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. Good morning, everyone.
Here we are, back again. We have to recognize the most important commodity that there is time. It just is finite, and it should not be underutilized or wasted. And here we are, Congress having only seven legislative days to act to fully protect the full faith and credit of the United States of America. We have to act by November 3rd in order to prevent the risk of a default – a default which had our America's retirement savings and interest rates soaring for mortgages, student loans, credit cards, car payments. As we saw in 2001, even the discussion of not honoring the full faith and credit, not lifting the debt ceiling, lowered our credit rating. As it turned out, it didn't happen, but just the discussion lowered our credit rating – which, of course, has a very negative impact on our economy.
We have talked here about the calendar, the timetable, our timetable for progress; it's their calendar of chaos. Here we are – when I say seven days until the full faith and credit of the United States expires, it's only a matter of hours before we have to act in the House. We have to act really by tomorrow; we should act by tomorrow, in order to give the Senate the week that they will need to pass a bill so that it can be signed into law in time to head off the November 3rd default. So, this is coming – this calendar of chaos that the Republicans have here is really coming down to hours, days, weeks, not even months, before we have to act.
As you all know, the Transportation Bill has to be done by October 29th. The short-term bill that we passed expires on October 29th – a matter of days. The full faith and credit expires on November 3rd, but we're only hours away from when we in the House should act.
[On] December 11th, we have to pass an Omnibus Bill to keep government open. That's the big package that's going to take a good deal of cooperation, debate, decision-making.
By January, the Medicare Part B increases will go into effect unless Congress acts. We've been talking about this for a while. We've been calling upon our Republican colleagues to act upon this. There are a number of solutions out there that we should debate. And we can do this quickly, because we have all been aware of this issue since July when the notice was sent out that these increases would take place. And, they can be avoided with legislative action.
We're very long overdue on reauthorizing the 9/11 Health Workers and Compensation [Bill] – health and compensation benefit for 9/11 workers. We owe that – there shouldn't be any question. How deeply moving all the words were of Members when they came to speak about 9/11 and how brave the people were who went in there, sacrificed their lives and safety to help others. And then how soon we forget that we need these health benefits and this compensation. So, let's get that done as soon as possible.
As you know, the Ex-Im Bank is long overdue. Hopefully, because of our discharge petition the week before we left, we'll be taking that up Monday and Tuesday of [next] week, and hopefully that will be reauthorized.
So, we have important work to do. And I've just named some of the issues that are – there's a very short fuse that we could have acted upon, that we should act upon, that we must. Instead, as we gather here, Secretary Hillary Clinton is testifying before the Select Committee on Benghazi. Republican intent is clear. As Leader McCarthy boasted, the Select Committee is nothing but Republicans using millions of taxpayer dollars to smear Hillary Clinton. Mr. Cummings, our Ranking Member, has a measure of money in his committee – $4.7 million wasted and counting. Seventeen months – that 17 months is even longer than the Watergate investigation. Before the Republicans created this waste of money, waste of time Select Committee, there was already an investigation of the Independent Accountability Review Board, eight previous reports by seven Congressional Committee – including the House Intelligence Committee – found no wrongdoing by Secretary Clinton. But, the truth did not serve Republicans' blatantly political, partisan purpose. As our Ranking Member, Mr. Cummings, said this morning, ‘It's time for Republicans to end this taxpayer-funded witch hunt.'
Again, instead of moving forward with all of the must-do legislation that I mentioned earlier, Republicans are moving forward with a GOP reconciliation package that once again lays the groundwork for another Republican government shutdown. It's a waste of time. It will go nowhere in the Senate. It will be their 61st vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And they will, of course, be wanting to defund Planned Parenthood, destroy the Affordable Care Act, dismantle newfound health security for millions of Americans.
It doesn't have to be this way. Instead, we could be working together, recognizing a Republican Congress, a Democratic President, the ability for Democrats to use their leverage legislatively to have compromise for the good of the American people. That's what Pope Francis told us to do. He said leaders should have transparency – that would be wonderful – ‘Openness,' he said; he used the word ‘openness' and ‘pragmatism.' And he said we had to move forward for the good of the people. Let's – in the spirit of Francis – do that.
