Transcript of Pelosi Remarks at Press Event Highlighting Climate Action in Inflation Reduction Act

Los Angeles – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined Congressman Jimmy Gomez at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) for a press event highlighting the historic climate action in the Inflation Reduction Act. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

Speaker Pelosi. Thank you very much, Congressman Gomez, for your very generous remarks. I accept every compliment on behalf of the House Democrats, who had the courage to do this – this bill. One hundred percent of the Democrats in the House and the Senate voted for the Inflation Reduction Act. Not one Republican voted for the bill. So when you make those compliments, I salute the courage of our House Members for taking – in some areas, this would be a difficult vote. As you mentioned, we're – we're challenging some people who've had a stranglehold on Congress for a long time. And now, that's loosened under the leadership of President Biden and the courage of the House and Senate Democrats. We're very proud of that.

Matt, thank you for your hospitality. Thank you, Congressman Gomez, for the invitation to be here.

I'll tell you just something, my friends – reached us. When this bill was on the verge of passing, and we knew it was going to happen, we were jumping with joy. It was so exciting. It wasn't just, ‘Oh okay, that's good.' We were jumping with joy. With all of that enthusiasm – to jump with joy, jump with joy – was magnified today to hear you all talk about what you are doing, even previous to this, but how this will accelerate all of that. Matt, congratulations to you, Nancy, to all of you here who have made so much of this possible, because this is about transformation.

As we gather here, earlier, we talked about innovation. We talked about market transformation. And we talked about community involvement. I'll just start with the community involvement piece, because our President wanted all the bills that you named to be about justice, about opening new opportunities and market transformation and innovation to be about involving inclusive – including many more people, many more women, many more people of color. And that's why, in these bills, they complement each other.

In our CHIPS and Science bill, it's about having more opportunity for STEM – we call it STEAM in California, because we put the arts in there, too. To have many more people have access to the education and be involved in the research. But not only that, to bring their ideas about what is needed and to bring their terminology about how their communities see this, so that we are doing it in a way that relates to the challenges that people face, whether it's in this – all of this is about health, clean air, clean water for our communities. It's about jobs, clean tech jobs, for many more people – and actually been transformative in so many – these are very new situations. So new opportunities for people in the community.

It's about our security as a country. In so many ways, we have to be more self-sufficient and reliant. But also, as we face the challenge of climate, we're also recognizing that the competition for habitat and resources and the rest of our causes for conflict. And experts have natural – national security experts say this is about our national security, and the CHIPS Act making us resilient and self-sufficient and independent of other sources. Not that we don't want to be respectful and exist in a global economy, but we cannot be reliant – just totally dependent.

And then it's, of course, about our values. The Pope mentioned him – just let me say what he said, because he said that this is, this is the breaking point. The Pope said this summer, ‘Our planet reached a breaking point.' And we see raging wildfires, deadly storms, surging floods and droughts and everything else. So this is a values issue, if you believe, as do I, this is God's creation, and we have a moral responsibility to be good stewards of it. Again.

But even if you don't, if you just know, as we all do, that we have a responsibility to the next generation – to young people, to your Hodge – that we will have a planet worthy of clean air, clean water and great possibilities. So this is – this is – coming here to LACI is just a – biggest celebration.

As I've said before when we've been together, that Los Angeles is big enough to be globally significant, but small enough to be resilient in trying new and different things to be a model to the world. And again, all of this – Davis Bacon, good-paying labor jobs, with internships that are paid so that young people can take advantage of it. And I was mentioning to Matt that I heard a word this morning that was just remarkable to me, when you talked about welding. To you, we have a legacy skill and a – in a whole new horizon of jobs, but still needing some of those basic traditional skills that are – that can't be outsourced. They are for us here.

So congratulations, LACI,for what you are doing, leading the way, being a model. As Vice President – then-Vice President Biden said, LACIshould be a model to the world. Now he's President of the United States. And by the way, he – and I believe him – and so that, he was the first person in Congress to put forth legislation on climate change. It was before any of us were there. It was 1986. And so he takes great ownership of this issue. So when he says this is the model, it's coming from somebody who really respects what you do here.

