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Transcript of Pelosi Press Conference Today

July 16, 2015

Contact: Drew Hammill, 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. Good morning, everyone.

Two days ago, early in the morning, an historic nuclear agreement was announced by the P5+1, and that is the product of years of tough, bold, clear-eyed leadership on the part of President Obama. I've closely examined this document, and it will have my strong support. Members are reading the document now. This is the document here – not that long – plus the Annex is very important.

And I'm very proud of the attention, the careful attention that our Members are giving to the document, to the joint comprehensive plan of action. Congratulations to President Obama, to the leaders of the P5+1, all of the countries. And I want to commend Secretary Kerry and Secretary Moniz for their exceptional leadership through all these negotiations.

We had two really talented, experienced leaders at the – more than two, but those two, [Secretary] Kerry, a long-term Senator with experience on the Foreign Affairs Committee, as we know, Chairman; and Secretary Moniz, one of the foremost authorities in the world on nuclear and fissile materials and technologies. So everyone knew they were dealing with people of knowledge, of vision, and knowing the possibilities.

The President has been very clear: a nuclear Iran is unacceptable to the United States, to the world, and in particular, to Israel. This agreement is precisely about intensifying our vigilance over every aspect of the Iranian nuclear program. We have no illusions about Iran. President Reagan said trust and verify; in this case, I would say distrust and verify.

Aggressive restrictions and inspections provided in this agreement offer a very strong – indeed the best – long-term plan to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon. All options remain on the table. We're hopeful that the plan of action will be honored throughout the terms of the years of enforcement. But nonetheless, as the President has said, all options remain on the table.

While we were examining the joint plan yesterday, Republicans passed, yet again, another short-term extension of the Highway and Transit Trust Fund, this time until December. It's unfortunate that, once again, we have chosen to take a short term patch, but I'm hoping that we can work together to have a full bill long before December. It would be totally unacceptable to come back with another short-term extension. But we have a model, President Obama's Grow America Act, which creates jobs and strengthens our global competitiveness.

We had, as our Motion to Recommit yesterday, a version of that, a shorter term, because that's all the money we had to cover it in terms of stopping inversions, which produces about $35 billion for the life of a Motion to Recommit. What we really want is that bill, with some modifications, and Congress acting its will, of course, but with that fullness, as well as its longevity.

As soon as the Senate gets that bill, we are anticipating – and it is what has been represented to us – that they'll put the Ex-Im Bank legislation on the highway bill and send it back over to us, and then the House would be able to act upon that. We look forward to that happening.

As you know, we are in appropriations season, but they're not able to do very much in terms of appropriations, and we're asking the Republican leadership, House and Senate: "Let's go to the table." We cannot support – we will sustain the President's veto of all of these bills that are predicated on sequestration, on capping what we can do in terms of meeting the needs of the American people, and to do so in a fiscally-sound way. We're going to have to go to that place; sooner rather than later would be better.

As you know, last week, we went into the week thinking we were just going to be opposing the Republican interior appropriations bill, which I call the polluter's delight. But even it was not bad enough for the Republicans, and they insisted on having Confederate language – you know, overturning the amendments that we had passed regarding the Confederate [Battle] flag.

But it's time for us to move on from the flag to the Voting Rights Act, so I hope many of you will join us after votes when we come back here to talk about passing the Voting Rights Act. August 6 will mark the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. A couple of years ago, the Supreme Court decided, in my view, wrongly, to diminish the Voting Rights Act. The very least we can do is pass the amendments that correct what the Court called – to do what the Court called for. But nonetheless, we'll be talking about that around maybe 12:00, 12:30, after votes.

I'm going to go back to Iran – the joint comprehensive plan of action. I'm very encouraged by – I am so proud of my Members. They're so diligent, so thoughtful. And we will have as much education as possible for them to know – they have questions. The bill itself has answers, but specifically the agreement itself has answers that we want the Administration to confirm our understanding. We want to see this happen in a very thoughtful way, and then not in a partisan way.

So I reject those who out of hand, without reading it said, "I'm against it," and I'm encouraging my Members to make their decision on the basis of reading it. And I'm very optimistic about our ability to support the President.

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Leader Pelosi. Yes, sir.