Any questions?
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Q: Madam Speaker, good morning. The Treasury Department this morning has announced it was canceling its November 2nd auction, which is usually a pretty bad sign about raising the debt ceiling. What signal does that send to you? You talked about we need to do this in a matter of hours. But tell us just how dire that is in your mind.
Leader Pelosi. Well, it is pretty dire. We did hear from the Secretary of the Treasury this morning in that regard. It is dire. For the American people to understand how dire it is, they have to know what it means to them in their lives. And I went through some of that earlier.
The other consequences of all of this is, if we were to come down to the last dollars in our account, we would have to choose. There would have to be – not everything can be paid for. And, you know, people say, ‘Well, you have to pay principle and interest.' Well, that's paying off Wall Street and our foreign creditors. But we're more interested in our veterans, our seniors. We're more interested in what this means to people. But it's very hard to make those decisions as quickly as you need to. It's better just to lift the debt ceiling.
The action that they announced this morning is very consequential. It is serious work that we do here. The Constitution says the full faith and credit of the United States of America should never be in doubt – is not in doubt. But the Republicans here are placing it in doubt. And it's pretty drastic. And, as I said, in 2011 – when they played with this – just the mere discussion of it and the length of time that that discussion went on brought down our credit rating, which means the added cost of money for our own borrowing.
If you want to have a message about budget – I know Democrats were concerned about the Reagan tax cuts that caused us to have some expenditures that there were – have a message, talk about it. But don't threaten to shut down government over it. It's too drastic. It's not a tool; it's a weapon.
One of your colleagues said to me one day, ‘Well, it's not a weapon. It's a tool they have.' I said, ‘It's not a tool, it's a lethal weapon.' It's not anything that should even be considered.
Q: And is there any reason why you think we could get something tomorrow? I mean, there were some people who indicated that there was some talk about maybe trying to do a clean bill tomorrow so the Senate – as you put it – could process things next week. But we don't have any indication from the Speaker's office that that is happening.
Leader Pelosi. No, I don't have that either. All I hear is that…
Q: Have you had that conversation with the other side?
Leader Pelosi. On the process of a clean bill. But I don't – everything changes – as you know – around here. What we do hear is that they're whipping a really terrible, terrible bill.
And let me just end this conversation by saying: The full faith and credit of the United States not only should not be questioned, it should not be negotiable.
Yes?
Q: Going back to the Benghazi Committee quickly, Mr. Schiff suggested about 2 days ago that after today's hearing that Democrats may be looking at just quitting the Committee altogether.
Leader Pelosi. Right.
Q: Mr. Cummings, however, yesterday said to a few of us that that may not necessarily be a good idea because Democrats would serve better to be on the Committee, to be in the room and be, kind of, there to – as he put it – quote, unquote, "Defend the truth." Your thoughts on doing one thing or the other?
Leader Pelosi. Well, you know, we've been having this debate since they came up with this taxpayer[-funded] scheme to undermine Hillary Clinton. And people said, ‘Don't even appoint people.' And so we had that debate back and forth in our Caucus. We chose the path Mr. Cummings describes – you have to be in the room to defend the truth.
I'll be hearing from my colleagues who have been in that room to see what course of action they want to take next. Let's just see how the hearings go today. And, you know, what's next? Is this thing forever? Are they ever going to make a decision about whether to continue this? Is this in perpetuity, this committee? We'll see.
But, again, I'll respect the wishes of my Members of the Committee. And we are very proud of them. Elijah Cummings, spectacular. The two Adams, Adam Smith, the Chair – and Elijah Cummings, also the Ranking Member on the Government Reform Committee – Adam Smith, the Ranking Member on Armed Services; Adam Schiff, the Ranking Member on Intelligence; Linda Sanchez, an attorney, very respected for her getting to the truth. And, of course, we're very proud also of Tammy Duckworth and her service to our country and the experience that she brings of people in harm's way who are looking out for the benefit of our country.