Let me just say about Congressman Gomez – he serves on the Ways and Means Committee. And much of what we heard about today were about tax credits. You talked specifically about some that address the inclusion issue – that justice in all of this issue – helping previously underserved communities be involved and taking advantage of all. But most of what is in this green aspect of this bill comes from his Committee, the Ways and Means Committee.

So thank you for your leadership on those specific provisions, but also thank you for being part of the Democratic leadership on that Committee that has made this bill possible. Without one Republican vote.

[Laughter]

Forgive me for resorting to – but it's something we're very – we wish it were bipartisan. And the Infrastructure bill that was referenced earlier is bipartisan, and the CHIPS – and CHIPS and Science is bipartisan, little bit but nonetheless. And the – but the Rescue package, which got these things – all of this started. And this now, said – we've had to really fight hard, because there are industries in our country that had a stranglehold. They would not allow us to pass these green bills.

I had a bill when I was Speaker the first time, which was remarkable – passed the House. We couldn't go anyplace in the Senate because of the stranglehold that the fossil fuel industry had on the Congress. And now we're loosening that.

And another part of the bill that Congressman Gomez referenced was the health piece of it. In this bill, because we've loosened the stranglehold of Big Pharma on the bill, as they would not allow us to negotiate for lower prices and the rest. In this bill, 100 percent Democratic votes, House and Senate – we were able to now have the Secretary of HH – Health and Human Services – to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. This so – for Medicare patients. This is so important for our seniors.

And we also have in the bill, even though they weren't too happy about it, some on the – you know, the ‘stranglehold club' – they did not want us to be able to extend subsidies for families to be able to access the Affordable Care Act. Many more families have affordability now.

So again, it's a bill about science, whether it's – and health. Whether it's clean air, clean water – and you know what happens in some of our communities with asthma and other things that spring from pollution. And this bill is about ending pollution. And the justice that is contained – the environmental justice, the economic justice of creating jobs, the moral justice of saying that we are starting with the community and developing this – not trickling it down, but bringing it up.

So again, we should all be jumping with joy here. Perhaps we can play some music.

[Laughter]

Well, let's save that for another day. But in any event, thank you. Thank you. Thank you to Congressman Gomez for his important role. If I just may be allowed one more comment about him. You should all be very, very proud of the work that he did putting together the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement. This was a remarkable piece of legislation. It didn't resemble at all the legislation that was sent to us by the previous occupant of the White House. Because of his work and the work of the House Democrats, we were able to have protections for our environment in our trade agreement – its protection for health in our agreements, protection for our workers in our agreements. And who was operational in making so much of that happen, but Congressman Gomez from the Ways and Means Committee, which is the committee of jurisdiction.

You should know that because he was – everybody had a point of view. He was operational in getting the job done. And it serves as a – really, a model for other trade agreements. And for us, it was remarkable because just about every Democrat voted for it and usually, mostly, they don't. So thank you for your leadership in so many ways. But I thought since I was home here with you, to once again sing your praises.

So in any event, we're in a transformative place. We're going to a new place, and everybody's coming with us so that the whole community can participate in the economic success of our country, in the prosperity of our country. And to do so in a way that not only enables people to have jobs, but as we saw, growing equity, ownership, jobs. Echo Electric, Hive. I wasn't sure whether this was Hive, Drive or Thrive.

[Laughter]

Hive. And other businesses that we saw outside Maxwell and the rest. So it's about ownership as well as job creation, both of them very important to the success of our economy and keeping our planet safe For The Children. Thank you so much, thanks.

[Applause]

***

Q. What impressed you most about the tour?

Speaker Pelosi. Oh, what impressed me most about the tour? Well there's stiff competition for that. Because at every place, I thought: perfect, perfect. This is what – this was what our intention was. And it was no surprise that our bill was such a match for what's going on here. Because we listened to what was going on here, right Matt?

Matt Petersen. Yes, Madam Speaker.

Speaker Pelosi. You were an intellectual resource to us about what would work. So that's what was great, in that it was so immediate.

If you want to say surprised, not surprised, because I know the talent here and the rest, but that it was – the timing was so immediate. And just to see what was happening in every category – and I hope that you all see it, because in each, each section of the tour complemented the other. But all of that, all of it was fundamentally about justice, about inclusion, about diversity, about not only market – changing the marketplace, but changing the workforce in a way that is what we had in mind. But again, we learned from you in what we put in the bill. We know what to reward.

