Transcript of Pelosi Weekly Press Conference Today
Contact: Ashley Etienne/Henry Connelly, 202-226-7616
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press conference today in the Capitol Visitor Center. Below are the Leader's remarks:
Leader Pelosi Opening Remarks.
Leader Pelosi. Good morning, everyone. Oh, it is so lovely to see all of you at Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day. Thank very much for being here.
In a little minute, I am going to come sit down where you are, but first I just have a little bit of work to do. Okay? Okay. Are you getting your questions ready and stuff? You got your notepads and the all the rest. Oh, boy, this is pretty exciting.
So and we are in this room and here – George Washington. George Washington, the Founder of our country. He was a brave soldier and a great President. And when you go around Washington, D.C., you see the Washington Monument, you see the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial. Have you seen any of those things? And other statues and tributes to our Founders and leaders in our country.
And it is very important that we honor them for what they did to make our country so great. But they would want us not to look to the past, but look to the future, and you are the future. So they would want us to be saying, our work here is about, of course, honoring our past, but taking responsibility for the future. Honor the vows of our Founders, what they intended for our country. Honor the work of our soldiers, our men and women in uniform, our veterans who protect us. And, very importantly, honor the aspirations of our children, what your hopes and your dreams are, and what we can do to make the future better.
So 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, a clean, safe environment in which they can thrive and grow. A world at peace in which they can reach their fulfillment. So we have important work to do for you.
Now, to my colleagues, friends and the press. Some of these responsibilities that we have to our children are at risk in some of the actions being taken by this Administration. For example, in terms of the air our children breathe and the water they drink is seriously at risk under the leadership of Scott Pruitt at EPA, that is almost to the point of corruption, certainly conflict of interest. So somebody makes money at the expense of the health of our children, the air they breathe, the water they drink.
Housing, so important to children. And Secretary Carson hiking the rent for some of American's most vulnerable children while he has expensive furniture at the public expense in his office. The list goes on and on. But we have a better idea, it is called the Better Deal. Can you say that? The Better Deal. Better Jobs, Better Pay, Better Future for our children.
So this is one of the things that we have to do is to protect our democracy. Hi, again. Our democracy. And one of the things that is risked is the role of money in our democracy that [OMB and CFPB] Director [Mick] Mulvaney in his pay-to-play approach to politics laid bear the brazen corruption of the Trump Administration in this regard.
So, in any case, in the framework of, again, honoring our Founders, respecting our men and women in uniform, and addressing the aspirations of our children, that is what we are here to do.
Any questions? I am going to take some from the press and then I am coming down there so I can be closer in.
Yes, ma'am.
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Q: Earlier this week Harry Reid did an interview and he said Democrats should not talk about impeachment of the President. Do you agree with that?
Leader Pelosi. Well, I have said over and over again that I don't think that we should be talking about impeachment. I have been very clear right from the start. There is a process at work that will either yield or not, information that will be dispositive of that issue.
But I said to – this is an election that we must win for our children and for the fate of the nation. And this election is not about what is going on in the White House and the rest of that, it is about our addressing the needs of the American people. And we cannot take our eye off that ball. So I have been criticized – they criticized me when I was Speaker before for not impeaching President Bush.
So, again, impeachment is a very serious matter. If it happens, it has to be a bipartisan initiative. I don't think that we have the information to go to that place, and I discourage any discussion of impeachment.
On the political side, I think it is a gift to the Republicans to talk about impeachment. What we want to talk about is what they are doing to undermine working families in our country, and what we are doing to increase their payroll and lower their costs. Yes, sir.
Q: Madam Leader, do you have thoughts on the next VA Secretary nominee, and one name that may be bubbling up is former [House Veterans' Affairs Committee] Chairman Jeff Miller. Your reaction?
Leader Pelosi. Well, of course, this is just another example of the culture of corruption, cronyism and incompetence of the Trump administration. That fact that he would nominate somebody who had no capability to run the VA. We owe our veterans, as I said in my opening remarks, so much. They sacrificed so much. We are the land of the free because we are the home of the brave. And when we are at war, the military says we leave no soldier behind on the battlefield. And when they come home, we leave no veteran behind.
