Transcript of Pelosi Weekly Press Conference Today
Contact: Speaker's Press Office, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press conference today in the Capitol Visitor Center. Below are the Speaker's remarks:
Speaker Pelosi. Good morning, everyone. We had votes until now. Are you all gathered here for Ed O'Keefe's birthday?
[Laughter]
Speaker Pelosi. Is that what this is about? Let's just dwell on that for a while. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Yes, Ed?
Q: So I get the first question.
Speaker Pelosi. All right. Okay. You can just block out Chad, you know.
[Laughter]
Speaker Pelosi. Anyway, good morning, everyone. As we're coming to the end of March, Women's History Month, I am very excited about how we observed it yesterday in the Statuary Hall. Yesterday, we had a beautiful, historic ceremony honoring women in STEM, science, technology, education, and math, by honoring the women who helped put a man on the moon: Christine Darden, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan.
What I said yesterday is it took ‘A‘ – making it STEAM, the arts – for the world to know about the ‘Hidden Figures,' the book that was written, the movie that was made, the inspiration that they inspired. Maybe some of you were there.
It was very, very exciting for us in Women's History Month to honor these hidden figures, African American women who had made such a big difference, not only with their mathematical brilliance only, but with their dignity, with their diplomacy, and how they got results.
I told one of my favorite stories, which you've heard me tell. A teacher says to a student, ‘What is 1 and 1?' First grade. ‘2.' ‘2 and 2?' ‘4.' The teacher says, ‘Good.' The little boy says, ‘Not good, perfect. Perfect.'
And that's what it was yesterday, just perfect, to be honoring them for their mathematical genius, but also the contribution they made to America's success.
We also yesterday on the Floor of the House had great excitement, under the leadership of Rosa DeLauro, to pass the [Paycheck Fairness] Act. It's very exciting for us. When we had the Majority before, we passed it in the House, couldn't get 60 votes in the Senate. But now, here we are again, with social media helping us, with women very much more engaged.
So, on the Floor of the House yesterday, in a Congress that has over 100 women for the first time, and a Congress that will observe the 100th anniversary of women having the right to vote, under Rosa's leadership, our godmother for all things, paid family leave, child care. You name it, Rosa is there.
But yesterday, equal pay for equal work, which is part of our For The People agenda. Lower health care costs by lowering cost of prescription drugs, bigger paychecks by building infrastructure in a green way, and here, having women have equal pay for equal work, and cleaner government.
Not even three months, just almost three months into our Majority, we have had introduction of bills, mark-ups of bills, passage of bills on the Floor. We're very proud of our Democratic record.
And this week we took another step for the promise of health care for all Americans. That has been not for us an issue or legislation – it's a value. It's about the humanity of America.
And it is led by our Committee Chairs, our three Chairs, whom some of you saw introduce the bills earlier this week: Ways and Means, Richie Neal; Education and Labor, Bobby Scott; and Energy and Commerce, a big chunk of it, with Frank Pallone. Some of that legislation was marked up in committee yesterday.
But led by a Freshman and the Committee Chairs, we introduced – this is a long title – Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions and Making Health Care More Affordable Act. Very descriptive of our purpose.
It strengthens protections with people with pre-existing conditions by stopping insurance companies from swindling families with their junk plans, which the Administration thinks is a good idea; reverses GOP sabotage that needlessly spiked premiums and left more people uninsured; and takes new action to lower health care premiums by increasing subsidies and raising the threshold for eligibility for those subsidies.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, our bill would reduce premiums for more than 13 million Americans.
Unfortunately, in stark contrast, the Trump Administration radically expanded its war on America's health care this week. Hard to explain, but who knows – asking the court to strike down every last provision of the Affordable Care Act: striking down protections against pre-existing conditions, striking down bans on lifetime limit and annual limits, striking down the Medicaid expansion, striking down tax subsidies that make health care affordable for more. And all would be ended if the President gets his way.
