Transcript of Pelosi Press Conference Today
Contact: Ashley Etienne/Caroline Behringer, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press conference today. Below is a transcript of the press conference.
Leader Pelosi. We had votes, so we will have to go quickly here. Sorry for the delay. Last time we were together was following the collapse of TrumpCare. And since then, President Trump has said it wasn't his idea in the first place, he wanted to do tax reform first anyway. The Speaker has now said he needed TrumpCare first. I don't know if you saw this morning he said – this was very instructive. I usually don't come here and talk about what the Speaker said on TV in the morning. But what he said was, we couldn't have done taxes first because we had to do the repeal first, because we needed that $1 trillion in order to do the tax reform.
So he really admitted that he needed to take the money out of the pockets of working families in our country to give money to the richest people in our country. As I always said, this was not a health plan.
First of all, let's just stipulate to some facts here. The Republicans never really wanted the health reform, they never did, the Republicans that are in Congress now. The bill that we have is a Republican idea, it was RomneyCare in Massachusetts, developed by the Heritage Foundation for individual responsibility and recognizing that subsidies would be needed to honor that responsibility. So it is a free market, private sector initiative to honor our belief that health care is a right for all Americans, not just a privilege for the few. That belief is not shared by the Republicans. They never wanted to go there, consistent with their view that Medicare should wither on the vine, and that the Speaker, in his budget, has said – calls for removing the guarantee of Medicare. Medicare is a guarantee. To remove the guarantee is to, in some sense, shopping with a voucher similar – a little bit better, but not much than what was before Medicare existed. As you know, they are trying to completely dismantle and underfund Medicaid.
So a public role in terms of gaining access, quality, affordable access for all Americans is not in their value system. And so what was interesting in the follow up since I saw you last, I got all sorts of feedback from so many people across the country who are making calls and having conversations with congressional offices, and they said really the bill was dead. And so the public had spoken, they did not want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and they were rejecting the Republican proposal. Well, because that wasn't enough to get the votes of the members of the Republican caucus, they moved further to the right with the action they took on the essential health plan provisions.
When they did that, it was explosive out there, because then it said that it deferred to the States, but not a Federal requirement that the health care plans would have to have these essential provisions. And they were about maternal care, prenatal care, affecting children and moms. It was about hospitalization, about prescription drug care, about mental health. Taking out practically every – why would you even buy a policy? It covered almost nothing. But it not only showed that they were going to lose on their vote, but it showed that they did not share the values of the American people, and that it not only hurt their chances of passing a bill, it hurt their reputations. So they did themselves some very serious damage. And I know some Members are saying whatever they are going to try to do now is saving Speaker Ryan from that disastrous performance last week.
But that isn't what is important. What is important is what it means to the American people. And that is where we are now. They are going to try to put repeal on the table. We must resist repeal. There is a strong sentiment for that in the country. And the second thing we must do is to stop their sabotaging of the Affordable Care Act, because they have within their power, or at least they will assert it, that they can stop the subsidies. Stop them from sabotaging it. They have to enforce the law. They said it is the law of the land. And if they don't, it will have a direct impact on the premiums that the American people pay. And the cost of premiums, deductibles, the out-of-pocket costs will go up if they – two things that they can do; that they threaten to do, that will increase the out of pocket costs. One is to not honor the subsidies, and the other is to not enforce the mandate. You combine the two of them, the out-of-pocket costs can go up – premiums and other out-of-pocket costs could go up 35, 40 percent. It is so totally irresponsible. But they want it to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Affordable Care Act, by and large, is meeting its goals of lowering costs, improving benefits, and expanding access. Is it perfect? No. There are some things we have to do to make sure that all markets are served, in the rural areas, and it works for young people and small business, and also to make sure that the law is enforced, which they haven't done since they took the majority in certain respects. Now they want to make matters worse.
So, anyway, here we are, an admission on the part of the Speaker that this was not a health care bill, it was a tax bill. A statement from the Speaker that he doesn't want the President to work with the Democrats in any way on this, that they will be left to their own devices to come up with their proposal. They must take repeal off the table, and they must stop sabotaging the Affordable Care Act. And sabotaging the Affordable Care Act is sabotaging the good health of America's families.
So that is the fight that we are engaged in. One area that the President said we could work together on is reducing the cost of prescription drugs. So maybe they are against our cooperating on that score, on the Republican side of the aisle.