So the fact is that they would be so cavalier, casual, frivolous, about appointing someone to that position simply in keeping with their cronyism and incompetence. We will see who they present next. I thought we had a very fine VA Secretary that the President Trump initially appointed, but their move to privatize the VA, and that is why they had to go to a different personnel route. One more before we go to the serious questions from the floor.
Yes, ma'am.
Q: There was a recording released this morning of Congressman [Steny] Hoyer encouraging a progressive candidate in Colorado to drop out of the primary, and I was wondering do you think the Democratic leadership should get involved in primaries like that?
Leader Pelosi. I am not as familiar with what you are saying, I just heard that there was some recording. This is – I don't know that a person can tape a person without the person's consent, and then release it to the press, that is what I am more concerned about.
In terms of candidates and campaigns, I don't see anything inappropriate in what Mr. Hoyer was engaged in a conversation about the realities of life and a race as to who can win in the general election. What is important in all of this is that 1 in 5 children in America lives in poverty and goes to sleep hungry at night. That is what makes this election so urgent for our country and for our children.
So with the realities of life, some candidates can do better in the general than others, then that is a clear-eyed conversation that we should be having.
Anybody? Okay. Here we go. I am getting down here now.
Yes, we do. We got candy. The candy is over there. Okay. I took my daughter to work – does this work? Okay. Thank you.
Hi, how are you? Who wants to have the first question? Okay. Looks like we have a lot of questions here.
Q: How did you get into politics?
Leader Pelosi. The question is, how did I get into politics? Well, how are we doing? Now it is working. So it is about sitting down. Okay. The question was, how did you get into politics?
I was born into politics. When I was born, my father was a Member of Congress from Baltimore, Maryland. Anybody from Maryland, here? Okay. And so when I was in first grade he became the Mayor of Baltimore. Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., and he became the Mayor of Baltimore. All my whole life, he was Mayor. And when I went away to college, my whole freshman year, he was still the Mayor of Baltimore.
So we were always taught in our family that we had a responsibility to other people. That our sense of community said that if we could be helpful to them, that was our responsibility. It was also part of our Catholic faith that we had responsibilities to each other.
So I am going to get closer to the kids. Let's see if it still works down here. So years later, many years later, I went to college, married, had five children. That was a long time ago. So I think it bothered me that 1 in 5 children in America goes to sleep hungry at night because they are so poor.
So when my children got bigger and were going away to college, I decided that I wanted to follow the example of my family, which was that public service is a noble calling, and people asked me to run for Congress. I didn't really want to run for office, but I did. And that is how I got from being a housewife to being the House Speaker.
So if you want to get involved in politics, here is what I recommend.
Look at you. You are adorable. Adorable. Adorable.
If you want to get into politics, if you want to be President of the United States, or anything else in between now and then, understand why you want to do it. See, I said because 1 in 5 children were poor in America, that is what was my motivation. You might have a different motivation, and you might, too, young man.
But just know why. You asked me why and how. Know why. And then as you are studying – I was in Seattle last week and there was – I was at the March for Science in Seattle. They had a march to support science.
And there was a little girl who spoke on the program who was 5 years old. She was 5 years old. And she was marching to do away with plastic straws, because of what it was doing to the ocean and the fishery and the rest. So even at 5 years old, she knew her want, her purpose. And then she had recruited some people who were as old as 7 or 8 years old to join her band.
So think of something that you really care about and want to do, and then see if you can encourage other people to join you, and then one time you might say, I can do more. Is this adorable? Precious. How long have we been walking? Looks like a newcomer to the field. But, anyway, I am glad that you asked that question, and I hope that you think about it for yourself, too. Okay.
Do you have a question? You have a smile. Oh, precious. Precious. Precious. Is this it? Is there anything more exciting than this? Yes, ma'am.
Q: How did you get your job?
Leader Pelosi. How did I get my job? The first job I had was to represent San Francisco in the Congress, the first job in Congress. And I represent a city that is so fabulous, I hope some time you will visit San Francisco.