We will fight that. We will fight that in the Congress. We'll fight it in the court. And we'll fight it in the court of public opinion, as I'm fond of saying.
We stand ready to make health care better, to reach our goal of ever-expanding access to many more people, better quality, more affordable health care.
That's why we called it the Affordable Care Act way back when, when we passed it. It didn't have a gimmicky name. It just had a factual name, ‘Affordable,' and that means accessible as well.
This week, we were happy to have Democrats honor the promise of For The People when we took bold action on climate crisis. We talked about building infrastructure of America in a green way. I do believe, as I said when I was Speaker before and continue to say, that climate crisis is the existential threat of our time, in terms of our priorities here.
The climate issue is a jobs issue. America must be preeminent in the world in advancing green technologies. It's a public health issue. It's about clean air, clean water and the safety of our environment for our children. It's a national security issue, as has been made clear by national security experts again and again and currently.
And it's a moral issue. If you believe, as I do, that this is God's creation, we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of it. But even if you don't share that view, I think we all agree that we have a moral responsibility to future generations to pass on this planet in a responsible way.
Democrats' H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now [Act], demands action, demanding America keep up our Paris agreements and demanding a plan from the Administration.
Mr. President, don't walk away from the Paris Accord, as you have said you would, and let's see what you have in mind instead.
In coming weeks and months, our Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, headed by Kathy Castor – she's spectacular. She knows her subject. She has her enthusiasm for it. She's seen her community suffer from the consequences of climate change. She's been outstanding. And they organized, they've organized already. So, they're going to have their first hearing next week. So stay tuned on there.
When I was Speaker before, we had the Select Committee on Climate, with Ed Markey chairing it. This time, it's not only a Select Committee, but it is a Congress-wide agenda.
Every Chairman, look to your brief. See how you can, whether it's in building the infrastructure in a green way, or whether it is building broadband in our country so that communication is improved, receiving people's suggestions, especially young people, about climate. So, it is a Caucus wide effort, For The People.
What I wanted to say in closing is that – what would be the proper adjective, shameful, sad, irresponsible of the President of the United States and the Republicans on the Intelligence Committee to take the actions that they have. They're just plain afraid. They're afraid of the truth. They're afraid of competence. They're afraid of a leader who is recognized in our country for being calm, professional, patriotic.
I'm so proud of the work of Chairman Adam Schiff, in stark contrast to the irresponsible, almost criminal behavior of the previous Chair of the Committee.
So, what is the President afraid of? Is he afraid of the truth, that he would go after a Member, a Chairman of a Committee, a respected Chairman of a Committee in the Congress? I think they're just scaredy cats. They just don't know what to do, so they have to make an attack.
They did the wrong thing. The American people know that. It's their own insecurity, their own fear of the truth, their fear of the facts, and their fear of an effective, patriotic leader, in his measured way, is going to make sure the American people know the truth.
Any questions? Birthday boy.
***
Q: Following up on that, Madam Speaker, in the last Congress there was pressure put on the Republican leader of the Committee to at least recuse – well, he decided to recuse himself from the Russia-related investigations. Do you foresee a reason for Chairman Schiff to have to do something similar under this kind of pressure? Then I've got one other point.
Speaker Pelosi. It's curious that – since it's your birthday, they may allow you two questions – it's curious that you said he recused himself. He denies that he recused himself. He should have recused himself. He gave you the impression that he recused himself, but he never did. He acted in a very bad way. What's your next question?
Q: Well, Chairman Schiff and other Committee Chairmen have asked the Attorney General to release the full Mueller report by next Tuesday.
Speaker Pelosi. Yes.
Q: If they don't, would you support subpoenaing the Justice Department for the whole report and all the underlying documents?
Speaker Pelosi. I support my Chairmen. I'm very proud of the work of all six Chairmen. Want me to name them? Adam Schiff, Elijah Cummings, Jerry Nadler, Maxine Waters, Richie Neal, and Foreign Affairs has a piece of this, Eliot Engel as well. And they, all six, have made that request. We'll see what their actions are.
