided by our bipartisan leadership, Mr. [Robert] Aderholt and Mr. [Juan] Vargas, who headed up the breakfast, to present a prayer for unity from the scriptures, and it is that unity that we all hope for and pray for. And one area that it would be very useful right now is how we address a problem that is challenging our conscience and our policy – and that is what is happening in Flint, Michigan.

Yesterday, as I'm sure you're aware, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on the outrageous situation in Flint. As many as 9,000 children under the age of 6 were drinking water and bathed in poisonous water for more than one year. Many of them could face lifetime damage from the lead exposure. But, hopefully, we can save them from that the sooner we act.

All this happened because of decisions that were made by emergency managers appointed by the Governor to save money on drinking water in a working community. Yet, many of those responsible for this crisis were not called before the committee yesterday. And so, yesterday, Oversight and Government Reform Democrats wrote to Chairman [Jason] Chaffetz to demand that Governor Rick Snyder and Flint's emergency managers be asked to testify. Flint's Congressman, Dan Kildee, and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, and the entire Michigan delegation, well, they have been phenomenal, urgent voices for the families of Flint suffering from a man-made catastrophe. So tragic.

On Wednesday, House Democrats on our Steering and Policy Committee will hold a hearing on this crisis. Mr. Kildee has introduced a bill that addresses some of the humanitarian concern as well as the infrastructure concerns. He and Fred Upton, the Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, also of Michigan, have co-sponsored, co-authored legislation which essentially says that the EPA should be able – loosens the restrictions on EPA from giving direction to a local entity, as they were constrained in this case from doing.

I think all unity breaks down every time the subject of financial services comes up around here. As you know, there is a bright spotlight, really a harsh bright spotlight on what government does and how it relates to the financial services industry. Democrats are trying to work in good faith, trying to come to agreement on some of the bills that the Republicans were putting forth. The Republicans just outdid themselves yesterday – H.R. 766.

H.R. 766 – I never know what any of the numbers are – but let me tell you what that one is. You recall certain judgments that were made recently, $13 billion against JPMorgan Chase, $16.7 billion against the Bank of America, $5 billion against Goldman Sachs, and $1.4 billion against Standard & Poor's. These were settlements from major financial institutions in cases of mortgage fraud – cases of mortgage fraud.

What this bill that is on the Floor today would say is that it would defang the Justice Department. Federal prosecutors would be unable to prosecute fraud committed by big banks under FIRREA.

FIRREA is a bill that was passed after – I was on the Banking Committee at the time, so I lived through the savings and loan scandal. You remember from your history books – if not, remembering from actually being aware of it at the time, the savings and loan scandal was a disaster. And the bill that was passed was called FIRREA, and that bill gave the Justice Department the ability to prosecute in cases of fraud. And that's how those judgments – $13 billion, $16.7 billion, $5 billion, $1.4 billion – those judgments were made.

This bill on the floor today says you cannot charge banks. The only investigation you can do of banks is if somebody does damage to the bank. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that, with all the mortgage fraud that went on in our country, with the admission in the settlement of these big sums of money, which maybe these big banks think is the price of doing business? But hopefully, it will result in a change of behavior.

So this is one of those places of trickle‑down [or] middle economics. Who are we here? Whose interests are we here to protect? Who has the leverage? The homeowner or the banks? They have no vulnerability, no exposure under [H.R.] 766.

As you know, also this week we had an area of disagreement on the Reconciliation bill. I won't go into Groundhog's Day because it will sound too much like Groundhog's Day when I say over and over again what they have done over and over again. But it is the 63rd vote to repeal and undermine the Affordable Care Act and the 12th vote to attack women's health in the 114th Congress alone.

This bill would have taken family planning and lifesaving preventive care away from millions of women across the nation and shattered the affordable health care of millions of Americans, as many as 22 million Americans.

We need good‑paying jobs. We need higher wages. We need bigger paychecks, more security in finances and in the communities, not endlessly recycling this Republican ideology of no government.

With that, I'd be pleased to take any questions. No questions?

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Q: I have a question.

Leader Pelosi. Yes, ma'am?

Q: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has ordered that all combat roles in the U.S. military be open to women. Will you support any action by Congress to roll back or restrict the use of women in combat by the U.S. military?

Leader Pelosi. Will I support actions to restrict?

Q: Yes.

Leader Pelosi. Oh, no, no, no, no. I think that women can – it's an individual thing for men and for women as to the task. But, I support removing any barriers to women serving in the military, including becoming Commander-in-Chief.

Q: Did TPP come up at all at the Democrats' retreat last week? And if so, what was discussed?

Leader Pelosi. TPP came up in the context of a presentation by AFL‑CIO President Richard Trumka, who presented his point of view. It was not a special session or it wasn't really a lot of debate because there were other questions that people had about some things that appeared to be more immediate. And TPP, from all I hear, may not be that immediate, but we will see.