Moving on, 71 days since the inauguration, President Trump and the GOP Congress have done nothing, nothing to create jobs or raise wages for hard working American families. Instead, they have been undermining the health and opportunities and rights of working families at every turn. Just look at their budget. The President's budget is a plan to devastate America's investments in jobs, education, clean energy, lifesaving medical research, with particularly severe impacts on rural communities, rural America. Clean power plants: shocking, almost sinful, really sinful to be so degrading of God's creation. The administration's attack on science and the Clean Power Plan will not bring back jobs to coal country, it will only poison our air and undermine America's ability to win good paying, clean jobs of the future.
What really gets me about this is he is doing this at the same time we are fighting the Republicans to honor the responsibility we have to America's families who are engaged in the coal industry. Coal miners are in my office, I have their symbol of a coal miner made – of coal there. You can see it if you come by my office. We are fighting to get them the benefits that they earned and deserved, their benefits in the terms of health care and their pension, and we had to fight the Republicans do it, while they are – this President is defying science and our moral responsibility to preserve this planet in a responsible way, God's creation.
Stunning, the FCC internet privacy. You should be very, very scared, each and every one of you. Very, very scared. The Republicans voted to allow internet service providers to sell your most intimate personal information without your knowledge or your consent. They are doing everything they can to keep President Trump's tax returns private, and they are doing everything they can to sell your most personal information, whether it is your children's location, your browsing history, everything that has to do with your personal life and how you engage on the internet is now. If they have their way with the CRA, which they will – we are hoping. Is this hopeless? We are hoping that President Trump, with his valuing of his own privacy, will respect the privacy of the American people and not sign this terrible, terrible bill. I understand there are some people who are trying to get the money together to buy the privacy of the Members of Congress who voted for this violation of privacy of the American people.
So here we are, the House Republicans are desperately scrambling and stonewalling to divert attention from the explosive and expanding revelations about the Trump-Russia connections. Since last week, the House Intelligence chairman, his conduct has become even more bizarre, more compromised, and more inexcusable, still refusing to share his alleged documents from the White House rendezvous, and canceling an open hearing with former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates. Just beyond bizarre. What is beyond bizarre? Off the cliff. I don't know.
The House Intelligence Committee has a deadly serious responsibility to our country. People serve there with a responsibility to the caucus, to the Congress, and to the country. And I, as you know, have a very long history with the Intelligence Committee. This is about, when I first went on now maybe over 20 years ago, it was largely about force protection. How do we protect our men and women in uniform by, first of all, having the intelligence to prevent the initiation of hostilities or engagement in military – use of military force. But if they go in, that we have the intelligence they need to be safe and to be successful. Terrorism has raised the ante on so many of those issues. So for the chairman – I served with Republican chairmen and Democratic chairmen along the way – this is a very responsible position. For this chairman to be acting in a bizarre way is beyond bizarre. The committee has an obligation to – this is one person on the committee acting that way. And in the public arena, it looks like the whole committee is dysfunctional. No, they have a dysfunctional chairman. The committee isn't dysfunctional. They have a dysfunctional chairman. I am very proud of the leadership of Adam Schiff, our ranking member on the committee.
So here we are, the American people deserve answers. What do the Russians – I say over and over, what do the Russians have on Donald Trump politically, personally, and financially that the Republicans are doing everything in their power to keep the truth from the American people? So I am encouraged by what some of the Republicans are saying in the House and in the Senate. I hope that we could have a bipartisan, independent, outside commission, removing it from the Congress so that we can get to the bottom of this, because this is about our national security. Russia is our adversary. It is about our national security, and it's about securing our democracy. They disrupted our election. We have to make sure it doesn't happen again in our country and make sure the rest of the world is aware of what the Russians have been up to. Any questions?
Q: Madam Leader, you just outlined a number of issues where the parties are so far apart, and yet through an intermediary, the White House is reaching out to several of your Members, Blue Dogs, New Dems. Are you aware of this outreach? Do you think it is going to work? And do you think those Members should meet with the White House?
Leader Pelosi. I think everybody should meet. We say anytime, anywhere. We never stand in the way of anyone meeting with a Democratic or a Republican President. No, I am not concerned.
