Transcript of Speaker Pelosi's Remarks at Weekly Press Conference

Statement

Speaker Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press conference today in the Rayburn Room in the Capitol. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

Speaker Pelosi. Good morning. Thank you all for being here.

Today is one year since the inauguration of President Joe Biden. It was a cause for celebration then and a cause for appreciation now. As we all know, much more needs to be done, but we have made great progress in this year.

Just to say -- one of the most important four‑letter words in our economy is "jobs.' And, as you can see -- and I hope you can all see. From 2020, this was the jobs situation; 2021, 6.4 million jobs and an unemployment rate that has gone down to 3.4 percent, millions more Americans back to work -- 3.9 percent, the unemployment.

And then, now, of course, with legislation that is pending, we hope that when we have more access to child care and universal pre‑K and the rest, many more people will be able to go to work, especially as the President addresses the, continues to address the COVID challenge that we had that -- are keeping people out of work.

But, 6.4 million jobs versus this, practically -- over 5 million, nearly 6 million jobs lost the year before in the previous Presidency.

So, with that, many more people availing themselves of the Affordable Care Act, in the tune of millions more people, 5 million more people -- we're very proud of that -- and having access to quality health care. Of course, more to come when we pass some version of the legislation that is pending over on the Senate side.

We're very proud, in the course of -- well, almost a year ago -- well, in March, a year, we passed the Rescue package. The Rescue package put money in the pockets of the American people, vaccines in their arms, many more children safely back to school, people back to work.

It enabled cities and states and counties to pay for and support the systems that make societies work, whether it's the education of our children, the transportation of our people, the first responders, our security, our security, our security, food workers -- the list goes on of services that are provided by localities, counties as well as states. They took many millions of young children out of poverty. The Rescue package did just that -- rescue our economy, our society and our people, as it has helped attack the COVID crisis.

As you all know, we've had a variant that has prolonged the crisis. I'm very proud of the work that the President is doing now to make sure that people have tests and masks, and hopefully more people will avail themselves of vaccinations. More therapies are in the works in terms of not having to have refrigeration of the kind that is almost impossible to have throughout the world. We salute our scientists for what they are doing. Science and governance -- that's going to solve that problem.

So, for these and other reasons, whether it's broadband or clean water, as we know, in the Bipartisan -- in the first bill, the Rescue package, with taking people out of poverty and money in pockets and all the rest. That was done with not one Republican vote.

There were thirteen Republican votes in the House to support the infrastructure bill, and we were happy that that was bipartisan -- so we could repair roads and bridges, improve public transit, secure clean water, broadband and much more across the country.

So, there's a great deal to be proud of. But, as with all of this, we always keep an eye on what needs to be done to meet the kitchen table needs of the American people -- what keeps them up at night. We want to help solve that problem. And, one of the proud things about this Administration is the creation of jobs, the expansion of health care and, again, the alleviation of poverty.

So, with that, let me go on to what we want to do next.

There is no question last night was a disappointment. I support what the President said: he's disappointed, but not deterred. We will continue the work. We will follow the example of those who went before us, in terms of the fight for civil rights and voting rights -- but not to be deterred. So, the fight goes on.

I had the privilege earlier this week, the beginning of the week, on Martin Luther King Day, to be with the King family, to be inspired over and over again -- continue to be inspired by them, to the point of Martin Luther King's granddaughter, Yolanda, who is thirteen years old, in eighth grade, talking about the future, talking with her great wisdom about the future.

So, we're, again, always eager to do more, but nonetheless disappointed [about] what happened.

But, I want to congratulate Leader Schumer for his courage for how he proceeded with this legislation. You had to have a vote. And what was wonderful to see was, for almost two days, to hear the Democratic Senators talk about the sanctity of the vote and how fundamental that is to our democracy. It was so inspiring.

Sad, though, to hear the Republicans argue against the Freedom to Vote and protect our vote. Whatever the outcome, the fact is, is that every Democrat voted -- every Democrat in the Senate voted for the Freedom to Vote, slash, John Lewis Voter Advancement Act, and every Republican voted against it.

The process in the Senate has much -- leaves much to be desired. If you want to talk about that, we can later. But, the fact is, is that it was an inspiring day, and I salute the Chairman for bringing that important legislation to the forefront as he brought it to the Floor. And, that's a way to get it into the forefront. It's so important.

