Pelosi Remarks at Zero to Three Press Event Advocating for Children

Contact: Ashley Etienne/Henry Connelly, 202-226-7616

Washington, DC – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Members of Congress and children's advocates for a press event to push for policies that ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life. Below are the Leader's remarks:

Leader Pelosi. I didn't realize I was going to be speaking next, I was just enjoying the children. And aren't they adorable?

We have one of our Congressional own, Michael Gallego is here with his dad, [Congressman] Ruben Gallego of Arizona.

Thank you Matthew [Melmed] for your tremendous leadership as Executive Director of Zero to Three, it is lovely to hear from Veronique Davenport, Strolling Thunder family from Tennessee and her beautiful daughter. Great to be here with Ed Flynn, Council for a Strong America. Dr. Brenda Jones Harden, Chair, Zero to Three.

Well, I'm very comfortable here, it brings back many memories for me, Strolling Thunder! Because I was saying to some of my colleagues there, by the time my baby was 3, we had three children, and then another, and then another. So we did a lot of, shall we say – forgive me my colleagues – campaigning behind strollers, protesting the war. This was a long time ago, the Vietnam war.

So just to see the power of Zero to Three with a Strolling Thunder coming to the Capitol to make a point.

I want to thank the bipartisan leadership of the Baby Caucus for bringing us together in Congress over time. And for all of you for coming here to advocate, understanding clearly what Matthew [Melmed] was telling us earlier, how babies are affected and how their early development is so important to their later success and that every one of them is precious.

I'll just close by saying that when people ask me what are the three most important issues facing the Congress, I always say the same thing: our children, our children, our children. Their health, their education, the economic security of their families, the pension security of their families, a clean safe place for them to thrive, a world of peace in which they can thrive.

Our children, our children, our children. President Kennedy said, ‘children are our greatest resource and our best hope for the future.'

Thank you moms and dads, thank you friends of Zero to Three, thank you babies who are here. They are the future. We have a responsibility to make it better for them and to do so is to give them every chance, and Zero to Three recognizing the early childhood needs of these children, all children across America, is a noble bipartisan calling.

Let me get it straight – Strolling Thunder!

Thank you all very much!

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