And our patron saint is St. Francis. He was a patron saint who loved animals, and he loved people, and he has a song – a Song of St. Francis: make me an instrument of thy peace. You may hear that one of these days. And that is our anthem in San Francisco. So the best job I had in Congress is to represent the people of San Francisco.
How I got to be a Leader in the Democratic party was because my colleagues voted for me. That is how. That is how. Yes, sir.
Q: What have you done about the gun violence and the NRA in Florida?
Leader Pelosi. There you go. Thank you for your question. You might see around here some Members of Congress, Democrats, who have an F – they have a pin that says F on them. Many of them have this pin that says F. And the pin that says – and why they have an F is because they have an F rating from the National Rifle Association, from the NRA. They said, ‘There is nothing you do that we approve of.' So that F is a badge of honor. That is a badge of honor to people who have an F. I have an F, too.
But what we are trying to do is to take advantage of the opportunity that young people have provided in Florida to speak out. The March for Your Life. Did you see any of that? Our March for Our Lives. Wasn't that wonderful?
So what we want to say to the Congress, give us a vote so that we can save lives to protect our children. And I say to my colleagues, if you are afraid that you are going to lose the election because you vote to save our children's lives, know this: Not any of us, our political survival is more important than the political survival – than the personal survival of our children. No one's political survival is more important for sure than the personal survival of our children.
Do you have a question? Do you have a – what is your name? Do you want to sit up here? We got a red, white, and blue thing going here. Do you want to tell them your name?
Q: (Mumbling)
Leader Pelosi. I like the way your hair is.
Q: (Mumbling)
Leader Pelosi. Do you know how to sing? Should we all sing? What do you want to sing?
Q: ABC.
Leader Pelosi. Huh?
Q: ABC.
Leader Pelosi. Are we ready for that?
Q: (Mumbling)
Leader Pelosi. Okay. Go ahead. You lead the way.
Q: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, and Z, now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me?
[Applause.]
Leader Pelosi. Okay.
Q: What is policy?
Leader Pelosi. What, darling?
Q: What is policy?
Leader Pelosi. What is policy? That is a question that the ancients have been asking for thousands of years. The word ‘policy' means ideas. When you have an idea and you try to turn it into law, so it affects people in their lives, it is a policy. It is a policy. It is a policy.
So if you have an idea, for example, if you have an idea that children should learn more math in school, and you bring it to the Congress, and say, we need more math in school, and we pass the law that says that. And then it is translated into classroom. You have made policy, and you have acted upon it.
Q: Okay.
Leader Pelosi. So I have a math story. There was a teacher in school, a teacher in school, and a little boy, he was in first grade. And he said, ‘the teacher said to him: What is one and one?' And he said, ‘two.' She said, ‘what is two and two?' He said ‘four'. She said, ‘good.' He said, ‘not good, perfect.' Perfect. So as you learn your ABCs, learn your math, policy, so that you have every possibility available to you.
So with those beautiful pink glasses, do you have a question? What is that?
Q: [Inaudible] because people don't vote for peace, but then we went to the Peace March because too much children have been killed from families in schools…
Leader Pelosi. We got something going here. Maybe we will just have some statements to be made. Okay. Anyone else have a statement to be made? Was the question about peace? The earlier question about peace.
Yes, peace is very important in the world, and we all have to work for peace. Okay? Are you good with that?
Q: Yeah.
Leader Pelosi. We are in agreement. Do you have a question?
Q: Yes. (Mumbling).
Leader Pelosi. Okay. Yes, sir.
Q: So the U.S. has a lot of debt, $21 trillion, how do we plan on –
Leader Pelosi. Could you just talk a little slower.
Q: So the U.S. has a lot of debt, $21 trillion, how do we plan on…
Leader Pelosi. That is exactly the question my grandson asked me. What are you going to do about the national debt? Thank you for your question. And that is a policy question.
The national debt, in my view, is something that robs from our children's future. Everything we should do is to create jobs, good-paying jobs, that help support families and helps reduce the debt.
And one of the big ways to reduce the debt is to invest in education. Nothing brings more money to the Treasury than education, whether it is early childhood education, whether it is K through 12, whether it is higher education, lifetime learning, it all brings more money to the Treasury.
