Pelosi Floor Remarks Ahead of the House Omnibus Vote

Contact: Ashley Etienne/Henry Connelly, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke on the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives ahead of the vote on the omnibus government funding bill. Below are the Leader's remarks:

Leader Pelosi. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlelady [Ranking Member Lowey] for yielding this time and for her leadership, to her and the other members of the Committee, Mr. [Congressman Rodney] Frelinghuysen, thank you for your leadership as well and to the Ranking Members, the Chairs and Ranking Members of the Subcommittee, all the Members of the Appropriations Committee, Mr. [Whip Steny] Hoyer and I, and Mr. [Assistant Whip James] Clyburn are from the culture of the Appropriations Committee, and we know that left to your own device, appropriators can get the job done. It's not until the leadership rains its poison pills on the process that the delay sets in.

I want to thank Congresswoman Ranking Member Lowey for ridding this bill of so many of those poison pills. Mr. Hoyer very eloquently presented the situation as we see it now. That the Republicans have this bill, he didn't – we didn't even have three days, it was last night to today and here we are on the floor with a yard, a yard of bill, and he said they're rushing because people have CODELs and trips and fundraisers and this and that. I contend there may be another reason why they're rushing it through. First of all, they don't want anybody to know what's in the bill because this is a tremendous victory to the American people in terms of what Mrs. Lowey was able to negotiate in a bipartisan way on the domestic side.

We all take an oath to protect and defend our country and so the defense investments are important to our nation. One-third of the domestic budget is security: Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, State Department, anti-terrorism activities of the Justice Department. The list goes on, but it is also a fact that we can measure our strength of our country not only in the important military might and security measures, but also in the health, education and well-being of the American people and this bill goes to a place for that.

So yes, a yard of bill certainly not read or read to the members. But I contend, in addition to Mr. Hoyer's list of why people, they're rushing this to the end instead of having this negotiation take place much earlier is because they really don't want their members to see what is in this bill, and two, because they really want to get out of town before the March For Our Lives. Before the young people come from all over the country to ask Congress to give us responsible, commonsense gun violence prevention legislation. That's what I heard about the Republicans. They just don't want to be around when the young people come to town.

And so here we are, we could have had this happen weeks ago and had a much more transparent way to deal with it, but having said that, we are here and I think it's very important to set the record straight on some of the contentions that the Republicans are making about this bill. Let me start with the President of the United States. He has said in his – in one of his tweets this is morning how happy he was because he got the $1.6 billion to start the wall and more to come. That's not completely true, Mr. President. There's some resources for fencing and repairs and the rest there, but some of that money is for technology and other ways to protect our borders.

We all have a responsibility to protect our borders, north and south but if you want to think that you're getting a wall you just think it and sign the bill. In addition, he said he's so pleased he'd got this big increase in defense? We did not oppose that. We want to have our men and women in uniform to have everything they need to keep our country safe and themselves safe.

But the President went on to say, it's too bad he had to waste money on the Democratic giveaways. On Democratic giveaways. ‘Democratic giveaway' is how the president characterizes funding for our heroic veterans facing a dire shortfall at the VA and as we say: on the battlefield no soldier is left behind; when they come home no veteran is left behind. That was part of the fight we had in the Caps fight that we wanted additional money for our veterans.

What about the fighting the opioid epidemic? Is that wasteful, a giveaway? Fighting the opioid epidemic in your district? There isn't a person in this Congress who doesn't have need in their district for this opioid funding. And that was a major part of our fight on the caps. To get the funding to fight opioids, but the President calls that a waste, a Democratic giveaway.

Is that what he would call, he probably would call protecting the integrity of American elections from Russian meddling and attacks Democratic giveaways? Protecting our democracy, our electoral system, our Constitution that we take an oath of office to protect and defend.

And how about the hard-working parents who struggle, who struggle to succeed and afford quality child care? Very important part of this legislation. Democratic giveaway? No. Family values, supporting our family, by the way, by the foot, by the foot.