Q: Madam Leader, on Chairman Nunes here, we don't know the conditions under how he was presented this evidence that he mentions here. As you always say, you served on the Intelligence Committee for so long, you understand how this works. If you were presented with – if somebody had called you, how would you have gone about this with your long history of dealing with intelligence products? And if somebody said look, we have to be careful about how it's presented, we have to inform the committee and so on, how would you have approached this based on what we now about Devin Nunes?
Leader Pelosi. Well, he didn't do it the way you just described. You just described a situation where you said we have to be careful how we deal with this, we have to inform the committee. I think it's highly unusual that a chairman – not highly unusual, just unique. You know what I mean? There is only one, unique, where a chairman of a committee would not inform the ranking member of any such overture being made. And then to say that – well, I feel a little awkward, Chad, responding to this because I am beyond the public domain knowledge on the subject. But I would just say that all the chairmen that I have ever worked with, and sometimes we have agreed on how to proceed or not, but we have never disagreed on what our responsibility was and an honorable way to conduct.
And I was a ranking member myself on the committee, not the chairman, but the ranking member. So I had that additional access. And for a chairman to basically freelance on a subject that he was part of, the Trump transition, it's a stunning thing.
Q: Do you doubt that there is something out there that is actually something that was revealed? Do you have any question about the veracity of something existing that Nunes looked at?
Leader Pelosi. You are giving me a double negative.
Q: Are you skeptical – let me ask it a different way.
Leader Pelosi. I am not going to answer the question.
Q: Madam Leader, we are approaching a major deadline on government funding.
Leader Pelosi. Yes.
Q: Can you speak to what Democrats will insist on? It looks like Republicans are going to need your votes on this. Would you accept any funding for say a border wall? Would you accept any changes other than a so called clean CR?
Leader Pelosi. Well, the clean CR is one thing. That's why I was listening up further to see whether you were talking about the clean CR or the…
Q: Hit it all. That's great.
Leader Pelosi. First of all, we have the debt ceiling coming up. And that is the full faith and credit of the United States of America, which the Constitution says is never in doubt. But the fact is that it remains to be seen what the Republicans in Congress will do with that. We have said to them we are fully ready to support lifting the debt ceiling, a clean lifting of the ceiling. The Secretary of the Treasury is of that same – my understanding is that he has asked for that now from the Republicans. As you know, he has instituted, initiated the extraordinary measures that could take us into the summer or beyond, depending on what the revenues are that come in after April 15. But nonetheless, he would like to see the action now to remove all doubt. Because when the Republicans did this before, just the questioning of whether we would lift the debt ceiling, lowered our credit rating, as you may recall. And that was a terrible thing.
So on the CR, no, we are not supportive of the wall. You know, we have to see what they have in the bill. I always say, left to their own devices, the Democrats and the Republicans on the Appropriations Committee can come to the right conclusion. I served as an appropriator for many years, and I forged two places, Intelligence and Appropriations, by and large, lots of bipartisanship on those committees. I would even say nonpartisanship. So we will see. But my understanding is now that from the negotiations within these subcommittees, there are about 200, 200 unresolved issues, some of which remains to be seen what the Republican leadership will say about them. But we want legislation that meets the needs of the American people, and does not have the poisonous riders in it.
Q: Can I follow on that question?
Leader Pelosi. Please.
Q: I understand from the Senate side that they are talking about some sort of, like, CR omnibus combination that would involve some limited funding for border security that does not involve the wall and some defense spending. I am wondering if that is something that you could support and if you could deliver a majority of Democrats to vote for that if Speaker Ryan cannot deliver a majority of Republicans.
Leader Pelosi. Well, first of all, we have to see what it is. I mean it's interesting to hear your description. Certainly we would not be opposed to any border security measures that are not the wall. Increasing technology. There are other things that we could be doing. So that isn't the issue. The issue is spending billions and billions of dollars on a 2,000 mile wall or something like that. It's immoral, indecent, and ineffective. It's so ridiculous.
But beyond that, we have to see the substance of what is in the bill. But it's always been in negotiation, and they have never been able to pass one without Democratic votes. So we are not going to be handed something to say how many votes can you give us for this? We will say let's see how we put this bill together. If we're going to share the writing, we are going to share in the voting. Yes, sir?
Q: You just alluded to the fact that they have always needed Democrats. Does that mean that President Trump might not get a lot of big wins on this bill?
