Transcript of Pelosi, Israel Press Conference Today Unveiling New House Democratic Policy & Communications Committee
Leader Pelosi's Opening Remarks:
"Good afternoon. It's been quite a day. We started early this morning – with some of you – talking about what's happening on the floor today and tomorrow. But now, we're talking about the Congress in general. It's a new Congress and a New Year – a fresh opportunity for us to effectively communicate our commitment to the American people, our commitment to the financial stability of America's working families, our interest in better infrastructure and bigger paychecks.
"That's the distinction that we made on swearing-in day last week, and that's the distinction we'll continue to make until we can persuade our Republican colleagues that it is very important to the financial stability of America's working families to have that better infrastructure and those bigger paychecks.
"I'm very pleased today that we will be announcing the formation of a very important committee – the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, chaired by Steve Israel. And on the Committee, we have some of the best communicators in the Congress representing the diversity – geographic, gender, generational, in every possible way – all of them committed to helping America's working families and, again, either making the distinction, or persuading, or finding our common ground.
"Our country, our democracy is strong because we do have beliefs, and we fight hard for them. But we understand that we have an obligation to find a path forward, to work together. Where we can do that, we certainly will find common ground. Where we can't, we stand our ground. But we would hope that, appealing to the American people – have you heard me say, President Lincoln said: ‘Public sentiment is everything?' Well, the point is: let the American people weigh in on these decisions.
"We couldn't be better served in that regard than by the Chairmanship of Steve Israel, who has served – whether it's an issue of substance and policy in the Congress, he is a leader; whether it's about politics and understanding the American people, he has been a leader. And I'm very honored that he has agreed to take this responsibility, Congressman Steve Israel."
Leader Pelosi's Closing Remarks:
"I thank Chairman Israel for bringing us together in this way. I'm so proud of all of the participants. And those who haven't spoken today – they will speak first the next time we come together. But the message is a clear one: just the facts, as Mr. Yarmuth said. We just want the American people to understand what the debate is about and what the difference is. And that contrast, hopefully, will lead to agreement, once the public is aware of what the choices are. Again, we have diversity in every way, including diversity of opinion as to how we shape our message and come to the solutions that we are offering to the American people.
"So this is really important. And it's not about Democrats or Republicans – it's about the future of our country. As Congresswoman Beatty said, it's about American values. And that's what our task is to do – is to have American values which unify our country – not just focus on issues that divide us.
"But again, the choices come in the form of legislation. As we have a debate on the floor today, we talked about that in an early morning press conference out in the freezing cold. But the fact is that, in December, the Republicans refused to put forth a Homeland Security bill. Our first responsibility is to protect and defend, and they said: ‘Not yet.' And then we saw what happened in Paris last week, and you'd think that would have put more pressure on them to do a bill that's clean, and that can be signed, and that can become law immediately.
"Instead, they're playing – they're being mischievous in terms of the immigration issues, saying the President doesn't have the right that President Reagan had, that every President really – Democrat or Republican – since President Eisenhower has exercised.
"So we have our differences. Let's hope we can find our common ground. In order to do that, we need the public to understand those differences. With that, I'm sure that our group here would be pleased to take any questions you may have. I did promise some of you, when I walked by you in the hall, that I would tell you what I thought about the President's meeting if you want to know about that. If you don't, thank you all very much for coming."
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Q: Go ahead, tell us how the meeting was.
[Laughter]
Leader Pelosi. Well, as you all know, the President very respectfully invited the House and Senate Democratic and Republican leadership – a chunk of us, not everybody, but a large number of us to the White House today. You heard his public agenda – or because the press was in the room at that time – talking about the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, trade, cybersecurity, a few other issues like that. And I can only speak to my own participation, which to say that I was grateful for the opportunity for us to come together in a bipartisan, bicameral way – I thank the President for that. I commend him for the leadership of his Administration bringing the group of "five plus one" – the security council members plus Germany – together to engage Iran in this discussion and hopefully it will be fruitful. And of course we want to have an Authorization of Use of Force with the President's cooperation but with Congress's strong input on it. My focus, though, was better infrastructure – the issues I mentioned, but also better infrastructure, bigger paychecks. My point to the group was that the financial stability of America's working families is the goal; we have to have them have that stability. And to the extent that any of the issues we're talking about, including trade, the extent that that increases the paycheck of America's workers, that's a standard we should hold it to.
So, it was a good meeting. At the end it was determined that we probably have more of such meetings, although we had better communication and we can probably find common ground on cybersecurity, hopefully on the Authorization of Use of Military Force, some other issues that we might – but right now, today, we have a big difference as to why this Congress will not honor our responsibility of the oath we take to protect and defend and mess with the Homeland Security bill by bringing up immigration issues. And I made that point at the meeting as well.
Q: To that end, you talked about fighting terrorism here. Was there anything brought up with the President whether they missed an opportunity, made a mistake by not going to France and standing…
Leader Pelosi. No.
Q: Should he have gone? Should he have gone to France and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the French?
Leader Pelosi. That didn't come up in the meeting.
Q: What do you think, though? Do you think that's something that should have happened this past weekend?
Leader Pelosi. I think that what happened had a spontaneity to it. And Presidential travel is not spontaneous action. I do think that President there or not, our presence on that issue has been widely felt. Congress had a moment of silence; some of us have spoken on the floor; we've spoken at public events – I, in my own district, on Sunday, other Members throughout the country. Je suis Charlie. We are Charlie. When 9/11 struck, Le Monde said: "We are all Americans." When Charlie was struck, we said: "We are Charlie."
I just want to close by saying, I mentioned on the floor that we only have two paintings on the floor, in the House Chamber: one is of our patriarch, the great President George Washington, our founding father, and the other of Marquis de Lafayette in recognition of the role that France played in our own battle for independence. It's a strong bond. France has been a country that has been in the forefront of liberty, equality, fraternity, and we share those values. And I think, whether we are standing there physically, our country is there with the French people.
Thank you all very much.