But, again, my motto is -- some of you have heard me say it -- "We don't agonize, we organize.' And that's what we will do to, again, advance voter participation in our country

I was a former Chair of the [California Democratic] Party, and our goal was to remove obstacles of participation for anyone, whatever their party was -- to remove obstacles of participation, instead of what the Republicans are doing, which is to put up obstacles of participation.

So, the fight for voting rights continues. We will not relent. The fight goes on.

So, where do we go from here? As we have been engaged in all of these highly visible fights, discussions, debates in the Congress, we have been working -- in many cases, in a bipartisan way -- to advance legislation, which should be coming to the Floor in the months ahead, as soon as the -- we come to the agreement.

First and foremost is the omnibus bill. I salute our Chair, Rosa DeLauro, for the work that she is doing, which has to be bipartisan. And as an appropriator myself from way back, I always say: left to their own devices, the appropriators can get the job done. And, we want to leave them to their own devices. And, I hope that Mitch McConnell will leave them to their devices as well. We must get that done.

It is important in terms of governance to get the appropriations bill done, the omnibus bill done to fund the government. It is now a national security issue of the highest priority, with the threats that exist out there. To go to a continuing resolution instead of a decision‑making omnibus bill is to weaken our security and our stability. The Republicans should know that. So, we hope that we will be able to bring that legislation to the Floor before it expires.

Honoring our PACT -- this is another security issue. It's about the burn pits. This is something that Members have been working on for a while. And now -- yesterday even, in fact -- the Veterans Affairs Committee had a round -- the Chairman, Mr. Takano, had -- Chairman Takano had a roundtable with the VSOs, the Veterans Service Organizations. We thank our veterans and our Veterans Services Organizations for their input on this.

As you know, many of our Servicemembers were affected by being exposed to burn pits, and we have to have legislation passed. It will be expensive, but it is the price we must pay, that we owe our veterans to make sure they get the care and benefits that they deserve, those who were exposed to burn pits. And, from our standpoint, if you were there, you qualify. We don't have to go through any torturous process to decide if somebody's illness depended on something that they were exposed to.

Very important legislation. Again, we're hoping all of this is bipartisan. The competitiveness bill -- it has many names. It is about CHIPS, it's about funding for chips. It's about research and development -- research, a very big piece of that coming out of our Science, Space and Technology Committee under the leadership of Eddie Bernice, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson. It's about supply chain. It's pretty exciting, the competitiveness bill, and we're very close to being ready to go to conference with the Senate on that legislation.

Postal reform -- you've heard about it over and over again, but, again, it's about fairness and making sure that we have fairness for our postal workers without having the retirement health benefits be prefunded for 75 years into the future. These are some of the items on the agenda in the very near future that have important ramifications for us.

Very important in terms of all of this is what we do about any legislation we may have about the Ukraine, which is really about our security and our stability. Mr. Menendez has legislation in the Senate. We anticipate a companion bill in the House, but that's up to Mr. -- our distinguished Chairman, Mr. Meeks, to announce.

We have -- Members have been meeting, committees of, security committees have been meeting. We've had our briefings and the rest. And when the legislation is ready, whenever that may be -- it could be next week, it could be next month, but whenever it is ready, we will go forward with legislation, in terms of the stability and national security, whether it's legislation on robust Russian sanctions, assistance to Ukraine, again, our commitments to NATO and so forth.

So, that's -- again, let us acknowledge and appreciate what Joe Biden as President of the United States, the difference that he has made. 6.4 million jobs. That has a nice ring to it. We want more. We can put more people back to work when we have more access to child care and home health care so that more moms and dads can be in the workforce. And, when we solve and crush the COVID crisis, which is a deterrent to people going to work as well.

So, we thank the President for his great leadership. We appreciate the leadership of Chuck Schumer in advancing the sanctity of the vote in the Senate and giving it the visibility that it would never have had without having a vote in the Senate.

As we prepare for what's next on our agenda, we do so striving for as much bipartisanship as possible, in terms of protecting our -- honoring our veterans, protecting our country, again, funding the governance of our country.

On a happy note, yesterday, Congress passed legislation to award Willie O'Ree -- do you know Willie O'Ree? You know Willie O'Ree?

Q: I did a story about Willie.

Speaker Pelosi. You just did a story about Willie?

Q: Yeah.

