Pelosi Remarks at Press Conference Ahead of the 2021 Democratic Issues Conference

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Speaker Pelosi. Thank you so much. I didn't know where you were going there, if I was going to have to sing or play some music.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thanks to you and Vice Chair Aguilar for bringing us together for this important Issues Conference, a time of reflection, a time for us to listen and to learn about some of the challenges that we face and some of the solutions that go with them. To listen to our colleagues, they're various enthusiasms that they have and how we can channel them into Building Back Better For The People: advancing justice, opportunity and prosperity in every zip code, prosperity for all Americans.

Now, when we begin our conference, we usually begin with a prayer and I'm sure that we will. But I will just talk about, I had the chance to go to church this weekend for the first time in a very long time. I got on the list for Holy Trinity Church and in – Gospel, this weekend, was about the transfiguration of Christ. Christ takes Peter, James and John, to the top of the mountain. Elijah appears, Moses appears and God appears and says this is my beloved son. And when – I won't go into the whole Gospel.

[Laughter]

When it's over and they go down the mountain, God says – Jesus says to James, John and Peter, ‘Don't tell any of the others what you saw, Elijah, et cetera, there until I have risen from the dead.' And they're like, ‘What? I mean, we just saw Elijah and now you're talking about dying and rising.' But the whole point of the Gospel was that in order to learn, we have to unlearn certain things.

And that's how we're thinking of this. How do we open our minds to new? To the entrepreneurial thinking that is out there, to help us to find common ground, to understand other points of view, in a way that saves time, but also make progress. So, we really have been looking forward to, even before Sunday's Gospel, to this time of listening, learning, reflection, unlearning so that we can learn, we can learn more. It's very, very important to us.

And it happens at a time, as the distinguished Chair has indicated, a time when we have a new President of the United States, Joseph Biden, a new Vice President, Kamala Harris, and we'll be honored with the Secretary of State and other leaders from this Administration. But we're listening at that level, and at the grassroots level, and at the Member level so that we can be transfixed, transformed, when we leave in a few – a couple of days and have fresh eyes on the subject that we're out to see, but always true to our values. Build Back Better For The People: advancing justice, opportunity and prosperity for every zip code.

In that spirit, I yield to the distinguished gentleman from Maryland, our distinguished House Democratic Leader, Mr. Hoyer.

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Chairman Jeffries. We have to prepare for a timely 3:00PM start, but we do have the opportunity to take a couple questions.

Q: If you could talk about, Mr. Chairman and also Madam Speaker, if you could address it as well. I – just wondering how concerned you are with the White House in their role in the passage of the $15 minimum wage? Do you feel that President Biden has offered a true strategy to making that happen, especially given the ruling by the Parliamentarian and how it's unlikely to be part of the COVID relief?

Chairman Jeffries. Well, I'll just briefly say that the Administration put forth a transformative American Rescue Plan. It contained a $15 minimum wage. We believe that that is the right approach, as evidenced by the fact that it was in the legislation that we passed. But the House is the House and the Senate is the Senate.

They have a process. They have a parliamentarian and I'm not going to speak on what their process will yield other than to say, as I think the Speaker has made clear, we're committed to making sure that we raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. It's the wealthiest country in the history of the world, the notion that anyone is working full time, trying to raise a family and making $7.25 should not be acceptable to anyone in the United States of America.

Speaker Pelosi. The Fight for 15 is one that many of us have been involved in for a few years. And just because this may not survive the Senate right now, doesn't mean that fight is anywhere near over. So, we will continue to use whatever leverage – legislative options are available to us. It is wildly popular among the American people in a bipartisan, non-partisan way, Democrats, Republicans, Independents and the rest support raising the minimum wage.

I come to this with experience of when Steny, Mr. Clyburn and I raised the minimum wage in 2006. Well, we won in 2006. We passed it in 2007, in the first 100 hours, not days, hours, of that new Majority that we had. We passed it: $ 7.25 an hour. It hadn't been raised in eleven years. And now it's been a long time since it has been raised and we are determined to get the job done for the American people.

This pathetic minimum wage, seven dollars and a quarter, all these years later, is really a gift to underwrite those who will not – who are exploiting their workers in many respects. Some people just can't afford, businesses just can't afford to pay the full $15, and we want to help them. But by and large, people are getting food stamps, they're getting Medicaid, they're getting housing assistance and the rest, because their employers are not paying a decent wage. So, again, for the taxpayer, save money from all those expenditures, for the worker so that they can put food on the table when they work full time. And for the businesses, especially the small businesses that need help in meeting that goal, we will be passing the minimum wage. And the White House was right out there with it very early. We have no complaint about what they have done.

Q: But there's clearly Members of your conference that are very concerned that this particular opportunity is your best opportunity, including many of your progressive Members,

Speaker Pelosi. That this is our best opportunity?