Mr. Hoyer referenced a statement made by the Speaker on the Floor of the House when we had the Caps fight, which by the way was a glorious victory for our values as a country. That we could say, yes, we want to increase funding for our national security and in doing that we need to have a commensurate increase in fund for our domestic agenda.

As I said, which contains many security measures. But when that bill was brought to the floor, the Speaker came to the Floor and he made a statement. Right here in the well. Steny [Hoyer] quoted what he said in the well. But in another venue he said, ‘in order to shift our focus and get onto the next big priority, which is a DACA solution, we've got to get this budget agreement done.' That was the Caps bill.

And I'll say it once again: Mr. Speaker said, ‘and I'll say it again, we will bring a DACA solution to the Floor.' Yes. And when will that be? Now you'll hear rumors of them saying ‘oh we offered this, we offered that.' They did not offer anything that added to the protection of our Dreamers and our DACA-qualified children.

So, I want the record to show the facts are these. We proposed over and over again a real fix that we should have in this bill because it's timely. And if you're dealing with a yard of issues and provisions you certainly can have room for protecting our Dreamers. That's just an indication, look, to lead is to take risks.

The Speaker does not seem willing to take a risk with his Caucus to bring a bill to the Floor, any bill he wants in terms of including some bipartisan bills, Mr. [Will] Hurd and Mr. [Pete] Aguilar, Ms. [Ileana] Ros-Lehtinen and Ms. [Lucille] Roybal-Allard, and any other bill you want. Queen of the Hill, let everyone have his or her say. Let Congress work its will.

Why? Why, not? And why in light of the statement, I'll say it once and I'll say it again, ‘we'll bring a DACA solution to the Floor,' when might that be? When might that be?

So again, while we address so many issues so many provisions in this bill, whether there's room in the hearts and minds of our Republican colleagues to insist, because I know many of you care about our Dreamers, have publicly offered your support, why can't you convince the Speaker to bring what he said, ‘we will bring a DACA solution to the Floor?'

So again, I go back to the Caps agreement. It was a great victory. For us in the appropriations world as to what priorities need to be addressed.

As we always say, the budget should be a statement of our national values. What's important to us as a nation should be reflected in how we allocate our resources to invest in the security of our country, the well-being of our nation, the future of our children. And to do so in a way that commands respect, that is bipartisan, that is done in a transparent way, in an open and transparent way and brings unity.

Our Founders, our Founders – it would take me eight hours to even start to talk about how brilliant they were, but they did give us instruction. They gave us a signal: E Pluribus Unum. From many, one. From many, one. They couldn't possibly have imagined how many we would be. Or how different we would be. But they knew we had to be one.

And these children and everyone in our country, these Dreamers, are part of that one. And they're part of that many. And let us treat our country with honoring the vows of our Founders.

I leave it up to Members as to whether they want to vote, weigh the equities in this bill and take the vote and I respect whatever decision they make.

But I'm so glad that we had such an overwhelming vote on our side against a rule, a rule that undermines the regular order of the House, undermines the Speaker's own statements about that regular order. Why? In an attempt to keep from all of you how much of an investment in our future is in this bill, and also to get you out of town before the March for Our Lives begins. That's why I think this has been so rushed.

I don't know why it has been pushed to the end, except for dysfunction on the part of the Republican Leadership and the whatever, if it's called communication, with the White House.

But I will say this, I will say this, that this is not – I will say this – five CRs. Are you proud of that? Five CRs. Take us to the floor with a yard-high bill. No transparency. But it does have some bipartisanship and for that I salute Mr. Frelinghuysen and Congresswoman Lowey and respect whatever decisions our Members make on this.

This is a missed opportunity to show the American people that even when we're on the right course, we can't seem to get there in a transparent way.

I say, Mr. President, when you sign this bill, you will be signing something, in spite what you say about spending on wasteful Democratic funding, I don't really think you mean that about opioids and the rest.

Set the record straight for yourself. And out of respect for the people who are pinning their hopes on what this legislation will do for them.

I thank and yield back my time.

# # #