Pelosi Remarks Ahead of Democratic Caucus Meeting This Evening

Contact: Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

Washington D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi held a brief press availability in the Capitol this evening ahead of a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus. Below is a transcript of the Leader’s remarks:

Leader Pelosi. How are you? Hello, hello.

Q: What are you expecting from the President tomorrow?

Leader Pelosi. A great speech, I am sure. But more importantly, I think a commitment to how we go forward. I think it will be welcomed by the American people, joined by our House Democrats. It’s about jobs.

Q: Do you think that they are going to be, we are hearing these numbers, 300 billion, 400 billion? Is that enough? We were hearing from Raul Grijalva and the Progressives that might not be high enough. What do you think?

Leader Pelosi. Well, I don’t know what it is. But whatever it is, it will be more than we have now. And some of you believe that, from what I’ve heard, from what you’ve heard – we’ve all just heard that the initiatives will be some that have some popularity in our Caucus, that is to say issues that we’ve worked on for a long time, whether it’s infrastructure or supporting the public sector or rebuilding our schools, not rebuilding but rehabbing our schools. So I think there will be, the purpose of the resources, the how the money will be spent, the amount of it is what we can afford. We can’t have any more than that. This is by a nature of some of us to always be dissatisfied, relentlessly want more. But the fact is I think it’s going to be a very good proposal.

Q: You talked a lot about infrastructure, and the President’s expected to present about $100 billion…Is $100 billion in infrastructure now, is that enough to stimulate the jobs that you need?

Leader Pelosi. Well, it’s not a question of $100 billion in infrastructure. Mr. Clyburn can tell you that how you use the money is as important as the amount. And what we were talking about is the infrastructure bank. We are talking about how we invest in Home Star, Rural Star, where people pay on their utility bill and it gets paid off that way. So it’s about leveraging money, it’s not just about spending money.

Q: Are you concerned about getting that through with the Republican opposition? I mean, they don’t want to spend the money.

Leader Pelosi. Well, the President is taking the message to the American people. I don’t think any issues like rehabbing our schools, investing in infrastructure of our country, the public safety of our neighborhoods, are partisan issues. I think they are goals and priorities we all share. It’s up to the American people to react to what the President has to say, but I do think it’s unfortunate that the Republican leadership has decided that they are not going to honor the President’s remarks with a response. I think it is indicative of people who spent nearly 250 days in the majority and have not passed one piece of legislation to date which creates one job. And their silence on the President’s proposal speaks volumes about their lack of commitment to job creation in our country. I have to go see my Caucus now. Thank you.

###