Transcript of Telephone Town Hall on the American Rescue Plan and Coronavirus Pandemic

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Acting San Francisco Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip for a telephone town hall as part of House Democrats' Day of Action on the American Rescue Plan, highlighting the momentous step the legislation will take to put vaccines in people's arms, money in workers' pockets, children safely back in school and people back in work. Below are the Speaker's opening remarks:

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you very much, Dan, and thank you for instructing us in how we begin these town hall meetings. Thank you and thank Adriana Hidalgo and Gary McCoy and Robert Edmonson of our staff for making this celebration possible.

I say, celebration because this is a Day of Action for us, as the Senate is debating the American Rescue Plan, a plan put forth by President Biden and Kamala Harris, our Vice President, one that has been acted upon in the House and now in the Senate and will come back to the House to go to the President.

I say that because over 70 of these – of these Day of Action events are happening around the country, at the same time, as the Senate is acting upon the legislation that we sent them. I'll talk a little more about it in a moment, but first, I want to say it's a privilege to join so many members of our San Francisco community for this town hall, including our dazzling Mayor of San Francisco, Mayor London Breed.

I will have the privilege of introducing her later. But I do want to commend her for being such a model to the country in terms of leadership and in terms of action. She has been extraordinary, and she has been a force of nature during this difficult time. Thank you, Mayor London Breed, for being with us. And also, we look – and more later.

And we will also be joined by Dr. Susan Philip, who is the Acting San Francisco Health Officer. And she will be helping us answer questions about the sad – bringing her expertise and intellectual power to defeat the sad situation we see with COVID.

So, here we are, and I want to share some thoughts with you. Nearly a year ago, it was my sad honor to join San Franciscans for our first of several telephone town hall meetings about the coronavirus crisis. Since then, this vicious virus has raged through our community, across the country, devastating lives and livelihoods. Every day, though, I find hope in witnessing the great resilience and courage of our city, which has met this tragedy with compassion and unity. And I say to the Mayor, we're able to have this big bill now because we used some of the success of San Francisco in our provisions.

I find hope in knowing that our nation is blessed with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as President and Vice President. They are extraordinary, and they know how to get the job – how to get the job done. It is – there's so much to do, so much to talk about, but I do want to say some other things that we are doing this – well, let me first talk about the plan. And then I want to talk about some things we're doing, we have done this week and will do next week.

We do this to ensure that as President Biden has pledged, ‘Help Is On The Way.' That is why last week, the House passed the American Rescue Plan, which will put shots in the arms, money in the pockets, children safely into schools and workers at work.

For California, this bill secures over $40 billion in state and local government assistance to honor our heroes, our health care workers, our first responders, our teachers, our teachers, our teachers, our food workers, our transportation, sanitation, all of those who make our lives possible; over $65 billion for families, including through direct checks, tax credits, nutrition, rental and homeowner assistance; over $20 billion for education and robust funding to crush the virus including equitable vaccine distribution. We'll talk more about that. Billions more for transit, child care, small businesses, homelessness prevention, community support and more.

As the Senate is negotiating over there, there may be some changes in the numbers, some things going up, some things not changing and some things different, but all of it will make a drastic difference. And perhaps when the Mayor is speaking, we can also talk about, that San Francisco at the minimum would get $587 million dollars, in addition to other allocations in different categories that we'll talk about as we go along, if you wish.

But I also want to say that we – as we work to defeat this virus and the – address the economic crisis, we must do so in a way that advances justice for all. Sometimes people say, well, let's send out a check, but let's not do anything about ending the disparities in service – in care and this and that. We can't do that. We are not going to perpetuate injustice in our legislation. So, it's taking a little longer.

We're shocked and heartbroken, for example, by the rising epidemic of violence against the AAPI community in our city. President Biden has taken Executive Actions that condemn those actions and empower the Federal government to combat them. And I also thank Mayor Breed for strongly speaking out and standing with those who are targeted.

Imagine, in our community, whether all of the American – Asian American Pacific Islander – but we're blessed in our city with a large population. And that's a source of pride to us. But nonetheless, we still have those who, for reasons I won't go into now, from the other, previous administration have connected this virus with that community, and that's wrong.

In Congress, led by the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, led by Judy Chu, we continue to work to end this terrible situation. And this week, in addition to that, we have some civil rights legislation that we have passed. We passed H.R. 1, to – For The People. We passed the George Floyd Justice in, Justice in Police – George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. We passed landmark conservation bills. We passed the Equality Act to end discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

And at – the H.R. 1 is essential, essential. If we're going to succeed in any other area, we must reduce the role of big, dark, special-interest money in politics. We must stop the voter suppression. We must have John Lewis' legislation – 300 pages of the bill were written by him. And we have to, again, pass the Voting Rights Act. So, that's also important for how we go forward.

In the coming days and weeks, we'll pass the gun violence prevention bill, the Dream and Promise Act, the PRO Act for workers' rights, strong legislation for women's rights – reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, paving the way for the ERA ratification, as well as having equal pay for equal work legislation to send over to the Senate, once again.

So, for these and other reasons, we were – we passed our bill and then, as we waited – await the Senate, to doing its, its role in all of this, which they're in the midst of doing now, we passed other legislation.

And this mission, representing San Francisco is my honor and my inspiration. People – I always say to my Members, ‘No matter what honor you bestow upon me as Speaker, as Leader, whatever, there's no honor greater for me than to walk on the Floor of the House to speak for the people of San Francisco.' So, when I'm here, it's Nancy or Congresswoman – not Speaker.

I thank you all for the privilege of joining you today. I look forward to answering your questions. And now it is my great honor and privilege to introduce Mayor Breed. Through her early and bold actions and leadership, she has put San Francisco's response to the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of every other major city in the country by almost every measure. Her leadership has been driven by the data, the science, and she is appropriately focusing San Francisco's top public health response and economic assistance on those communities that are most impacted by the virus, especially our Latinx, African American – and African American communities.

And so, with great gratitude, appreciation, respect and admiration – all the words I can – and shortly I have more to say but it's – what we're all here to hear is the Mayor. Thank you very much, Mayor London Breed, for honoring us with your presence and for blessing us with your leadership.