Q: Madam Leader, will the agreement that you're holding up there be veto-proof in the House?

Leader Pelosi. Yes.

Q: It will?

Leader Pelosi. Right now, well, again, with all the respect in the world for my Members, we have a timetable and we are in the education phase of it right now. We heard from Vice President Biden yesterday. He was spectacular in terms of the perspective he gave and the specificity with which he addressed the issue and answered questions.

The day before, as you know, we heard from Secretary Clinton and she spoke to you after that. So you know essentially what she told us. But I feel that the response that we're getting from – their openness is – we're in a very positive place. We're in a very positive place. It would be presumptuous of me to talk about any kind of a vote [when] Members are just seeing the plan of action. 24 hours. Members have not been home. I want them to be able to go home, talk about this with their constituents so that they make the most informed decision.

But there's excitement about the fact that President Obama was able to keep P5+1, the five members of the Security Council, which we are one, plus Germany, bring them to the table and to sustain that engagement, for a long period of time, to produce an agreement – [that] is quite remarkable.

I can say from my experience, which I've shared with you before, that for around a quarter of a century, since I first came to Congress – a little bit after that when I traveled, whether it was to China, whether it was speaking to the Russians there or here, to some of our friends in Europe to say: "Stop transferring technology to Iran." One of the reasons I wanted to be on the Intelligence Committee was to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. And Iran was a likely candidate for such an endeavor.

When you talk to the Russians, they say: "Well, who are you to talk to us about selling weapons? You're the biggest weapons salesman in the world." When you talk with the Chinese about their transfer of centrifuge, ring magnets, which enables centrifuges, which are necessary for the enrichment of uranium, those kinds of things, they say: "Well, we're just not doing it." Which, of course, they were, and that applies to missiles as well.

And you talk to the Europeans, they say: "Well, it's only simulation." And we say: "No, it's dual use." So I've been tracking this issue for a generation. And to think that Russia and China plus some other members of the P5 are such strong partners in all of this, and this is a partnership, is quite remarkable, and I commend the President and all involved.

And President Bush really started some of this, and then it became more successful as the countries came together. But it was that diplomacy that brought the countries together that gave us strength to the negotiations to achieve what is here right now. So many steps along the way. Great progress. A good product. Not only better than the status quo, not only the best possible option, but a strong, effective option, proposal, for keeping the peace and stopping proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Q: Madam Leader, there was a very tragic death in San Francisco. There are some lawmakers here on the Republican side who would like to impose some mandatory sentences for undocumented persons, who may commit such crimes. What do you think about those tactics and that sort of legislation?

Leader Pelosi. The mandatory minimum sentences have not been something I have supported. The judges who have come before our Appropriations Committee, any Federal judges who come for their annual visits to us have always said, give us discretion. Give judges discretion as to what a sentence might be for a particular crime.

However, we did, in H.R. 15, have a graduated mandatory sentence for repeated offenses. And I think that's probably a better model than the model that is being put forth by the Republicans.

Q: And should it be something specific for persons who are undocumented and – because San Francisco is a sanctuary city, as you know, there are issues with that as well.

Leader Pelosi. Well, that's a different issue. I support the sanctuary. We have this terrible case, and our hearts and prayers go out to the family. But in terms of the question, which was the bill about mandatory minimums, let me also say that if we had passed comprehensive immigration reform, which is the answer to many of the questions that we may ask on this subject, then we'd be in a better place.

And, in fact, some of the essence of the laws the Republicans are putting forth – but in a more sensible way, which really came out of the Senate and that we supported.

Q: Madam Leader, will you be actively lobbying…

Leader Pelosi. Yes.

Q:…your colleagues on behalf of the Administration regarding the Iran deal?

Leader Pelosi. Yes. I'm so proud of this. I am already making sure – I'm not exactly lobbying, but making sure people have answers to the questions that they have. But I made very clear to them of my own standing on this issue and why I think this is a good agreement. I call it an agreement, this plan of action. And it's pretty exciting because the Members are very – they have informed questions and they'll have more informed questions the more they read and study the annex and the rest.

And so it becomes almost a master class of what is in this plan, but how it fits comfortably among other plans along the way. I mean, President Reagan and Gorbachev came to their agreement.