Yes, ma'am?

Q: Senate Democrats are preparing to block an energy bill because of the Flint water crisis. I'm wondering if you can elaborate a little bit about what your plans are. I know you said you are going to be having a hearing. I wonder if there is a unified strategy here, what should happen next. Can you expand on that?

Leader Pelosi. Well, I'm disappointed. And our Chairman of the CBC, Mr. Butterfield, has written a letter to Senator McConnell to say do more for Flint. And in that way, of course, it would move the energy bill because it's an energy bill that addresses some of the challenges that we have in infrastructure as it relates to energy, and I would hope it could go forward.

But it shouldn't be held back because they are being too meager in addressing the Flint situation. I am hoping that they will listen to Senator [Debbie] Stabenow and Senator Gary Peters and their legislation. It's similar to – has something in common with what Mr. Kildee was doing, except theirs is $600 million, his is 765. His bill was introduced later. He had very carefully crafted what actually could be, that there is an absorptive capacity for that that would be used that would make a difference in the lives of the children and in the longer term, meeting longer‑term infrastructure needs.

How are we proceeding? We are taking our lead from our Michigan Members who see firsthand the consequences of this really unconscionable decision on the part of the Governor of Michigan to have these kids at the mercy of this poisonous water. I would hope that we could have an objective review of the facts. While this is horrible, there are similar situations in the rest of the country that need to be addressed, whether it is lead in the schools. I could give you chapter and verse of what our Members have told us of their concerns.

This is more than a canary in the mine – this is something, a very big, loud noise about why we need to address our infrastructure challenges. What we find is that no maintenance is the most expensive, both in terms of health and in terms of quality of life, commerce, all the other reasons we should be doing infrastructure.

And so next week the Steering and Policy Committee will be holding a hearing to put some facts on the record about how we should go forward. You know, it's terrible. How did we get there? It's interesting to know. But what we need are positive initiatives as to how we go forward to protect these children and other children who may have some exposure or vulnerability in their communities. We have to learn from this.

Q: Leader Pelosi, a politics question, if I may.

Ms. Pelosi. Oh, my gosh. Have we talked enough policy to allow us a political question?

Q: I was the fourth or fifth, on purpose. Is Hillary Clinton a progressive? That is being debated right now.

Leader Pelosi. I think Hillary Clinton is a progressive, yes. I think that we had three great progressives in the race. I'm very proud of Martin O'Malley and the race that he ran. I think everybody is impressed by how Senator Sanders has eclipsed any other voices other than Mrs. Clinton's as we go forward. He is a great progressive as well.

Who sets the standard for progressive? Let me tell you, some days I am the darling of the progressives and the next day – or maybe later in the same day – I am the target of the progressives.

One thing about progressives is that they have a very high standard and a high percentage of agreeability. That is to say, being consistent with everything that each of them believes is a standard that they set.

But, when it comes to how we decide what our budget is in our country and how we allocate our resources in terms of investing in our children, in the future, investing in our values, when it comes to her work with children for her whole life, the list goes on and on about her progressive credentials. There is no question about Bernie's credentials.

Q: Policy question?

Leader Pelosi. Yes, ma'am.

Q: So, the Pentagon has said that ISIS forces in Libya have grown to as many as 6,500, which is about double compared to a year ago. How concerned are you about their growth, the growth of ISIS in Libya? And should we expand our focus to fighting them there as well?

Leader Pelosi. I'm very concerned about the expansion of ISIS anyplace, and this particular part of your question in Libya. So I was interested in what the Secretary of State had to say about how we help build a stronger political infrastructure in Libya, how people come together there to have a unity government, that we can help fight ISIS in their own country.

Q: Can I go back on something for a minute? Some Republicans have suggested the best way to get money for Flint would be to have it declared a Federal disaster area, open up a lot of money from FEMA. Is that something you support? The White House so far has not done that.

Leader Pelosi. Well, they are saying that because they want to take all the responsibility away from them. But that money is money for natural disasters. That money is not there for political disasters. And what the governor did was a policy disaster of the highest magnitude.

Now, should there be some kind of matching, a formulation that we can come up with to help the children? I think people have to understand the serious – look, I'm a mom, and you've heard me say so many times one of the reasons that I have been involved in politics and government is, because as a mom, I can't stand the thought that one in five children in America lives in poverty. As much as I love my own children, I don't think it's good for them unless we share our concern with all of the other children of America and in the whole world.

And as a mom, I know that I could do many things for my children. I could even homeschool them. But I cannot – I cannot – assure the quality of the air they breathe, the quality of the water they drink, the safety of the food they eat. That is a public responsibility. It could be public and private and non-profit, but there is a strong public role in how we seek clean air and clean water. That's our responsibility.