As you may know, I'm a big believer in the committee system here in the Congress. They take the first bite of this wormy apple, and I trust their judgment as to how we go forward.
Q: Speaker Pelosi, the Barr letter quotes the Mueller report and says the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian Government in its election interference activity. Are you ready to accept that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians?
Speaker Pelosi. What I'm ready to do is act For The People with our bill to lower costs for prescription drugs and health care, increase paychecks by building infrastructure of America and having honest government as we passed H.R. 1.
In terms of this, this is a responsibility we have to uphold the Constitution. I have said and I'll say again: ‘No thank you, Mr. Attorney General, we do not need your interpretation. Show us the report, and we can draw our own conclusions. We don't need you interpreting for us.' It was condescending, it was arrogant, and it wasn't the right thing to do. So the sooner they can give us the information, the sooner we can all make a judgment about it.
Let me just say again what I said to you before. And somebody thought I was joking when I said this. I'm deadly serious. If a foreign government comes to you and says they have information on your opponent, I say to any Member of Congress or person running for office, ‘You take that right to the FBI.'
So for this report to say that there was no tacit cooperation, well, yeah, if they didn't bring the information to the FBI, they were delinquent in their responsibilities.
Q: Madam Speaker, thank you.
Speaker Pelosi. Wait a minute, I haven't had a woman.
Q: That's okay. I defer to Chad because I think he'd be upset.
Q: Well, I defer to my neighbor. She lives in my neighborhood.
Speaker Pelosi. And I defer to you, and that's the deference that counts.
Q: Thank you, Madam Speaker. A different topic, climate change. As you mentioned, H.R. 9 you all unveiled yesterday.
Speaker Pelosi. Yes.
Q: When you were Speaker under the previous President, though, the House passed a bill to actually launch a cap and trade system for a significant climate change agenda. The bill yesterday instead asks the President to come up with a plan?
Speaker Pelosi. No, the bill –
Q: I understand that committees are working separately, but why is it that you feel the President should come up with a plan when he has said clearly he's not interested in this issue?
Speaker Pelosi. Well, there's no question the President is in denial about a lot of things, but he's in denial on the climate crisis. This bill yesterday was not our bill. This bill was announcing the continuation of the hearings that we're having on the climate crisis, whether we're dealing with it in terms of a public health issue, a national security issue, an economic issue to create jobs or a moral issue to preserve the planet.
So, what we're saying to the President, ‘You're walking away from Paris, what do you have to offer?' But from our standpoint, we've only just begun.
Yes, ma'am?
Q: To follow on Manu's question, do you feel that the Committee should still be full steam ahead on the issue of collusion or, given the discrepancy between the Mueller report and Barr's summary, should the focus be mostly on obstruction of justice?
Speaker Pelosi. How can I just say this more clearly? Show us the report. Show us the report.
Now, it was interesting to see in one of the, as we frequently reference, Hill rags, that Mueller has said – and I don't know if this is true, it just was the headline – that the grand juries are still continuing their work.
But, you know, it's no use for us to have this discussion. We have to see the facts. We have to see what the report is. And we do not need an Attorney General whose job interview was – that the President is above the law, that doesn't think a President can be indicted, to be our interpreter of something that he should just show us.
And, again, I've made my statement on it. We are focused on meeting the needs of the American people in their lives, and that is not what the Administration is doing.
And you would think the Justice Department would be busy vetting the report so it could more quickly bring it to the public, in public view. Instead, what do they do? They're going to court to overturn every single provision of the Affordable Care Act. Not a good use of their time. We'll see them in court.
Q: Madam Speaker?
Speaker Pelosi. Yes, Chad.
