Pelosi Remarks at the People’s Filibuster to Fight Trumpcare

Leader Pelosi.  Thank very much Mr. President and don't we like this Mr. President so much?  Thank you Lee Saunders and thank you for reminding me that when I did run, AFSCME was right there early and for me.

John Burton said to me one day, ‘when any of the other unions want to meet with you, tell them to go meet AFSCME and they'll make the appointment for you.'  In any event, thank you AFSCME for all that you have done for our country.  Thank you, Lee Saunders, for your tremendous, tremendous leadership.  Aren't we proud of his leadership?

I am up here with my granddaughter, Bella, and her friend, Sawyer, who is [Former Senator] Barbara Boxer's grandson and they are the future and many of you are.  And what we are talking about here is how we make the future better for everyone in our country and that means a healthier America.  Not just health care, but a healthier America.

Over the course of this past week, we have come together on these grounds, we have had prayer vigils, we are having filibusters, we have had the Children's' Hospitals here the other day, with little children with such severe health challenges, and that's really what I've been thinking about all weekend.

I thought, you know, we would not be telling all of these stories unless we thought that we respected some of our Republican friends in Congress that they have a heart.  That they care when they hear these stories.

We have to believe that.  We have to believe that these stories which are the strongest, Wendy told her story, others have been telling their stories, their own and stories of others, those stories are the most eloquent statement, they have the most strength, they have authenticity and they have need and we have an opportunity.

On one of our calls with some of the groups the other day, they said, ‘kill the bill before the bill kills us.'  I don't know if you've been saying that because I just got off the plane, but we have to kill this bill.

It is really hard, it is really hard to think of how people could even consider legislation that would take tens of millions of people, say it was twenty million people if the CBO [Congressional Budget Office] gives them a break, twenty million people off of health insurance.

How they could say to children with disabilities, people with disabilities, ‘you are on your own, fend for yourself.'  We are going to not only not respect you for who you are, but we're going to take away something that has been part of your care.

Rosa Delauro tells the story of a mom with a severely challenged child, he can't do many things, she didn't expect–  she said I didn't expect him to be a physicist, but I did want him to smile and he does smile.  And she said you know what, my co-parent in all of this is Medicaid. Medicaid her co-parenting of her child, meeting all of the needs of that child.

So we have our philosophical differences about what the role of government is in the lives of the American people.  That's a legitimate disagreement. But we must all agree that we are here to meet the needs of the American people.  And with your help, we were able to pass the Affordable Care Act.  We would not have been able to pass it without your help.  We would not have been able to do it without you.

At that time, people said ‘oh this looks hopeless; how are you ever going to pass this?'  And some of you know this story and I tell you now because it applies now, people said ‘what are you going to pass' once we lost in  Massachusetts?' I said, ‘this is an opportunity of a generation."

People have been waiting 100 years, since [President] Teddy Roosevelt, to pass access to care for the American people.  100 years.  We are not going to miss this 100 year opportunity.  We are not going to let anything stand in our way.  If there is a fence there, we are going to climb it and if it is too high, we are going to pole vault over it.  First, we were going to push open the gate.

Push open the gate, climb it, pole vault over it.  If we couldn't do that, we were going to parachute in.  But we were not going to allow anything to stand in our way of our meeting our generational responsibility.  A pillar of economic and health security along with Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act.

After it was over, the press came to me and asked, ‘well which one did you do?' I said, ‘we pushed open the gate." We were able to push open the gate because you were there.  It was not only the members of Congress, as important and courageous as their votes were.

But it was also the fact that the nuns were with us, Thank God for the nuns, because you know.  Thank God for our friends in labor.  Thank God for our friends in the disability communities and all the rest.  Thank God for all of you and now when we save it, thank God for all of you.

We could not have passed it without you.  We can't save it without you.  I want to thank all of you for what you are on social media as well, getting people to the town hall meetings, the sit-ins, the calls to their offices.  Let us pray that they will listen, that they will understand the difference this makes in peoples' lives.  We have to believe that they care.

If only they knew, so if they know and they care, they can't possibly vote for this monstrosity.  Heartless, freak, mean-spirited bill that they are considering right now.

Who are they that they would consider that?  Let's give them the benefit of the doubt that they will listen, and when they do know, they will care and it will be defeated.

But let us not assume anything.  Let us not take anything for granted because there is a debate of the role government which they may be chalking this inhumanity up to.

Let us continue the continuous calling, the showing up, the vigils, the filibusters that you are doing here.

Know your power!  You are making all of the difference in the world.  Know your power!  You are making all of the difference without you this could not happen.

AFSME, thank you again and again for being there for working families, because again this is not just about good health.   It's about the economic security of our families.  It's about each and every personal story.  It's about the country that America is.  America is a country that cares about its people.

Recognizing that our strength is recognized in a number of ways, and the health and wellbeing and the health and wellbeing and the job security of the American people is a very important measure of our strength as well.  You have contributed to that.

Save our Medicaid!  Save our health care!  Protect our care!

Thank you very much for what you are doing, we just have a few more weeks!

Are we ready?  Are we ready? [Cheers]  I thought so!

Thank you AFSCME!