One thing, just anecdotally, some of the people who are very enthusiastic about this agreement now, include a group called Ploughshares. As you can tell by the name, it's a group that has been – its orientation has been to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. When they first started, one of my dear friends, Sally Lilienthal, was one of the people who started it in San Francisco and other places in the country. But she was from San Francisco.

And I remember when she went to Reykjavik with the women – maybe you weren't even born yet. But anybody who knows history will remember the women who went to Reykjavik and who were advocating that President Reagan take the position, which he ultimately did.

So, yes, I think it's really important that after all these negotiations, with all the engagement, the diplomacy, the wisdom, the brilliance, the ideas and the imagination, and the compromises that have to be made, that this be supported, and I am having those conversations – very respectfully, because some of our Members are in different places in terms of their involvement in these kinds of issues or their service in Congress, and some have very definite views and have some very strong questions. All of it healthy and valuable, all of it to be respected by all of it.

But yes, this is one of the joys of my service. To come back to what I said to you before, one of my early goals coming to Congress was to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It's always a horizon that you're reaching for, but this is a really important part of it.

Q: Madam Leader, you've also had a long history of supporting human rights around the globe.

Leader Pelosi. Yes.

Q: What do you think this agreement will do to prisoners of conscience in Iran and the horrible human rights conditions we've seen in Syria and the whole region?

Leader Pelosi. Yeah, a very good question. Yeah, human rights are really central to who we are. And I don't believe – and I wasn't present, but it is my understanding that every time there was a meeting with the Iranians, the question of the U.S. prisoners of conscience were brought up there, and also the President has met with some of the families. As well as the fact that I think we're almost in a better place to shine a light on that.

The human rights situation, it's interesting, because I – more than you want to know about my schedule, but after I left you last week, I had the privilege of going to New York and celebrating the 80th birthday of the Dalai Lama, His Holiness, with 17,000 people at Javits Convention Center, and then to be with him more privately in a small group the next day. And of course, a great deal of our conversation was about human rights in China and Tibet.

And how can we have a moral authority to talk about human rights any place in the world if we don't recognize the challenge of conscience they pose in China and Tibet, just because the country is a big economic power. So we have to make sure it's always on the table. We have to ever advance it because it is who we are. But it is very essential that we have this nuclear agreement and continue the conversation about human rights.

One more over here.

Q: Madam Leader, do you think the four American hostages being held in Iran should have been released as a precondition to any deal made about Iran's nuclear deal program?

Leader Pelosi. No. It would have been good but it's just – no. This is a nuclear deal. This is a nuclear agreement. And I think that we have to – I appreciate the fact that since we have a nuclear negotiation, and now we have a nuclear agreement, that a much brighter light is being shown on the prisoners of conscience in Iran.

And, again, I just took a trip in the spring with my colleagues on the subject of trade, and we brought up these issues with the Government of Vietnam and we brought up these issues with the Administration about what has been happening in Malaysia in terms of trafficking. So, again, any issue that shines a brighter light enables us to say, are we consistent with what we believe, or is it changed, depending on our economic and commercial relationships with the country.

Security – protect, and defend, that's our first responsibility. Who we are as a nation is that we respect the dignity and worth of every person and that we want those prisoners released. And the more attention that is paid to it, the better. The worst, most cruel and excruciating pain that can be inflicted on a prisoner of conscience – and again, I've been working on these issues on China as you know, since I arrived here – is that they tell the prisoners: "Nobody remembers you're here. They don't know why you're here. You're wasting your time. You might as well confess or convert" or whatever it is they want them to do.

And this will shine a very bright light. And I'm very optimistic, and I know that the Administration has this as a very high priority. There are so many prisoners of conscience throughout the world in so many countries that we do have dealings with. Hopefully, this will serve as a model, a bridge to better understanding of who we are as a nation and why that is important to us.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to go because we have votes on the floor, but I thank you all very much. And we'll be back at 12:00-ish, 12:30 to break during lunch. We're not providing it. But you're welcome to join us with the Congressional Black Caucus to – I enjoy ice cream. What I eat is ice cream.

But seriously, in terms of going from appropriations to the Confederate flag to now to the Voting Rights Act and that's what we're excited about talking to you about later this morning.

Thank you all very much.

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Issues:Human Rights