Leader Pelosi. I have no idea. I mean he could have a bill that is terrible for the country that he would sign, but that – you know, hopefully, that won't be the case because look at their budget, $6 billion, and now another billion something, so over $7 billion cut from National Institutes of Health, the miraculous Biblical power to cure, cut. I believe with the scientific opportunity we have a moral responsibility to fund it. We have always done that in a bipartisan way over time until more recently. And so, it just remains to be seen what he has. But our Members will make their own individual decisions about whether they can vote for the bill. We will just have to see what it is.
Q: Leader Pelosi, clearly, the biggest things Republicans have been able to accomplish so far are these regulatory repeals through the Congressional Review Act. Could you talk just a bit about why you are so dismissive of this as a major legislative accomplishment? Do these repeals not allow Members of Congress to go back and say, you know, we made the job market, the business market a little friendlier?
Leader Pelosi. Well, don't buy their talking points, because what they are saying, we are cutting regulations, what they are doing is destroying protection, protection for the clean air that your children breathe, clean water that they drink, protections for your privacy on the internet, protections for workers and their rights in the workplace. The list goes on. So while we have all been busy working to fight the assault on the American value of health care as a right, not just a privilege, they have been putting these irresponsible bills on the floor. And if they had any value, they would put them up on the floor as a piece of legislation that could be debated, that could be amended, and then if passed, and even signed into law, that the agency could say, I see your concern, let me rewrite the regulation, instead of saying we are going to eliminate all of those protections. So I think by the dint of your question, there is more that needs to be done to convey to the American people the danger that the Republicans have placed us in by the use of the Congressional Review Act, undermining their own leverage as Members of Congress; undermining the ability of the executive branch to make changes to protect in a way that might not be what I would consider my top priority, but at least protects the American people in an adequate way. And there is no evidence of any job producing because we have said your child is more likely to get asthma because we have decided not to protect the EPA when it comes to clean air.
Q: So why do you think they are pushing these so aggressively?
Leader Pelosi. Let's just go back. You have to keep going back. Let's go back to Bannon at the conservative meeting, whatever that thing was called. Let's go back to that, when he said: look at the table, look at the cabinet, look to who he appointed. This is all about deconstruction of government. So anything that is there as a protection, whether it's clean air, clean water, worker safety, you name it, that is what they call – eliminating those are what they call deconstruction of government. Eliminate the guarantee of Medicare, eliminate the Affordable Care Act. Their raison d'etre, the who they are, what is in their DNA, this breed of cat in the White House – I am not talking about Republicans throughout the country, I am just talking about these people – they are about trickle down. Their life is about giving more money to the high end and to corporate interests, maybe it will trickle down, that would be good, but if it doesn't, so be it, that's the free market.
The free market where all these guys had their hand in Uncle Sam's pocket for every tax break, every loophole, every subsidy that they can get for their corporation. So that's who they are. They're trickle down. It's all about tax breaks. All good things spring from that, except they haven't. And in terms of initiatives that are the role of government, whether it's Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, et cetera, which, by the way, are safety nets for corporate America, for corporate America to thrive in good times and bad because there is insurance for the American people. It really undermines who we are as a country. And so there could not be a bigger distinction between Democrats and Republicans now.
Last night, I had the privilege of presenting awards, in a bipartisan way, to Members of Congress at a Former Members Association dinner. Huge crowd, former Members, spouses, staff, and all, who have worked here over the years. We were chatting about how different it is now in terms of their purpose. This is, again, the argument from the beginning of our country, how much of a government role. It's the debate we always have. It's what we count on Congress to weigh in on. This isn't about that. This is off the cliff. It's off the cliff. So much is at stake.
So I keep saying to people what you don't understand, understand they're not for a public role. Our Founders valued public private partnerships. The only public private partnership that they want is a public private partnership that puts money into the pockets of the richest people in our country at the expense of working families. Exactly what they did in the Affordable Care Act. The biggest transfer of wealth in the history of our country from middle class, those who aspire to it, to the wealthiest in our country.
So it's an interesting time. But again, as I said first thing when I saw you last week, let's take a deep breath. Let's let the public understand what the debate is. It's a legitimate debate. But everybody has to know what it means to them and hold their Representative accountable for how public policy affects them in their lives.
So I respectfully disagree that they could consider any of those accomplishments, because they do not meet the needs of the American people in a way that is consistent with meeting our responsibility to meet those needs. Thank you all very much.
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