And so we also have something called pay-as-you-go. If you want a new – she is ready to go now – the budget does it to people every time. I love this dress, a smock.
We have something called pay-as-you-go. If you want to invest in a new spending program, how do you pay for it? And that includes if you want to give tax breaks to the wealthy people, how do you pay for it?
So we would like to return to a system that has reduced the debt, called pay-as-you-go, and recognizing that every dollar we invest in education helps to reduce the deficit as well. Thank you for your question. Thank you.
Do we have time for one more? Why don't you ask them all and I will answer them all.
Q: What was it like being the first female Speaker of the House?
Leader Pelosi. Okay.
Q: How do you plan to impact the U.S.A.?
Leader Pelosi. Okay.
Q: What are you doing for the environment?
Leader Pelosi. What are we doing for the environment. Okay. Well, I will answer the Speaker thing last. But how do you plan to impact the U.S.A., and what are you doing about the environment are very closely related, because I believe, many of you do probably, too, that this planet is God's creation. We believe that God created the Earth and, therefore, we have a responsibility to keep it, be good stewards, to take good care of it. And we have to do that not only to honor the God who made it, but also for the future and for our children.
So when I was Speaker, to get back to that point, my flagship issue was to protect the planet. Climate change and environmental protection and the rest, because we owed it to our children for their future. And every day it was about the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the rest, but it was also about the future.
So I think that the big challenge now is how we win the policy debate on how we protect our planet. It is an economic issue, because it creates good-paying green jobs; it is a national security issue, because it keeps America number one in the technologies that will prevent drought and famine and the rest of that; and it is moral issue, because we owe it to our children to give them a planet worthy of them. And for me, it is a religious issue, because it is God's creation.
So I think that if we focus on that, as the President of France did yesterday, it is very important for our planet, for our country. But I will come back to where I began before, which is that it is about the children, the air you breathe, the water you drink, and it is about your economic – the jobs your parents have, the pensions your grandparents have, the clean, safe environment in which you live, it's all about the children.
How was it like to be Speaker? I was so busy. Quite frankly, looking back, I think I should have paused for a moment and thought about what it felt like to be the first women Speaker, but I was too busy to think about it. But it was a big honor. No honor bigger than representing the people of San Francisco in Congress, but nonetheless, a very big honor. Two steps away from the Presidency, which no one woman had reached that height before. And I felt very honored that my colleagues gave me that opportunity.
But it was thrilling, for example, when we passed the Affordable Care Act, and were able to protect the good health of not only 20 million more people, but 125 million, to get better coverage than the rest. And we did actions to protect our environment – it was President Bush, a Republican President – and actions to protect our environment, to fight against HIV and AIDS, working in a bipartisan way on that. But also to, again, strengthen our economy and promoting our democracy.
So I was really consumed in the work I did, and I didn't pay a whole lot of attention about what it would be like what it was like, but it was, looking back, pretty thrilling, because we accomplished a lot. And how are you doing now? Are you ready to go? What do you think, smiley boy? Thank you.
Is there anything more exciting? When I first came here, some young women would come up to me and say, ‘We want to be like you.' And I said, what do you mean? Be a mother? Be a mother? That is who I am. That was before I was a grandmother.
And they said, ‘no, to be a Member of Congress.' I said, ‘that it is very exciting to be a Member of Congress, but there is nothing more thrilling than a newborn baby, and to watch children grow up, and the responsibility we have.'
Okay. Let's wave it on. So thank you for coming. Thank you for your questions. I hope we get a chance to chat personally after this is over. Some of you have grown up since the last time I have seen you, and some of you are new to this meeting, but I hope you will come back again. Okay. Okay?
You ready to come back again? Let's go out with a song. What are we going to sing, the ABCs or the National Anthem. What do you want to sing now?
Q: I want to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep.
Leader Pelosi. Okay. Baa Baa Black Sheep. You lead the way.
Q: Baa Baa Black Sheep, have you any wool, yes, sir yes, sir, three bags full. One for
[Laughter.]
Q: Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any wool, yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full?
Leader Pelosi. There we go. Thank you all.
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