So if a decision is consciously made to transfer poisonous water to children in a city and then say, "Why don't you just bail us all out?" Well, you know, I think there has to be some sense of responsibility. In my view, we have to do whatever we need to do for the children. There are some infrastructure needs that are there, you know about the pipes and all the rest.

But many of us have been for decades talking about the fact that many of our water systems in the country are so old they are made of brick and wood. Brick and wood. Does that sound like something you want to drink and bathe in and the rest?

So I haven't seen – if it's a reflection of their level of concern, just carte blanche, well, I'm glad they are that concerned. But I think we really have to take a look at what we really need to do and how to make sure this doesn't happen again and how the FEMA funds, because tomorrow you could have another natural disaster. And they are emergencies.

This is a man-made emergency. It's similar to Katrina in this respect. Katrina was a natural disaster. How it was handled was a man-made disaster, and it cost a lot of money. But since it was tied to a natural disaster, we obviously came up with billions of dollars to meet the needs.

And that's what people expect. The social compact that citizens, people in our country have with government is that we will be there for them in time of natural disaster. I think that's one way of them absolving the whole issue and saying, "It just happened." But it didn't just happen. It was a decision. It was a decision.

Any other questions? Yes, ma'am.

Q: Leader Pelosi, I want to ask you about Hillary Clinton, because House Republicans appear to be ramping up their investigation of her. In addition to the Benghazi Committee, the Oversight Committee is looking into the Federal Records Act, potentially her email. I was wondering do you have any reaction to this? You have defended her record before.

Leader Pelosi. Yes.

Q: And you praised her earlier.

Leader Pelosi. Yes.

Q: Are you officially endorsing Hillary Clinton?

Leader Pelosi. Not here right now in this room, no.

Q: When will you?

Leader Pelosi. But to answer your question about what records, what records are we talking about? Any and all records from the beginning of time? What is the scope? What is the chronology? What is the purpose of this?

Are they so afraid of Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail that they have to have some subterfuge, change the subject, pull the conversation over here?

It's really interesting. Affordable Care Act, Benghazi, contraception, that seems to be their obsession. And now if you follow Benghazi and every other memo.

If they want to have public exposure of all the records, I would like to expose the records associated with our going into Iraq, because at the time, as many of you know, I said the intelligence does not support the threat. There was no intelligence that supported the claim that the administration was making about a nuclear weapon in Iraq.

And of course that turned out to be true. And that's why I'm so proud an overwhelming number of House Democrats voted against that war based on that false premise.

But isn't it shocking – isn't it shocking that your colleague Brian Williams, more attention was paid to how he covered the war than the war, and more complaints with how he dealt with it than how the Administration took us into war? I've not seen a lot of criticism from the press on the war in Iraq, nor from the Republicans who want to dig up records on every subject in the book except one of the major mistakes in American history.

So you want records? Let's go look at records. But I think it's a waste of time. Let's just go forward. That's what elections are about. They're about the future. Let's have a discussion of ideas and not politics of personal destruction, which is what they – some of them – seem to be about. Let's not paint them all with the same brush.

Let's hope that in the interest of our country there will be a serious debate on how we should go forward and how we can give confidence to the American people in our democracy by reducing the role of money in the decisionmaking of our campaigns, by showing that we are there to put people first in job creation and in increasing their paychecks and in keeping the American people safe, which is our first responsibility, to protect and defend. And that means even in their neighborhoods, in the homeland, and of course globally.

Thank you all very much.

Q: An important question. Did you see Steph Curry last night in person?

Leader Pelosi. I saw the game. He scored 51 points.

Q: Did you go?

Leader Pelosi. Yes, I went with my daughter and my son and John Burton's daughter. That's a name from the past here. We had our San Francisco cheering section.

It was interesting to me because, you know, I have gone to the Nats, I love the Nationals, but not when they're playing the Giants. When I would go to those games – and where is our friend? He is not here today, our sportsman. When I go to those games in my orange jacket, I would be like, oh, my gosh, there are tens of thousands of people here and maybe a hundred Giants fans. But last night in the arena there were lots of people cheering for the Warriors. And of course there were a lot cheering for the Wizards. And the Wizards played good. Their guy got 40 points. But Steph had 51. It was a great game.

And today, later, after votes, we are going to the White House, where they will be received by the President as the champions from last year. As you know, it's a custom, whoever wins, whether it's baseball, basketball, football, whatever, they have their moment to be recognized in the White House. It's usually a long time after they actually win the championship because it's when they're playing in the area, and that's sometime later.

So, yeah, I was there. It was a great game. It was a close game. It was interesting. It was competitive.

Q: More so than we thought it would be after the first half. He had 25 in the first quarter. Curry had 25 points in the first quarter.

Leader Pelosi. He had 51 at the end.

Thank you.

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