Q. Madam Speaker, looking through all these exhibits here, talking with all these people, do you get the sense that the majority of programs being put here are market-viable? That in two to three or four years, we're going to be seeing these sold to people in the general public, which will tend to be, you know, blue sky – and that's wonderful. But is there a way to sell it? You think we're going to be seeing this technology in three or four years in the marketplace?

Speaker Pelosi. Well, we're already seeing some of it in the marketplace here, as we've seen in public housing, and with some of the adjustments of going from old technologies to new technologies. And having – you have a car that is an example of that. And perhaps you'd like to say something.

But let me just say this: when we – a lot of what this bill is is something that was a result of our Climate Crisis Select Committee, and at that Select Committee, to your question, at that table we had everybody. It was a bill that was going to have balance and the rest. So what – well, we had environmentalists and labor, labor and business, environmentalists and business, farmers. We had venture capitalists to see what the private sector would be willing to invest in. We had every aspect. We had young people, we had students, we had every aspect of society and the economy, because your point is well taken. You can have great ideas. If you cannot attract the capital to develop it – and then if you do, you have to be able to sell it. And in order to do that, you have to recognize what the marketplace is.

And I think that LACI is a great example of knowing what the marketplace is and what the traffic will bear in new ideas as quickly as possible to lower costs, have better paying jobs, have safer communities in every way – whether it's clean air or just public safety. So we think that this is a public, private, non-profit initiative that, again, have marketed – what do we call it, marketplace? Well, marketplace was part of their three pillars. And as we started – and I think that the marketplace will be very receptive to all of this.

Congressman Gomez. Just to add, people – like California was – we often come up with the idea of the targets first, right? We want to get to a certain amount of reduction in emissions by X number of years. And we set these targets, and it kind of forces the innovation of the – in the private sector and in the non-profit sector – to start kind of evolving. You know, we set the targets for cleaner air and cleaner water, especially for cleaner air, which led to the innovation of the catalytic converter and the check engine light and these simple things that made cars so much more efficient, then we're setting like new targets for cleaner and more car – electric vehicles on the road. That's what kind of causes it, but then the federal government or the state government helps provide that original capital to get that to start accelerating. To make it more price competitive.

EV tax credits will not always be around, because the price of the car – of the electric vehicle, the hybrid vehicle – will come down and match the cost of a fuel – fossil fuel vehicle. So I have no doubt that some of the things that we've seen from the eco-electric that, you know, transforming current fossil fuel burning vehicles to electric is going to be competitive. But we have to sometimes give it a little bit of a boost. You know, we have the oil industry that still gets billions of dollars in tax credits and subsidies: 38 billion. So it's, you know, and this – how long has the oil industry been around? So our job is to spur that innovation, to get off of those fossil fuels to make and to create that – those green jobs. It's not going to happen overnight. But it will happen just like it has done in previous years. And I know California has been a leader in that. So thank you. Great question.

Q. My question is on an unrelated topic. We just received a statement from CHP Foundation 11-99 saying that Mr. Pelosi's membership has been revoked, because they said that his actions reflect poorly on the foundation. I just wanted to know if you had any response or comment on that.

Speaker Pelosi. Yes, it's a serious matter. And he has taken responsibility.

Now, to get back to your question about California, we should take great pride, because we have such an impact on the marketplace. Because we're so big. And when we say we want cars to be clean tech cars, those who are making cars want to sell to our market. And therefore, it's better for them to make clean-tech cars for everyone. And coming from the Silicon Valley area, northern – just the whole complement of the state in our innovative spirit that we have.

We have really, really taken the country in a very, very different direction. And in that direction is, again, because we're a big marketplace here, we will have an impact on the markets in the country, as we have going along. And the tax credits, as you said, are a transition. The fossil fuel industry has had – can you imagine $38 billion as an incentive to drill when they are making hundreds of billions of dollars? They do not need an incentive to drill.

But we need the tax credits now for the small businesses that you've heard talking about it, because it just transitions them to a place where then the marketplace will take over. And again, it's about good-paying jobs. But it's also about entrepreneurial opportunity for people of color, young people, women, more diversity in our – in our economy. And that's a very good thing.