Speaker Pelosi. Well, you come to our office later today, because we'll be signing the legislation. He was -- for your information, Willie O'Ree was the first Black player in the National Hockey League. The Congressional Gold Medal -- we voted on it yesterday, I'll sign the bill today. He was referred to as the Jackie Robinson of hockey. We can never have a meeting without talking sports.

The House passed a bill unanimously, which honors the contribution of a sports legend who broke the National Hockey League's color barrier, despite being legally blind in one eye. Is that remarkable? So we'll have the signing. Do we know what time it is today?

Staff. [Inaudible.]

Speaker Pelosi. Well, we'll let you know, if you're interested. Otherwise, we'll send you a picture.

[Laughter]

Q: He had four goals and ten assists in 45 NHL games.

Speaker Pelosi. I'm sorry?

Q: He had four goals and ten assists in 45 NHL games during his career.

Speaker Pelosi. How about that? Is that remarkable? That's remarkable.

Q: That's not tremendous stats, but that -- those are -- that was his record.

Speaker Pelosi. That's wonderful. Well, good for you. Well, I'm just staying up late at night watching Warriors and stuff like that.

***

But in any event, any questions? Yes, sir?

Q: Madam Speaker, I understand that last Thursday you asked the Committee on House Administration to take a closer look at STOCK Act violations by Members of Congress.

Speaker Pelosi. Yeah.

Q: Which, you know, may include stiffer penalties for these violations as well.

Speaker Pelosi. That's right.

Q: I wanted to give you a chance to talk about just why you did that, why you think that's important, and what you say to the Members of your Caucus, which range from frontline Members to some of the progressive Members, who want to go further and enact some sort of --

Speaker Pelosi. Well, I don't know that. I mean, that's your version. Here is the thing: I say to my Members on a regular basis when we gather in Caucus -- and, as you know, sometimes it's hybrid these days -- but, anytime we have gathered in Caucus when we are actually virtually or hybrid, I've said to them, "Under this roof, figuratively or actually, is the greatest collection of intellect, integrity and imagination for doing the right thing for the American people.'

I have great confidence in the integrity of my Members. They are remarkable. So when people talk about, "Well, somebody might do this and somebody,' I think -- I trust our Members.

If, in fact, we should have severe penalties for delay in reporting on STOCK Act, then do that. I've said to the House Administration Committee: review all the bills that are coming in and see which ones -- where the support is in our Caucus.

I think there are two letters. Each has like fourteen Members signing it so far. Maybe more will come, but that's what we have seen.

But I do -- I do come down always in favor of trusting our Members.

Now, if the impression that is given by some that somebody's doing insider trading, that's a Justice Department issue. That's a Justice Department issue, and that has no place in any of this. But, to give a blanket attitude of "we can't do this and we can't do that because we can't be trusted' -- I just don't buy into that. But, if Members want to do that, I'm okay with that.

And, I would add, and I would add -- and this is the last thing I'm going to say on this at this meeting -- and I would add, do you know that the Supreme Court -- now, we in the House have disclosure, in the Congress we have disclosure, and we have the STOCK Act, which says, if you sell a stock, you have to report it in "X' number of days, and, if not, there is a penalty. Should those penalties be greater? Subject to review. I mean, I don't know why they -- people don't do it on time. But, whatever it is, if there is a penalty, and it should be more severe, so be it.

But the United States Supreme Court, where decisions are made all the time that affect our environment, our workforce, our personal freedoms, every subject you can name at the mercy of the Court, our economic issues and the rest -- no disclosure whatsoever. And, certainly no STOCK Act. I don't -- if we're saying everybody should be living by the same standard, then so be it. That's okay with me. But I don't think that the Court should be let off the hook. And even the Chief Justice said recently that there -- the impression was that there were some scandals in judges making decisions that related in a way that wasn't right.

So I say, when we go forward with anything, let's take the Supreme Court with us to have disclosure. No disclosure -- the Supreme Court of the United States, for life, no disclosure, and certainly, therefore, no STOCK Act.

Another question? Can we go to another subject?

Q: Yeah. On BBB -- the President indicated yesterday chunks of it could get passed, and I'm sure you heard what he said. I wonder what you think of that statement. And I have a couple parts here. He said the Child Tax Credit and free community colleges might drop out. And what should we expect when it comes to the BBB going forward?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, let me just say, "chunks' is an interesting word.

[Laughter]

Q: Not my word. That's what he said.

