Pelosi Remarks at Bill Enrollment Ceremony for Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019
Contact: Speaker's Press Office,
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Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer for a bill enrollment ceremony for H.R. 3877, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, a bipartisan budget caps and debt limit agreement that will invest in middle class priorities that advance the health, financial security and well-being of the American people and enhance our national security. Below are the Speaker's remarks:
Speaker Pelosi. Thank you all for being here on this afternoon when the House is not in session, but where the Senate has just passed the important legislation. I congratulate the Leader, the Democratic Leader of the Senate, and thank him for being here with us.
In a moment, I will sign the legislation and then we will send it over to the Senate, to be signed by the Vice President, and then to the President to be signed.
We are very pleased with the outcome of the vote in the Senate. Of course, we were pleased in the House because this legislation will help meet the needs of America's working families, bolster the middle class.
In its specifics, we are very proud that it recognizes what the Constitution tells us, that the full faith and credit of the United States of America is not to be in question. This legislation upholds the full faith and credit of the United States.
Secondly, it ends the destructive nature of sequestration, and instead has the respect, the parity, in fact, beyond parity for our domestic agenda, again, to help meet the needs of the America's working families. That is health care, education and the rest.
And we are very pleased about the fact that it will, again, meet all the deadlines that everyone has talked about.
Now, we still have to go through the appropriations process, and we will have that debate as we go along. But I think that we set a blueprint for success to avoid a Continuing Resolution, to avoid a shutdown of government, and instead, to have bipartisan – as an appropriator, I take pride – a bipartisan cooperation in writing through appropriations bills.
Now, I will yield to Chuck Schumer, Democratic Leader of the Senate.
Leader Schumer. Well, thank you, Madam Speaker. Let me thank you for the great job you've done leading the House, and all of the House Members who voted for this legislation.
It was really a great accomplishment to see so many Democrats in both the Senate and the House voting for this proposal.
I will say a couple of things here. I think the thing that we are proudest of is this is finally going to be a very good deal for the middle class.
Sequestration was a killer for the average middle class person and those aspiring to get to the middle class. Big forces push them around: technology, automation, globalization. And they need our help, they plead for our help. But sequestration tied everybody's hands and now we'll be able to do the kind of things that help average working families in terms of veterans, in terms of opioids, in terms of education, in terms of transportation, in terms of infrastructure, in terms of climate.
So many different areas we will be able to do some real things that benefit the middle class. We pushed very hard to see that for the first time, the increase in the non-defense side exceeded the defense side increase and we were able to get that, which means, again, that it helps average families.
So, this a – one of the few good days for America in the Senate. Leader McConnell, pushed actually by the President – probably because of the debt ceiling, has come to an agreement with us and an agreement that we find very, very good for average Americans.
Speaker Pelosi. I'll sign the legislation, but I want to acknowledge the leadership in our House: Chairwoman Nita Lowey, Chair of the Appropriations Committee; Chairman John Yarmuth, Chair of the Budget Committee.
We're so pleased that we were able to pass this legislation. The debate at the end was, would we have enough, a suitable amount, we always want more, for our veterans and also for the Census?
So, with their leadership and the rest, we were able to do that. Did you want to thank anyone?
Leader Schumer. And I want to thank Senator Leahy and all of our appropriators for doing the job that they have done to help us come to this rather happy conclusion. It's not a conclusion, but rather, happy signing.
Speaker Pelosi. Yes, it's a step in the way.
Leader Schumer. You know, we hope the President understands that messing around with this, like he did a year ago, could cause a shutdown and that would be terrible for the American people. If he leaves this all alone, I think we'll get a very good bill and not a CR and not a shutdown, but a good, bipartisan agreement.
Speaker Pelosi. Well, this is bipartisan. And that's – therefore, it is a compromise and therefore, nobody is completely happy, we always want more. But the fact is that now we, again, begin the debate on appropriations is how that – is how that, these resources are spread, once we – the next debate.
But, I do think it's important to note that it is bipartisan. This is a compromise and we were able to work together to get the job done for the American people in favor of America's working families, but in support of our men and women in uniform. Again, our main responsibility is to protect and defend.
So, now, I have the privilege.
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