Transcript of Pelosi Press Conference Today
Contact: Drew Hammill/Evangeline George, 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. Morning. Good morning. Not the morning we thought it would be, but nonetheless, here we are: the Speaker announcing his resignation. The resignation of the Speaker is a stark indication of the disarray of the House Republicans. It is a demonstration of their obsession with shutting down government at the expense of women's health and a sign of the failure of the House Republicans to be willing to engage in dialogue for the good of the American people and for us to move forward.
This resignation, as significant as it is – and it's seismic for the House – does not undermine or diminish the afterglow of His Holiness Pope Francis' visit to the Congress yesterday. It was extraordinary. With absolute clarity and beauty and moral urgency, His Holiness gave us a message of hope, peace, and dialogue. He challenged us to engage in dialogue to move forward for the American people.
He talked about his encyclical. His namesake, Saint Francis, is the namesake of my city of San Francisco. Saint Francis was one of the first and earliest and strongest environmentalists. So I was interested to hear what His Holiness had to say yesterday and at the White House the day before on our home planet and the responsibility we have to pass it on to future generations and not to wait. It is connected to – His Holiness and the challenges he gave us – as he addressed his remarks not only to us but to workers, to children, to seniors, how he referenced other leaders in our country who are so much a part of our culture.
I would love for His Holiness to know – maybe he did, or just divine intervention – that when he referenced Martin Luther King and the Selma march and then later referenced Thomas Merton, that John Lewis had in his backpack when he was walking over that Selma bridge Thomas Merton's book. So the connection of values is one that is reinforced by what His Holiness had to say yesterday.
What is also happening today is the visit of the President of China. We are excited about his cap‑and‑trade initiative and the agreement between our two countries to address the climate crisis – or as His Holiness called it, air pollution because that is something people do relate to more directly – and that this is good. What the Chinese are doing in this case is excellent.
I had the privilege of visiting China when President Hu was President on the subject of climate and environment and energy. And the Chinese are to be commended for what they are doing in that regard.
However, we still have very serious concerns about human rights in China and Tibet. And this morning we had a stateless breakfast where we – dissidents were present, and we toasted. We raised our glasses to those who are languishing in prisons in China and Tibet, and hoping that the values of our country are clear to the President of China when it comes to protecting the dignity and worth of every person in the spirit of Saint Francis.
With all due respect to the Speaker and his announcement, we still have to stop their actions in shutting down government. The opportunity for a clean continuing resolution is an absolute necessity. We hope that it will be done in a timely and dialogue‑oriented respect for other opinions – again, in the spirit of Francis way, and we look forward to seeing what comes next. But we had been on a path that enabled the Republican Caucus to work its will, the House to work its will, and the Congress to work its will to keep government open so that we can move forward for the American people.
But, again, the disarray among the House Republicans, their obsession with shutting down government at the expense of women's health, needs to be reckoned with and recognized.
Any questions?
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Q: How does the announcement affect the CR debate? Does it make it easier? Does it make it tougher for Democrats? I mean, who do you negotiate with now if you've got this lame duck Speaker?
Leader Pelosi. Well, he is the Speaker until he gives up the gavel. Until then, we continue to negotiate with Speaker Boehner, and you and we will find out together what comes next in the Republican Caucus, whether there's an heir apparent or whether there is a disagreement as to who will succeed the Speaker.
But the fact is, is that September 30 is right around the corner, and we have to have a short‑term CR within a matter of days – that we would have a CR that would take us to – I would like November 20. The Speaker has always said December 11, but we all agree that whatever the date is, that by November 20, we would have to have our negotiations complete as to what the offsets are, what the top line is, and what the riders could be on such a bill, that we would go forward with an omnibus bill from there – an omnibus bill that would recognize that we are eliminating sequestration; that the money that we do add is dollar for dollar domestic and defense; that we build our defense; we invest in the strength of our country in terms of our domestic agenda; and that, again, this all would be completed in a timely fashion for the next year.
At the same time as we are finding the offsets, the top line, and the riders, the committees would be working their will in terms of the Appropriations Committee doing their appropriations. It's just a question of what the dollar figure would be. And that is a big question.
