Pelosi Remarks at Press Conference with Women Members of Congress Calling for Deficit Reduction Agreement that Strengthens Medicare and Social Security
Contact: Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi was joined by other Democratic women Members of Congress for a press conference today in the Capitol Visitor Center calling for a balanced agreement to reduce the deficit that strengthens Medicare and Social Security for beneficiaries while doing no harm to the economy. Below are Leader Pelosi’s opening remarks and a transcript of the question and answer session:
Leader Pelosi’s Opening Remarks:
“Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I know you are there. I can hear you breathing. [Laughter.]
“Today, we are gathered here as the Democratic women Members of Congress to recognize a moment of opportunity and responsibility. We are committed to a balanced, bipartisan approach to the budget resolution that is fair to the middle class, honors the dignity of our seniors and their retirement, creates jobs, and educates our children as we reduce the deficit.
“Today, the Democratic women of Congress have come together to send a very clear message: We must protect Medicare and Social Security. We will not support cuts. Social Security and Medicare, as well as the concern that we have for cost shifting, etc. in Medicaid. Congress will not sacrifice these vital pillars of economic and health security of our society and our economy in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy, subsidies to Big Oil, and tax breaks to corporations that send jobs overseas.
“Upholding the bedrock promise of Medicare and Social Security is vital to our country’s women. Women are families’ primary caregivers and health providers. Women live longer, have lower incomes, and have more chronic conditions—making Medicare even more vital to their well-being. Women overwhelmingly depend on Social Security. Without it, half of the women over 65 would fall into poverty. More than 3 million children receive Social Security benefits—3 million children.
“Those standing here have an understanding of the stakes in this debate because we represent the diversity of our great country. The Democratic Caucus, I remind you, has 100 Members, over half of our Caucus is women or minorities, and over half of that 100 are women.
“We know firsthand the impact the changes in Medicare. We know it because we are women and caregivers, and we know it because of the people we represent. We know it because of the special interest we have taken in this bedrock of security for women and families in our country. And so we bring knowledge, experience and urgency to this debate.
“So on behalf of all of America’s women, families, and our middle class, we will continue to work toward an agreement that brings more stability to our economy, creates jobs, promotes growth, respects the dignity of retirement for our seniors, the education of our children, again, as we reduce the deficit.
“I am very proud to be standing here with the Democratic women of Congress. Some of them couldn’t be here because they are in committees marking up bills and doing the work of Congress, some of the rest of us are on a lunch break, and we are here to spend that time.
“We are going to hear from our Members now, but understand that the women here represent the full population of women Members of Congress. And we are very proud of our colleagues who are not women for the commitment they have to preserving the benefits for Social Security, Medicare, and protecting Medicaid as well.
“Two women who have taken the lead on older Americans’ issues are Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois and Congresswoman Doris Matsui of California. We will also be joined of the chair of the Women’s Caucus, the Democratic co-chair of the Women’s Caucus, Gwen Moore, who is with us. We’ll here from Nydia Velazquez of New York and Carolyn Maloney of New York. We are going to begin with Congresswoman Schakowsky.”
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Question and Answer Session:
Q: During the Presidential campaign, President Obama explicitly vowed not to seek the kinds of reforms to Social Security that he is now voluntarily proposing as an enticement to Republicans, specifically changing COLA and raising the retirement age. Are you surprised and are you disappointed?
Leader Pelosi. I think the President has done an excellent job in leading the debate as we go forward to reach an agreement on the debt.
I’ve told the Members this morning at the Caucus, I wish they could be in the room to hear how values-based the President’s statements have been on this subject. We couldn’t be, I couldn’t be prouder of his leadership.
And since you brought up the President, I want to speak to that issue for a moment. I think that this Administration has done more to listen to Members of Congress in a bipartisan way than anything I have seen before. When, for I think, 10 meetings of at least 2 hours each, the Vice President of the United States sat at the table, listened with respect and openness, to the suggestions of Democrats and Republicans, alike. This President, Thursday, Sunday, Monday and now Tuesday we’ll go back, has sat in that room fully prepared, knowledgeable about the issue to the minutest detail, but with a big vision about the future for our country, and has listened to what the Republicans have had to say. This is highly unusual.
Let me give you a contrast. When we won the majority and we came in to talk to President Bush about the Iraq, which was a big issue in the campaign and how we could reduce our presence there and how we could respond more fully to Katrina and the domestic agenda, we went to the White House to have this discussion with the President. President Bush came into the meeting, didn’t sit down, said hello, and before he said goodbye, he said, “This is my package. Take it or leave it.” Now, there is a vast difference there. This President, again, has been open and willing.