Q: Right, passing it through reconciliation. There are –

Speaker Pelosi. Well, we'll have other reconciliations. We'll have other reconciliations. But let me just say this because I think this is really important. This bill, as Mr. Aguilar referenced, this bill, this American Rescue Plan is spectacular. It has so much in it to put vaccinations in the arms of the American people, money in the pockets of our families, children in school, workers in jobs. This is excellent. So, let's not be diverted into thinking of what what's not in it, but let's respect it for what is in it and it's spectacular.

Now, we were also present in 2009. The House had a bill that was $1.1 trillion. The Senate cut it back $300 billion. But people say, ‘What lesson did you learn by not going big enough?' No, we did go big enough. But it was cut back by about a third, a little more than a third when it went over to the Senate side in order to get bipartisan support. We value that. But if we had stayed big we would have had a bigger recovery then. This is a big bill for a bigger recovery. In fact, in light of a pandemic, just what this country needs. It meets the needs of the American people.

Chairman Jeffries. Yeah, I think we have to take other questions.

Speaker Pelosi. We have some other questions. We're not going to have a conversation.

Q: Thank you, sir. Another question for you and Speaker Pelosi, as well. Last night, a Member of your Caucus called on Governor Cuomo of New York to resign over the allegations of sexual harassment. I'm wondering if you agree or what you think should happen next after the Governor's abuse allegations.

Chairman Jeffries. I issued a statement on this issue that makes clear that these allegations are very serious against Governor Cuomo, made by serious individuals and deserve a serious and independent investigation. Now that the Attorney General has taken over the investigation, it will be fully independent and thorough. And I await for results of that investigation.

Speaker Pelosi. I associate myself with the gentleman's remarks.

Q: You guys are going into this conference, you're picking up the legislative tempo with adding another work week. How much of that is, sort of, and this is both for the Speaker and for yourself, is basically in response to the ghost of 1994 and 2010 when you lost the chambers in mid-session?

Chairman Jeffries. Well, I'm just going to yield to the Speaker and Steny on the schedule. But obviously, as Jim indicated, these are challenging times and so we're going to act in a bold fashion. And in order to be able to do that we have to get the work. Not fly off to Florida, but actually get to work For The People, because the level of pain and suffering and death that they are experiencing is extraordinary. And that's the only thing that's driving us.

Leader Hoyer. Let me say it has nothing to do with '94. It has nothing to do with 2006. It has to do with 2020 and 2021 and the challenges we face with COVID-19, which demand action. Systemic racism demands action. Infrastructure investment demands action. I can go into all the other issues that I mentioned earlier, but Jim Clyburn would say I speak too long.

So, it has nothing to do with that. It has to do with what's in front of us and dealing with so that the people know that we're there fighting for them and their families, their children and their future.

Chairman Jeffries. Back row.

Q: FBI Director, Christopher Wray, this morning testified there – testified about a number of ongoing investigations still related to January 6. I'm wondering, specifically, if you have heard anything or if you could give us any sort of insight into the investigation into current Members of Congress giving alleged tours? Is that still happening? Are you being kept abreast of that investigation?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, as you may be aware, some of our Members saw some people here the day before January 6th. It was at a time when we were told not to even bring family members to the Capitol, because there would be no tours or taking our families around. But yet, these people were there and they had to be there as the guest of a Member or staff of a Member's office.

So, those Members who saw those people have conveyed what they saw to law enforcement. And they're looking into that. They feel comfortable that the – what they conveyed is being addressed. That's all I can say about that.

Q: Thank you, guys, for both – both yourselves. I wanted to focus on you, H.R. 1, and then the George Floyd policing act being bought up again. So, I'm wondering, how is it different from last Congress to this Congress? Because when you go to the Senate, you still need 60 votes, 60 votes still aren't apparently there. And so, have Democrats maybe over sold what they could accomplish with control of both Chambers?

Chairman Jeffries. Now, I'll let everybody jump in on this one. But I mean, I think, we have a House Democratic Majority. We have a change in occupancy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The king of obstruction is no longer in charge in the Senate. It's a very different landscape handed to us by the American people, because they want things done, like defending our democracy, H.R. 1, or transforming policing, in a way that brings the police and the community together and lifts up the principle of equal protection under the law.

Leader Hoyer. Let me make a comment, because there seems to be a theme of the press and some others that we said we're going to do X, Y and Z. But we didn't say we we're going to be magicians. We didn't say we could magically make the Senate change or the House change. And we have a very close Majority, you see that we're doing exactly what we said we we're going to do, successfully.

I am one who believes that the filibuster is an un-democratic – utilized, in my early generation, when I started in an interest in public affairs, to undermine the rights of citizens of color in America. I think the filibuster ought to be modified. The Founders wanted the Senate to be able to talk and be more thoughtful, and, sort of, as they said cool the hot broth into the saucer. But we can't magically make the Republicans be for what the people are for.