Q: But as they are racing to fill his shoes, you know, isn't that going to be a distraction as you hope to do all of those things, that that is going to…
Leader Pelosi. Well, of course, it's more than a distraction, but the fact is that that is one element of it. We have the President of the United States who will sign the bill. So that leverage is significant in terms of what he will sign. You have the Senate Democrats and Republicans, who have to come to an agreement as to what the initial CR will be, and we hope to have that Monday night or Tuesday so that we can act upon it, and then in our House what approach they want to take. And we've heard different – you've seen in the press, I am sure, some of the approaches they want to take with bringing two bills to the floor, which is fine if that is the way they want to do it, as long as one of them is a clean CR.
There isn't a whole lot between now and September 30, which is the end of the fiscal year, there isn't a great deal of play. It's what comes after that as we bill ‑‑ see, I wanted to have a top line by the time we did a CR. But they're not ready to do that because what they want to do is find the offsets before they determine the top line. So that will take longer, but we're okay with that.
Q: Leader Pelosi, when did you find about the Speaker's resignation? Did you have a conversation beforehand?
Leader Pelosi. No. I called him this morning just to see how we're doing on a CR, and he was in a meeting, and they said – this is like 8:30 or something, 8:15, before I went to the Stateless Breakfast to toast the prisoners languishing in prisons in China and Tibet. I am just recognizing the time. They said: He's in a meeting; he'll call you mid-morning. But I haven't heard from him yet.
Q: So how did you find out?
Leader Pelosi. Oh, I was in the Caucus having this conversation about one option being their correction of errors bill, you know, different tactics they might use, and all of a sudden, you know how it is, the phones just lit up, and that's how we found out. Yeah.
Q: In the long term, do you think, speaking sort of December, does this complicate, or does this increase the odds of a shutdown in the second step of this process?
Leader Pelosi. The American people are even now more closely watching what happens here. Because they've seen a Speaker step down because those in his caucus are demanding a shutdown of government unless there is a defunding of Planned Parenthood. Public awareness is the strongest, strongest opportunity we have for keeping government open. And so even some of their Karl Roves and the rest of that, my understanding is, have spoken out against shutting down government.
Shutting down government is drastic. In our caucus this morning, we had read to us by our ranking member, Nita Lowey all the things that will happen if they shut down government; who are affected in terms of our veterans, who are affected in terms of children and nutrition. It is a stunning array.
One of the things that people have said is if we only let government shut down for one day but really did not mitigate for the damage, then the American people would really know how bad this is. But being responsible, as we are, and responsible as the President is, when the shutdown came before – it lasted from the first of October until the 17th – we tried to mitigate for the damage. But it's harmful. We lost at that time $25 billion in our economy. It curtailed the growth of our GDP. It put people out of work. At least 30 percent of the Federal workforce are veterans, and we all profess to worship the shrine of our veterans. And yet they will very casually shut down government, having various degrees of impact on Federal workers.
This all comes down to the fact that the Republicans in Congress, if you take some of the issues we have talked about, are anti-governance – not government. Anti-government is a – you know, the degree of government has been the debate in our country for a couple hundred years. How much government? How much Federal? How much local and state? So that is a legitimate place of where you are on the spectrum. But anti-governance, shut it down and celebrate, that is unacceptable. And President Washington, as he was leaving office, cautioned against political parties which were at war with their own government. And that is really what we are seeing evidence of now, political party at war with its own government. And that just can't be.
And that is not a manifestation of the GOP, the Grand Old Party, which has done so much for our country over time, produced great Presidents, leaders in Congress. But yet it is – some would say the party's been hijacked by a fringe element in the House Republican Party, and we're seeing evidence of that now.
But you know what? That's here. What's important is what we do for the American people across the country. And what we must do is keep government open and remove all doubt in anyone's mind that the ideology of an extreme element of the Republican Party is not going to dominate how our country meets the needs of the American people. And they are not going to sacrifice the lives and health of women by shutting down government with the excuse that it's about Planned Parenthood. For them, any excuse will do.
We have a vote. So I am going have to excuse myself. Yes.
Q: Can I ask if you are going to be running for Speaker?
Leader Pelosi. Well, the leader of the opposition party is nominated. Yeah, we go through that. We have to go through that again. But it will be interesting to see who they nominate for Speaker. That's really the question.
Thank you all very much.
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