And as other of our colleagues have said, some of these subjects that have entered the debate have no business being in this discussion. Whether we raise the debt ceiling is a mathematical absolute urgency. When President Bush was President and were in the majority, I voted, I think, at least five times to raise the debt limit. It didn’t mean I approved of his tax cuts for the wealthy, which did not create jobs but only increased the deficit, or his prescription drug bill, which increased the deficit, or his unpaid-for wars, which have increased the deficit. But it was…we voted for it because that’s what had to be done. Not everybody voted for it, but nobody obstructed it. So to use this requirement, as the Republicans are doing, to extract concessions is really just not fair.
But apart from that, to your question, I am very proud of the President. I think that he is leading in a very important way.
Q: If there are no revenue increases in the package that is agreed to, will Democrats oppose?
Leader Pelosi. Well, we are in a course of a negotiation, so what we would hope to see are—because if you are going to have a package that is big enough, you have to have cuts and you have to have revenue. And so we are hoping that the package will be big enough to do what it sets out to do, which is to reduce the deficit over time. Unfortunately, it appears we are not going to have the grand bargain, which, as I have said to you before, I wish were a grand vision. That’s not going to happen. That would have taken us even further into the future. But for the package, the possibilities that we have now, we want everything on the table in terms of revenue and cuts.
Q: Leader Pelosi, you and your colleagues have spoken about what kind of phone calls you are getting.
Leader Pelosi. Yeah.
Q: Setting aside Social Security and Medicare for the moment, when they ask you, because the numbers are dizzying to the average American or average anybody, what are you telling them about the kind of cuts, specific cuts that you are willing to accept or not willing to accept besides Social Security and Medicare so they can understand what’s on the table?
Leader Pelosi. Well, I invite any of my colleagues, any of my colleagues, to chime in any time they want, but as far as what’s happening at the table, nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to. So it would be very hard to say out of context one cut or another unless it is within the full context of, “What does this do to reduce the deficit, to create jobs, not to harm economic security or harm the middle class?”
Q: Specifics—they are grasping for specifics here so they can understand.
Leader Pelosi. No they’re not. They’re grasping for their interests to be protected, is what they are grasping for. And overwhelmingly, the American people have said: “Why, why are you even considering raising Grannie’s cost, lowering her benefit, while you won’t tax the rich?” Does someone wish to speak to that?
Congresswoman Gwen Moore. You know, I think language is very important. Tax spending, we’d be willing to cut that. I mean, tax spending is spending. So, when you start talking about cuts, you have to talk about cutting tax spending.
Leader Pelosi. The tax expenditures or revenue earmarks or however you want to call them.
Q: The President is reportedly offered to change the qualification age for Medicare, in fact raise it. Are you okay with that? And could that possibly be something that could affect…
Leader Pelosi. I’ll answer that, your question, the same way I answered the other. We haven’t gotten into that level of detail. They, perhaps they did at the Biden level group, but that isn’t where we are with this.
Q: Here’s a question here for Congresswoman Hochul for just a moment since she talked so passionately about what happened in New York 26. My question to you, Congresswoman Hochul, Democrats enjoyed great electoral success in what had been a Republican district. There are some people who are saying, well the only reason, you know, people playing devil’s advocate here, the only reason Democrats are behind this Medicare issue is because there was electoral strategy that seemed to work. Can you talk about, in Western New York, why this was so effective and why you think that this resonates in other quarters of the country when it comes to this issue, and why you are all standing here today on this issue?
Congresswoman Hochul. I disagree with your premise that Democrats are behind this because it’s an electoral strategy. Okay. Democrats are behind this because it’s what we do. We look out for the American people. We look out for our seniors. We look out for our families. So I think you start with the basic, that’s the core of what we are all about, and I believe that there are many Republicans who also subscribe to that as well. We’re just not hearing their voices in this debate. So I come from an area that is many Republicans, many Democrats, many independents, but I like to think that they’re reasonable people. And I am not finding a whole lot of that here in Washington. And I think that’s something, as I’m working with my colleagues here, I am finding out we need to work out a solution.
And the message that I take back from that district, is we need to cut our spending. That’s on the table. I said I would have everything on the table. I just voted on Thursday to cut $6 billion from infrastructure in Pakistan and Afghanistan because I think that money should be spent in our own districts or we should be putting it to deficit reduction so I come from a different set of priorities, perhaps. So the message that comes from Western New York is they are willing to put their faith in someone who may not be the same party as them because we speak to core American issues that are not partisan, so I think there are Democrats, this is what we are all about. And reasonable Republicans who represent the same seniors, the same families, and the same small business that we are looking out for, should be on the same table with us and understanding where we are coming from. We should be all together on this issue.
Again, this is what baffles me about Washington. I don’t understand why the Republicans are not joining with us here—Republican women, Republican men looking out for our seniors and our families but simultaneously recognizing that very strong need we have to cut spending. And as I said, $6 billion alone on a Thursday afternoon—that’s a good day’s worth of work.
Leader Pelosi. You know why we won the election in New York? Of course, an issue in the campaign was Medicare, the winning factor in the campaign was of course Congresswoman Kathy Hochul. We’re so proud of her. Thank you all very much.
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