So, I'll respect their judgment, and we'll talk about this when this is over. But, again, it's been an ongoing conversation since they announced it, this committee.
Yes?
Q: Leader Pelosi, a question on a different topic. There's been a record number of at least 21 murders of transgender people across the country. The latest is a woman of color, Zella Ziona, who was shot to death in your native Baltimore last week. You've spoken with pride before about the inclusion of transgender protection…
Leader Pelosi. Yes.
Q: In the hate crimes law signed by President Obama in 2009. But why do you think these murders persist, and what should be done about them?
Leader Pelosi. Well, I appreciate your concern for this issue. You mentioned the hate crimes bill that we passed when we did, in 2009, and, at that time, there had been some resistance around – I don't know where, but people would say to me, you could pass this hate crimes bill in a second if you didn't include transgender [people]. And I said: ‘Well, I'm never going to pass it in a million years if we don't include transgender,' because these are – it's important for it to be inclusive, and transgender people are probably the most in need of a hate crimes bill.
You know, we can pass a law, we can hope to break down barriers in people's minds. Now we have to get to their hearts. But it is heartbreaking to hear of violence against anyone, but the vulnerability of our transgender community – now, I met just recently with the community about a number of issues, where we go on the equality bill that we're very proud of that we introduced to broaden, even, and to include many other ends of discrimination.
And what I said to them is, in my next meetings and the rest – and I had this conversation, actually, in Washington State, as well – we want to listen specifically to the transgender community to hear what some of their suggestions might be as we go forward, as we see this sadness. But we always want to listen to the people who are most affected by it.
Of course, comprehensively, macro‑ly [sic], we want everything to be inclusive. But in order to enforce the law and see what else we need to do, we have to listen to the community, because they're, sadly, on the front line of this.
Thank you for your question.
Q: Senator Franken wrote a letter to the Justice Department yesterday saying that the Administration should provide information on reporting and the extent to which the Federal Government is working with local authorities. Do you think that would be a good idea?
Leader Pelosi. Sure. Always. Yes. Thank you.
Yes, sir? A whole collection over here. Okay. We'll start in the back row and come forward.
Q: Getting back to…
Leader Pelosi. Some of the regulars.
Okay. Go ahead.
Q: Thank you. Getting back to fiscal issues, your staff is involved in these talks with trying to figure out what to do regarding the caps. And I was just wondering – two questions. First, how close are things? And do you think that there's any chance that both the CR and the debt ceiling can be wrapped up in one package by November 3rd? And where are you in terms of requirements for offsets? Should a boost in the defense cap also be offset if there's a boost in the non-defense cap and vice versa?
Leader Pelosi. Well, I would hope that we could get it all done by November 3rd. That would be ideal. But that is not to say that any of the negotiation on the omnibus bill has any impact on lifting the debt ceiling. That has to be free, clear, and nonnegotiable.
As I mentioned to you before, there were three areas in the discussion. One, offsets. And the Republicans wanted to be sure we had the offsets before we did the top line as to what to instruct the appropriators to write bills to. They have their basic outline. They work in, really, in a bipartisan way. But, now, how much more will be in there.
We're not at a place that can take us to a decision today unless it would be a very modest decision, but we certainly want to do more for our national defense and for our domestic side.
I'm not sure what I am able to disclose publicly about those conversations, but to say that more work needs to be done.
Q: A lot more work? A little more work? Where are we on…
Leader Pelosi. Well, I'm always optimistic, but whatever it is, we have a deadline of December 11. It doesn't mean we have to stretch it out until then. I would hope we could get it done much sooner.
Yes, sir?
Q: In a perfect world, would you advocate repealing this World War I‑era law that you say is being used as a political weapon to risk a default? I mean, I understand this law was enacted to sort of rationalize and promote the sale of war bonds, and it's become a political ‑‑ would you advocate just repealing it?
Leader Pelosi. Well, I'm very curious about your basic premise of "in a perfect world." We don't even come close to that. So, no, I think that, in the imperfect world we live in, the Constitution is clear: The full faith and credit shall not be in doubt.
