Press Conference with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker of the House

Press Conference

PRESS CONFERENCE WITH REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

SPEAKER PELOSI: Good morning and a good morning it is. I just returned from the White House. I'd like to congratulate President Obama on signing his first bill, the Lilly Ledbetter legislation for ending pay discrimination in the workplace.

A very courageous woman; we all pay tribute to her for again her courage. And while she will not benefit at all from this legislation, every other working woman in America will.

So we're deeply in her debt. And since this is a piece of legislation that we've all been working on, for a while, it was wonderful to see it signed into law.

Next week, by the end of this week, the Senate will have completed the children's health insurance legislation. So next week, we expect to pass that in the House and send it on to the president for a signature for expanding health care to 11 million children in America.

With this legislation today and the bill the president will sign next week, it's clear we are putting women and children first. And we're doing so also in the recovery package that we have.

It's good for all Americans.

As you know, the statistics this morning were not good. We -- the unemployment claims reached 4.8 million and -- the highest on record, and the claims were 588,000 last week. This underscores the need for us to pass, and pass quickly, boldly, the recovery package that passed the House yesterday.

As I said yesterday, one week and one day back, the president on the steps of the Capitol called for swift and bold action. He called for investments to create jobs. He called for cutting taxes to the great middle class, 95 percent of the American people; called for investments in innovation in science, in education, in health care, in building infrastructure of America, including a very modern grid to distribute renewable energy resources, which he called for investment in as well.

One week and one day from his call to action, the House of Representatives passed legislation doing just that.

So we're very, very proud of the action taken by the House today. We look forward to the bill being taken up in the Senate, go to conference, and have this recovery package signed into law before we leave for the Presidents' week -- the Presidents' break -- Presidents' Day break.

The next week -- we can talk about what's on the schedule for next week if you wish, but we're very, very proud of what has happened in the mere week and two days since the president became president of the United States.

I'm pleased to take any questions. Yes, Nina.

Q Madame Speaker --

Q Madame Speaker, I just want to ask you about this vote yesterday. All Republicans and even some of your fellow Democrats say that they had to vote against it because of excess spending. They said that this didn't stimulate the economy -- extra spending that your lieutenants put into this bill. Given that, is it your fault in some ways that Barack Obama's first vote was so partisan and not bipartisan?

SPEAKER PELOSI: Listen, we didn't come here to be -- I didn't come here to be partisan. I didn't come here to be bipartisan. I came here, as did my colleagues, to be nonpartisan, to work for the American people, to do what is in their interest.

The president's agenda is reflected in this legislation. It's -- I mentioned, some of the priorities that were there about creating jobs, cutting taxes, helping states through this difficult economic time, and to do so in a fiscally sound way.

People vote for what they believe in. Clearly, the Republicans did not believe in the agenda that I just described for you, and that's probably one of the reasons they voted that way. I think they probably voted their conscience and they couldn't support that.

But we're very, very proud of the product that came out of this -- out of our legislative step one, and look forward to working. We reached out to the Republicans all along the way, and they know it. And they know it. They were part of the original bill, with the -- some of the tax provisions were their suggestions. They had what they asked for in terms of committee mark-up. They had the rule on the floor that gave them plenty of opportunity to make changes. They just didn't have the ideas that had the support of the majority of the people in the Congress.

They won -- they won one. Mr. Platts won an amendment for openness in the process, and I think it was a valuable addition to the legislation.

(Cross talk.)

SPEAKER PELOSI: I take credit -- I take credit for the great action taken by the Congress one week and one day since the president called for bold and swift action on the steps of the Capitol.

Q Madame Speaker -- (inaudible) -- saying that your principal opponents were not John Boehnor or Eric Cantor, they were Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge. They were --

SPEAKER PELOSI: I don't speak to that. I'm the speaker of the House. I don't get into --

(Cross talk.)

Q Madame Speaker, can you clarify the role -- can you clarify the role that Obey played in passing the bill and getting it through the House?

SPEAKER PELOSI: David Obey is a master at work. To see him craft legislation is a sight to behold. He and other chairmen played an important part in translating the agenda that the Obama administration was presenting to us into legislation. And we are all deeply in his debt for the masterful work that he did and doing so in a very short timeframe.

Q Do you regret adding the tax cuts and taking out some provisions like the contraception provision because you know Republicans -- it didn't get any Republican votes?

