Pelosi Floor Speech on GOP's 'Dream and Pass' Bill

Contact: Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor today in opposition to the Republican ‘Dream and Pass’ Bill, which declares that the “So Be It” spending bill will become the law of the land even if the Senate doesn’t pass it and the President doesn’t sign it. Below are the Leader’s remarks.

“I thank the gentleman for yielding and thank him for his leadership in this debate this afternoon. I’ve been listening to it very intently. I heard the debate on the rule this morning and then the debate this afternoon and some questions have arisen.

“First, I want to state a fact. The fact is, is that every single one of us in this body, as our first act, raises our right hand to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. The bill that we have on the floor before us does violence to those provisions in the Constitution that describe how to pass a bill—not by one House deeming it, but as our distinguished Assistant Leader, Mr. Clyburn described, his daughter’s schoolchildren and her class could tell you that you pass one house, you pass another house, it’s signed by the President. But that seems to be missed by the makers of this resolution today.

“Again, Mr. Clyburn talked about the constitutional authority to bring this bill to the floor. It’s truly a mystery how you can take an oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, bring a bill to the floor in violence of that and justify it constitutionally.

“I have heard the distinguished Chairman of the Rules Committee, Mr. Dreier, say that we have some visiting Parliamentarians here who are watching this debate to see if the American Congress can get its job done. Please don’t pay attention to this. What you see on the floor today is no example of democracy in action. It’s silly. The Republican leadership is asking its Members to make a silly vote. And it’s time for us to stop that silliness and get serious about the creation of jobs, get serious about not shutting down government, abdicating our responsibilities and shutting down government.

“I have heard Mr. Hoyer earlier today talk about how we got here in terms of this budget deficit. We all know that we must reduce the deficit. That’s why, as during the Clinton years, we reversed the first Bush deficit, came out in a trajectory of fiscal responsibility going into surplus. The last 5 Clinton budgets were in surplus or in balance. But because of tax cuts for the rich, 2 unpaid for wars, and a prescription drug bill that gave away the store to the pharmaceutical industry, we came back into deficit—the biggest swing in fiscal irresponsibility in our country’s history. And now, we have had to deal with that. And what is the answer? That the Bush Administration gave us? ‘Tax cuts for the rich, that’s how you create jobs.’ We [our country] didn’t. ‘That’s how you reduce the deficit.’ We [our country’s deficit] grew.

“I think it’s important, when we are talking about the deficit, which we all agree must be cut, and we are talking about jobs, to note that in the first [second] year of the Obama Administration more jobs were created in the private sector than in the 8 years of the Bush Administration. Tax cuts for the rich did not produce jobs. Cuts in initiatives to educate or people and keep us healthy and safe—those cuts did not create jobs.

“So here we are today, at the end of a week, wasting the public’s time on a notion, not even an idea, on a notion that does not rise to the level of a credible idea that one house can deem a bill the law of the land.

“I also heard on the floor of the House, a call for Senator Reid, the Leader in the Senate, to take up H.R. 1. He did. It failed. Not even the Republicans all voted for it in the United States Senate. Three Republican Senators voted against H.R. 1 in the Senate. Perhaps you don’t know the date? But it did happen.

“And it is stunning to hear this debate that talks about visiting Parliamentarians seeing an example of good government in action. No, wrong. So what could be the explanation for this? Mr. Clyburn suggests that it could be April Fool’s and at the end of this debate, the gentleman will withdraw the amendment, apologize for wasting the public’s time, and say that this was only an April’ Fool’s joke because that’s the only thing that it complies with. It does not comply or conform with honoring the Constitution. It does not create jobs. It does not reduce the deficit, and it does not have the support of the Democrats in the House of Representatives.”