We haven't voted on this. You know, under Gephardt, when Gephardt was Leader, this was all part of a budget agreement. It was a stipulation of fact, that the full faith and credit would be respected. So there really weren't so many votes on this then.
But instead of having it be a message piece about the cost of the deficit or whatever, the debt, it's now become, as I say, a lethal weapon. I don't think you even need to repeal the law. I just don't think you have to take the vote.
But if we do, then let's just do it without soap opera, melodrama, really almost ignorance about the consequences of it. If everybody really understood what the consequences of it were, do you think that they would be so frivolous in the discussion? I certainly hope not.
Yes, sir?
Q: A little while ago, you said something along the lines that, if John Boehner was a woman, people would refer to him as the weakest Speaker in history.
Leader Pelosi. Yeah.
Q: How do you view him, and what do you think his legacy will be?
Leader Pelosi. Well, that was not to be personal about him. It was about his caucus and what they enabled him to accomplish, which has not been much, which has not been much, for the good of the country.
And by having fake things – I don't even know how you would identify them – and calling them rules – the Hastert rule, that's never been a rule. Hastert's not even here anymore. It was never a rule. It was a barrier to progress to work in a bipartisan way.
And it's really unfortunate because, as I've said about Speaker Boehner, whom I respect, he always defended their position with great pride and great strength. So for them to say to him, "Unless you shut down government, we're taking the gavel away" is just – you see how far they have gone. And you see the validity of my statements of what they've prevented him from doing up until now.
Yes, sir.
Q: Is it a good thing that Paul Ryan seems ready to run for Speaker?
Leader Pelosi. You know, two weeks ago, when we were at this meeting, one of your colleagues asked me how I was going to work with Kevin McCarthy. That was exactly two weeks ago around this time, a little earlier, a few minutes earlier. And I said, when they nominate somebody and when they elect him, we'll talk about – or her – we'll talk how we'll work together. It wasn't, what, 20 minutes later that Kevin was no longer going to be nominated or elected.
It looks pretty much as if – although it did then. You all were surprised. I wasn't, but – I was surprised when Speaker Boehner stepped aside. I wasn't surprised when Kevin did. But it looks like they're on a path, and I think it's a good thing to have certainty of electing a Speaker so we can get down to work. Not that this Speaker, Boehner, isn't working now, but get down to work on some of the issues that will go beyond Speaker Boehner's tenure here.
What I'm exited about hearing is that, in the conversations that have gone on, that there's been a respect for the fact that the now‑chairman, perhaps soon‑to‑be Speaker Ryan, with respect for his family‑work balance and that he has made very clear to people he wants to maintain. And I think that's very exciting because that's what we want for all of America's families. And part of that is family and medical leave. And Members of Congress have paid sick leave. It means a lot to the family‑work balance.
I hope that that respect for his particular situation would translate for a recognition of what that means to all of America's families. Because when America's families succeed, America succeeds.
So we'll look forward to welcoming him if he is, in fact – if that all works out in the next few days. And it looks like it will. He knows the issues. He knows the rules. It will be interesting to work with him.
He also has a Ryan budget that is something that we have opposed for a long time, the Ryan budget that makes a voucher of Medicare, putting seniors at the mercy of the marketplace, that block‑grants Medicaid. Around two‑thirds of Medicaid goes for long‑term health care for seniors. So seniors should be watching the Ryan priorities carefully, because it has a direct impact on cost to them and their health.
He also took $800 billion out of Medicare to give tax breaks to the wealthiest people in America in his Ryan budget.
And so, you know, we have a person who knows the territory, knows the issues, so that's helpful, but also a clear distinction as to what our statement of values in a budget would be versus what has been in the Ryan budget. Maybe out of praise of family, there would be a change of heart as to how that affects not only the wellbeing of seniors but of their children who have some responsibility for them.
Thank you all very much.
Q: Why weren't you surprised by McCarthy?
Leader Pelosi. Because he's not there.
Q: Well, no, he has been leading to that.
Leader Pelosi. He's not there.
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