That was my point. The people are overwhelmingly for the agenda we're passing. And democracy works. And so, if the people want those bills passed, they will either demand that we do away with the filibuster or demand that some Republican Senators who refuse to vote for what the people want leave office.

But we're going to do everything in our power. I think Chuck Schumer is going to do everything in his power to make sure that the agenda that we are working on, and promised the people, will, in fact, be the agenda that we put forward and, hopefully, pass. None of you here would have predicted seven Republican votes for conviction. None of us in this room. But we got there. So, we'll keep talking to our Republican colleagues and keep working with them, both in the House and in the Senate, to get our agenda done, because we believe that is what the people want us to do.

Speaker Pelosi. I can't help, but – excuse me, Mr. Clyburn. You go. I'll finish.

Whip Clyburn. I think that all of you already know, I hail from South Carolina. I've studied history all of my life. My dad made me start studying history when I was eight years old. I remember Harry Truman and Tom Dewey. And I've stayed in close touch with history.

I remember 1957. I was a high school graduate, I graduated high school in 1957. A lot of people think that Strom Thurmond filibustered the Civil Rights Act, they think about 1964. It was the 1957 Civil Rights Act, which was nothing but a principal, and the filibuster was used to kill that. And we've seen it used throughout time.

Now, I'm calling on the American people, but I'm also calling on my friends in the Senate. I think that all of you that have been watching things over the last several days, you see that our Republican colleagues are now adhering to political philosophies that are a throwback to the 1940s and 50s. And they are using the filibuster to deny progress, basically, to low-income people. And if they're going to use the filibuster to deny a minimum wage increase, it would be tantamount to using it to the deny civil rights. And that, to me, is what we're going to be talking about going forward.

We're not going to just give in to these arcane methods of denying progress. This body is not going to do it. And if they want to be categorized that way, we will oblige to them. I can tell you, I will not be quiet on this issue. People of color will not be quiet on this issue. We're not going to allow the filibuster that was used to deny me and people who look like me the opportunity to come to this Congress. That's what they did. And they're not going to deny the opportunity for people to make a decent living above the poverty wage. If that's what they're going to do, they're going to have to live with it because we will make sure that we serve it up.

Speaker Pelosi. I couldn't resist coming to the podium when you asked about H.R. 1, because as we gather here, on the Floor of the House that legislation is being debated as we speak. And that legislation is called the For The People bill, H.R. 1. In the Senate, it is S. 1. So, we're very pleased that they have embraced the spirit of that.

This is something that is enormously popular among the American people. The American people want to reduce the role of big, dark, special interest money in politics, which is preventing so many good things from happening. The people want to see an end to voter suppression. The first 300 pages of the bill were written by John Lewis to end voter suppression.

The people want to see redistricting done by commission so that voters are choosing their elected officials, not the elected officials choosing their voters. The people want to see a stronger voice for people at the grassroots level, small donors and grassroots – people in every way by mobilizing money, messaging and every way. The list goes on and on. The people want to see an end to the foreign influence in our election. That's one of the most popular features of H.R. 1.

So, as you've heard me say, perhaps you haven't, others have, Lincoln said, ‘Public sentiment is everything. With it, you can accomplish almost anything. Without it, practically nothing.' Public sentiment is there, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, just declined-to-state, people not particularly even engaged in the political arena. But this bill, when people say they want this, this and this, this bill is For The People. So, it's pretty exciting.

You asked this question right when that bill is being debated on the Floor of the House. Last night, we had a call with Eric Holder and John Sarbanes and Zoe Lofgren and Mondaire Jones, our new Member, Freshman Member, with our grassroots organization around the country. And, as we were on that call, the Rule on the bill was being debated. People were very excited. You could almost see history in motion.

This is essential for us to return the People's House, as Steny began – your Floor speech, I think you began, ‘A government of the people, by the people and For The People.' It's pretty exciting. We're gonna make it happen, and we're gonna make it happen because the public will insist upon it. And it's gonna make all the difference in the world. For The People.

Thank you.

Whip Clyburn. Before we leave, I want to say one thing, Madam Speaker.

It occurred to me when I went back to my seat. At noon today, I watched the livestreaming of the unveiling of a monument across the street from the Capitol in Columbia, South Carolina, from the Statehouse.

On this day, March 2nd, 60 years ago, I was arrested on that corner, along with 191 others. One-hundred and eighty-nine of us were found guilty of wanting to sit down at a lunch counter. All I'm saying to you is nobody thought that day that one of those little 20-year-olds arrested on that day would be standing here today.

We are not going to give up on this. We are going to fight to give people a decent salary, give people decent housing, give people justice. And if the other side wants to spend their time wallowing in the past, we're going to do what's necessary to highlight it.