SPEAKER PELOSI: No. The fact is, is that we -- when you say, do you regret putting in a tax -- the tax cuts were, especially the net operating loss carryback, were -- was the suggestion of the Republicans. They asked for it. We put it in the original bill at their suggestion. And it has its role to play. I think everyone will admit more jobs are created by more on the investment than on that side, but we shall see.

And the -- as far as the contraception is concerned, we'll have to have that in some legislation. It saves $700 million. But it was a distraction. It was a distraction.

And therefore we want to say, look, this -- our economy is in a -- experience great difficulties; the American people therefore are, too.

We need to act and we need to act now. And the question before us is, do you want to take the country in a new direction, where many more people participate in the economic prosperity of our country, that we must act now.

Five hundred thousand people a month are losing their jobs. So rather than have a distraction at this time, I thought it was important to be in the bill, because it's a savings. The bill was scored higher once that came out, because it saved $700 million. But I'm very pleased with how events proceeded yesterday.

(Cross talk.)

Q President Obama did make it very clear, from the start of this process, that he wanted a bill that would have broad, bipartisan support. So was this a failure or at the very least a disappointment, not to have a single Republican support it? And secondly what is the president talking about, in his statement last night, about seeing this bill improve in the Senate?

SPEAKER PELOSI: I don't think he said improved. He said strengthened.

Q Strengthened.

SPEAKER PELOSI: Yeah.

So we'll see what happens. This is step one in the process. But look, the president reached out, before he became president, before he had been sworn in, to have a bipartisan meeting of the leadership, House and Senate.

He met with the House and Senate bipartisan leadership after he became president, met with the Republican leadership. He met with the Republican Caucus. Before he walked into the room, the Republican leaders told their members, before the president came into the room, don't vote for this bill. So they had a decision that they made.

Now, each member has to make his or her own decision about what they believe in. And I believe that this is a good bill for education, for renewable energy, for making us energy independent, for investments in innovation, to keep us competitive in the world economy, for cutting taxes, for creating good-paying jobs in the near term, and with a time release to stabilize the economy in the little longer term.

They disagreed. They didn't vote for it. But you know what? When you can't win on policy, you always turn to process. And then you turn to personalities. The fact is, we have a very important job to do. And again the process is secondary to that they had again -- they've told me, they thought the rule was fine.

They had their opportunities for substitutes, for motion to recommit. And then this is very inside. Republicans in the country support this legislation, support this legislation.

Whatever the tactics of the Republicans in Washington is another thing. But this isn't about partisan, bipartisan. It's about being non-partisan and acting in the best interest of the American people.

And that's all I'm going to say on process.

Any other questions?

Q Speaker Pelosi -- (off mike) -- spending provisions in the bill, according to CBO, the spending provisions, not the tax provisions, aren't going to spend out within two years; 52 percent will, 42 percent won't. If the point of the bill is to stimulate the economy and to act swiftly and boldly, as the president said, why enact those provisions which will take five to 10 years to spend?

SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, I don't believe -- I don't agree to your -- with your basic premise. The fact is that 75 percent of this bill will be spent out in the first 18 months. And immediately there will be a higher level of confidence -- in families, in businesses -- in our economy because of these infusions of investment. So again, the White House has stated and we have insisted that at least two-thirds of it go in the first 18 months.

Q Two-thirds, or 75 percent?

SPEAKER PELOSI: Seventy-five percent.

Q (Off mike.

SPEAKER PELOSI: Seventy-five percent.

Q (Off mike.)

SPEAKER PELOSI: Seventy-five percent in the first 18 months. And it's absolutely necessary. Again, 500,000 Americans are losing their jobs every month. If we don't pass this legislation in a timely fashion, that will continue. Two, the economy, at the rate that it's going, the continuation of the Bush years, would have added 2 percent more to the unemployment rate. This bill will take us in a new direction.

Again, we're very proud of it. We look forward to seeing what the Senate does, come to conference, have this all done.

But our next business on the agenda is to pass the Children's Health Insurance Program next week. (Inaudible) -- will take up the House-Senate legislation next week. And so in addition to the celebration that we had this morning at the White House to end pay discrimination in the workplace, make it fair, next week we'll make sure that health insurance is expanded to 11 million children in America. We're very excited about that.

And then following that, we'll pass the recovery act and take our country in a new direction under the leadership of Barack Obama. Believe me, it's so different to work on this legislation and then be there to see it signed into law, to change public policy, to make a difference in the lives of America's working families.

Thank you all. Bye-bye.

END.

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