Speaker Pelosi. I know. No, the President has such a commitment to the values that are contained in the -- in this legislation, the legislation, the reconciliation bill.

When we passed the -- when they were considering and then later we passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the President said, "I want to find as much common ground as I can in a bipartisan way when it comes to infrastructure. But, I cannot limit my vision for America to what the Republicans will agree to in terms of roads and bridges, et cetera. That's important, but it's not all.'

So in this legislation, if we care about preserving the planet for future generations and clean air for them to breathe today and water to drink, we need to pass the reconciliation bill. So I would hope that that would be a major part of it. So what the President calls chunks, I would hope would be a major bill going forward. It may be more limited, but it is still significant.

So we talked about climate. Now, let's talk about health care. So, important in the legislation is that millions more people will have access to health care at a very low cost because of what is in the bill in terms of expanding the Affordable Care Act.

Let's now talk about child care. Child care in the bill, whether you're talking about the Child Tax Credit or you're talking about child care or you're talking about home health care that might include a child or an older sibling or a parent, or you're talking about universal pre‑K, all of this lowers cost -- lowers cost for care and is transformative in the lives, especially, of women in the workforce.

So we have to have, if our economy is going to succeed -- and as you know, we say: when women succeed, America succeeds. If we're going to have the full benefit of women and newcomers -- and, when I say newcomers, people of color who have not been in some of these traditional jobs, to expand what that means -- we have to have care at home, whether it's for children or, again, older siblings or parents.

So this -- there are big chunks of the bill that have to be contained in the bill. But remember this. This is a reconciliation bill. So when people say let's divide it up -- nah. No, they don't understand the process.

What can we agree upon? And I'm sure that we can agree upon something significant. Call it a chunk if you want. But, whatever you call it, we want it to be able to make a difference in transforming the workplace by honoring work, by respecting the fact that there are families that have to make decisions between home and work, and, again, protecting the planet.

So, I'm optimistic. I'm optimistic, yeah.

Q: Madam Speaker?

Speaker Pelosi. Yes, sir?

Q: Yeah. Thank you. And so, obviously disappointed when you talk about what happened.

Speaker Pelosi. Very disappointed.

Q: But, that said, you have some Members in the Democratic Party who are really taking on Senators Manchin and Sinema. What do you say about those Members who are hypercritical of them taking their position? That's their position, that's how they feel, that's what they think their constituents want.

Speaker Pelosi. Yeah.

Q: Do you think that that's fair to have that sort of criticism leveled on Manchin and Sinema in this internal party fight?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, I think people will say what they're going to say. I have not encouraged that. In fact, I have discouraged it, because we are a giant kaleidoscope here, Democrats and Republicans. You never know who is going to be in the design of the next bill. And, so we have to be respectful.

But I've discouraged people from making comments about them. And, you maybe hear it more than I do. I just don't hear that much of it anymore.

Q: Do you think that makes it harder maybe to get their vote down the road on this subject or something else if that criticism --

Speaker Pelosi. No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I think that they'll do what they believe. And, if they -- and I'm hopeful.

They have come to agreement on aspects of the Build Back Better legislation. We may want to have to rename it to something that's even Build Back Better than that, kind--whatever we decide to call it.

But the fact is, is that, you know, it's a -- we're a diverse place, from right to left, Democrats to Republicans, within our own parties and the rest, and we have to be respectful. And, I don't think there is any upside in Democrats criticizing Democrats.

Q: Madam Speaker?

Speaker Pelosi. Yes, ma'am?

Q: Can you talk a little bit about the Democrats' 2022 legislative agenda? Should it be beyond Build Back Better in order to sort of tell voters what you guys are actually doing? You have been facing a lot of hurdles in front of both voting rights and Build Back Better.

Speaker Pelosi. Well, as I said earlier: right away, we have been working on legislation right now to keep government open in a way that meets the needs of the American people, that protects the security and stability of our country. And, that is legislation that we hope will be on the Floor in a short period of time. And, I thank Rosa DeLauro for that.

A high priority for us is to honor the pact, to make sure that our men and women in uniform who were exposed to burn pits understand that this is of the highest priority for us. It's going to be very costly. But it's worth it, because we owe them. They were exposed in the line of duty to dangerous situations where they now have serious health issues, and they need care and benefits.

I mentioned also the issue that relates to competitiveness. This is really important for us in terms of chips and what that means to our manufacturing base, in terms of supply chain, which that means -- what that means to our economy and research, which means to our present and to our future.