Q: Thank you. Since you have taken impeachment off the table, Al Green and Rashida Tlaib last night again made a push. They said the President doesn't have to commit a crime to be doing this. I said, ‘Well, isn't there distance between those two Members and the leadership, since you've taken it off the table?' and they said, ‘No, leadership always tells us to reflect our district.' Do you think that they are reflecting their district? Is there distance between some of your Members on impeachment and your position on impeachment right now?
Speaker Pelosi. With all due respect to you, Chad, I don't think that's an important question. The important question is, when are we going to see the information?
Now, some people have been asking for impeachment for a while. That doesn't impact my action. My action is – what we want to do here is to be transparent so the American people have the facts and the truth. Show us the report.
Secondly – and by the way, 80 percent plus of the American people say they want to see the report, 420 Members of the House of Representatives, Democrats and Republicans, voted, ‘Yes, show us the report.' So, that's what we want to see.
What other things that are going on are interesting, but they're not dispositive of the course of action we take. Look to our six Chairs and the direction they are going in.
Now, on that score, in terms of all of that, transparency, bipartisanship, unity, that's what we promised as we came in and how we did our For The People agenda, so the American people could see what the choices were legislatively. No dark of night, speed of light giving tax breaks to the top 1 percent, 83 percent of the benefits to the top 1 percent in our country.
No, let the public see what the choices are. Let's go through the committee process so they have time to make their judgment as to whether their interests are served or the special dark interests are served in our country. Transparency.
Secondly, bipartisanship. On this vote, every single person voted. Four abstained, but nobody voted ‘No' about releasing this report. And I do think, and I've said it and I'll keep saying it, I think that impeachment is a very divisive issue in our country. And we shouldn't impeach a President because of a political reason, but we shouldn't not impeach a President if the evidence is there for impeachment. But that's not where we are.
Okay. I think just one more question.
Yes, ma'am?
Q: I'm curious about the Violence Against Women Act.
Speaker Pelosi. Yes, please.
Q: It's coming up for the Floor next week, and it looks like the NRA is going to oppose the bill.
Speaker Pelosi. Yeah.
Q: What do you think that means for the fate of the law? And would Democrats be willing to take out the NRA related provision in order to get this bill reauthorized?
Speaker Pelosi. No, the bill is as we will present it to the Floor of the House. And what we're talking about is – let me just give you a little background on VAWA. This is something many of us were present at the birth of in the '90s. Joe Biden actually took the lead on this in that legislation. I, as an Appropriator, was part of the funding of the VAWA. So this is something that has great meaning in our country, ending violence against women.
When we had, five years ago, the reauthorization of the bill, the Senate voted in a bipartisan way for VAWA, bipartisan way, VAWA. In the House, the Speaker refused to bring the bill to the Floor for hundreds of days. Hundreds of days. You know why? Because the Republican position was, we're against violence against women, but not women who are immigrants, not women who are LGBTQ, and not women who are Native American. Really? Some of the most vulnerable women in our population, they didn't want to protect them.
So, we had a big ongoing fight until we made it too hot for them to handle. We just made it too hot. The outside mobilization – God bless the outside, whether it's protecting health care or whatever – the outside mobilization just weighed in.
So, that they finally agreed to bring both bills to the Floor, the Senate bipartisan bill and their nasty anti-immigrant, anti-Native American, anti-LGBTQ women legislation. They thought that was a good idea. They voted for that overwhelmingly. We voted for the other bill.
So, here we are now, and some of the provisions of the VAWA bill relate to – what do you call them? Stalkers having guns. There's very discrete provisions that relate to protecting women's safety. And they're against it. I don't see that it has much impact on the passage of the bill in the House of Representatives.
That's it. That was the last question. Happy birthday. Thank you very much.
Q: Are those your Golden State Warriors blue there? For the finals or just the start of the playoffs?
Speaker Pelosi. Wait until you see what I have. You're going to really – it was a gift from my colleagues about the Golden State Warriors.
Q: For your birthday? Was it a birthday present?
Speaker Pelosi. No, it was just a friendship. Thank you.
Q: Thank you.
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