These are big -- all of these are big bills. The trillion and a half for the omnibus bill, probably over half a trillion dollars for the burn pits. We don't know. We're waiting for further CBO scores on that. And, then, in terms of the "competes' act, that's $50 billion for chips, another $40 billion perhaps for supply chain and the rest.

So these are significant bills that contain -- especially the omnibus and the competitiveness bills -- they're bills that contain large numbers of other bills, large numbers of other bills, but they are the vehicle that will take us forward under the title of competitiveness.

What is it called in the Senate?

Q: USICA.

Speaker Pelosi. USICA. USICA in the Senate. And, we call it "competitive bill' here. Whatever the title, we hope to go to conference on that soon. And then, there are other bills that relate to Postal Service and the rest, again, about governance.

But, we have always been about America's working families. So we still want to pass the legislation that expands our workforce by recognizing the responsibilities that people have at home, which I addressed.

So, I went over some that are in the near future. We have three task forces at work -- select committee task force, that are not legislative committees but will make recommendations.

One of the -- them is the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, and much of what they have recommended is in the current version of the BBB. We hope that most of that survives. But, that isn't the end of it. There will be other opportunities, shall we say, that we will have to help other countries to save the planet as well. So none -- nothing is the end game, but it is, takes us well down the path. In terms of the Select -- and that's chaired by Kathy Castor of Florida. She's doing a superlative job.

Next, we have Select Committee on COVID, under the leadership of Mr. Clyburn, our distinguished Whip. And, they are doing very important work that helps us make judgments about what has worked better or what -- in terms of how we go forward, in terms of this pandemic, but any future ones as well.

And, then we have a Select Committee on disparity in income and opportunity in our country, chaired by Mr. Himes. And, you'll see much more of that now that we've gotten through some of the -- hopefully soon -- some of the big legislation coming out of the last year. And, that is how we effect legislation to end that disparity of opportunity in our country.

The fact that, during the COVID crisis, wealth increased at the high end to such an exorbitant place at the expense of people not -- I don't want to say at the low end, but a lower economic place in our society. We can't have that continue. That's what is a caste system. That's not a democracy. The middle class is the backbone of our democracy. We have to strengthen the middle class and all who aspire to it.

So, that is what our legislation is about. So, how we protect our nation, how we preserve our planet, how we transform our workforce, how we educate our children. My whole mission in Congress is about the children -- For The Children. As you heard me say, you're in the arena, you have to be prepared to take a punch. You have to be prepared to throw a punch For The Children, For The Children. And so, we'll be dealing with issues that relate to antitrust and Section 230 and what damage that does to children and the rest.

But, I'm very proud of our committees. They're working very hard on their legislation. Some of it they will bring individually to the Floor. Some of it, as with the competitiveness act, that's a bill from Science, Space and Technology, Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, other committees as well. So, some of this will be jointly; some of it will be individually.

Q: Madam Speaker?

Speaker Pelosi. One last question.

Q: Thank you. I want to ask you about crime in America right now. There have been so many tragic headlines this week alone that --

Speaker Pelosi. I'm sorry?

Q: Crime in America.

Speaker Pelosi. Oh, crime. Oh, yeah.

Q: There have been so many tragic headlines this week alone -- the 24‑year‑old UCLA student stabbed at work in Los Angeles; a woman who was killed in the subway in New York City; and just last night, a baby shot in the Bronx, an innocent baby attacked. So, I just wanted to ask you about this spike in crime, the 30 percent spike in murders.

Speaker Pelosi. Yeah. Thank you for that question, because in many of our committees -- in the Judiciary Committee for sure, and Education and [Labor], in all of our committees -- community safety is of the highest priority as a value. The form of it and the legislation it will take remains to be seen. As I've said, our committees will be working on these issues.

But community safety, right up there with jobs and health care and the rest -- community safety, very important. That's why we were very proud that, in the Rescue package, we had significant funding for state and local government, which was funding our first responders, largely our police and fire. We have to be strong in that respect. We have to be strong in that respect.

But, in the -- in the BBB, there is very important language -- and I refer you to it -- about how we address criminal justice and the rest in our country.

But thank you for asking that question. We could have a whole day -- and we probably will -- on that subject, because community safety -- our first responsibility is to protect and defend. Whether that's our national security or our community safety, we have to keep the American people safe.

Thank you all very much.

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