Transcript of Pelosi Moderated Conversation at the Department of Labor on Equal Pay Day

Secretary Perez.   Leader Pelosi, thank you.  I feel like we've won the lottery here, as I said a minute ago.  We had John Lewis here, recently.  We have Rosa DeLauro here, who is one of my heroes.  And I don't have my own website – she does.

[Laughter]

Go on it.  I can't say the name of the website, because we're in mixed company here, but it's a wonderful website.  And Leader Pelosi, I'm so honored for your presence here, on behalf of our colleagues at the Department of Labor, who I have the great privilege of working with, and on behalf of Frances Perkins, one of the original women leaders in this country who did so much for so many.

[Laughter]

Her portrait is right above my office, because she is the gold standard for Labor Secretary in this department.  And she reminds me every day, when I go into work, that I have to do what you have done, and that is to lead on leave and to be a continuing fighter.

And, I wanted to ask a few questions.  We have questions that are going to come in from the audience.  And I wanted to start out by asking you a little bit more, to go through your journey to how you got here.  Because so many people in this audience know you as the remarkable leader that you are – [Speaker], Minority Leader.  And my mother taught me when I was a kid – my dad died when I was a kid – and my mother always said:  "Your most important title that you'll have, Tom, in life is the title of ‘Dad.'"

And when I look at your journey, you and your husband raised five wonderful children.  And I think your youngest was just about to enter college when you first ran for office.  Could you take us through your journey, and how you got involved in politics, and the challenges of being a mom and somebody who was taking on a job that frankly was a 24/7 job, so you ended up with two 24/7 jobs?

Leader Pelosi.  Well thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your very generous remarks.  Anytime we can be with Rosa DeLauro on this subject…

[Applause]

I mean, she is the godmother of all these good things that you talk about, whether it's pay equity, sick leave, child care, you name it, low-income housing, any tax credit for kids, for families and the rest, she's there.  And we'll talk about that as we go forward.  And we commend the President, President Obama and the First Lady and Valerie Jarett for their "Lead on Leave," and so many other manifestations of their acceptance of what we have said: "When women succeed, America succeeds."

It's an honor to be here with all of you and with this Secretary.  I'm so glad you brought up Frances Perkins, because she's sort of like one of my patron saints.  This is a woman who developed Social Security – you all know that.  But when she kept bringing it to the President – President Roosevelt tasked her to do that – but as she was doing it, she would bring it in to him and he said, at one point after a number of visits, he said: "Frances, you've convinced me completely, now make me do it."  She understood that she had to go out and have public opinion be there for this.  And it was a struggle, because there were more progressives who just wanted the, whatever it was plan – 100 dollars, whatever it was – it wasn't easy to sell, but she did.

And I love telling that story, because it's inspiration to me on the Affordable Care Act that she – she was trying to figure out how to do it in a way that is, shall we say, can handle judicial review.  And she was one night at a dinner, and there was a Supreme Court Justice there, and of course "we can't talk about it," but he said: "Don't underestimate the power of the Internal Revenue Code" – words to that effect.  And that's when she arranged it the way she said, and that is how it has been sustained.  And that was part of our inspiration for why we were able to sustain the Court challenge, because we tied it to the revenue code.  So, her influence is not only because – imagine the courage at the time to be the first woman cabinet officer.  But this cabinet officer, this Secretary of Labor, just is completely in her tradition, in terms of being here for working families.  And that's it, that is it.

I had the privilege – with Rosa – of being in the Dominican Republic a couple months ago.  And we talked about the Secretary there, and how proud the Dominicans are of the fact that he's the first cabinet officer of Dominican descent in the history of our country.  And it's important to note this…

[Applause]

It's important to note this: how he got to this country was that his grandfather was challenging Trujillo on how they were treating Haitian workers coming over the border and working in the Dominican Republic.  And so, therefore, he had to leave.  You don't challenge Trujillo – I may not be doing justice to the story – but the fact is, it's in his DNA to be protecting workers and their rights, and that's men workers and that's women workers.

And today, we're here about families, men and women, children.  But our focus on Pay Equity day is on equal pay for equal work.  And we're so proud – I've seen the Secretary cross the country; I've certainly seen him in California – talk about it, whether it's equal pay, paid leave, childcare, you name it, any of it that empowers women in the workplace.  Because it is not a slogan, it is an absolute fact that when women succeed, America does succeed.  And he has been a force for that.

[Applause]

So, one of my motivations is that, I grew up in a political family – public service, noble calling, volunteer, do your work in the community – and never intended to run for office.  And then all of a sudden, I was called upon to do so.  So I went to my one daughter who was going to be a senior in high school, the other four – well, when I had my fifth child, that week, my oldest child turned six – so this was a close deal.  So, that's why I have so much concern about working women, because, well, of course, I didn't even wash my face during those days.  Days would go by…

[Laughter]

So, anyway, I went to her – now they're a little bit grown and they're in school – I said to Alexandra, our youngest, you may know her, she's a filmmaker, I said: "Alexandra, Mommy has this opportunity to run for Congress.  And it would be better if it were in one more year, but this is when it is."  Our Congresswoman, Sala Burton, had taken ill, and she is absolutely insisting that I run for her seat.  And I never even considered running for public office, but I said: "I love my life, I'm happy and there's no bad answer.  I'd love to be here with you, doing my other volunteer work."  And she said: "Mother" –  and I knew I was in trouble right there – "Mother, get a life."

[Laughter]

And so I did; [get] another life.  Raising my kids, I could never understand, nor do I now, I hold in awe, all of the – including my four daughters, my son isn't married, four of our daughters – moms, professional women, [who] balance all that.  And to see so many women across the country balancing that, it's incomprehensible to me, because being a mom is such an all-consuming job – a parent, dad or a mom.

And so, all that we can do to help these women reach their fulfillment, whatever that may be, for their family, and the impact – getting back to Frances Perkins and Social Security – the impact on pay that women receive for their retirement, what it means in their retirement, what it means in the here and now as to what they can do for their families, that women should have been working all four and a half months of the year for free, essentially.  And if you're African American or if you're Hispanic, you'll be working longer, for free, until it weighs in that you would be making what a man makes from then on, but for free before that.

A very important day.  I just came back from a trip to Asia – these are my two trips, you'd think I travel a lot, but these are my two trips – on the trade bill.  And when I was over there, people know.  I mean in Japan, they know; when women succeed their country succeeds.  The doors are opening in a different way worldwide.  And some of the countries were poor countries that we went to.  So it was about education and opportunity for women, so that they could reach their personal fulfillment and also help grow the economy of their countries.  So, know our power, women, know our power.  We are important to the success of America in every possible way.

And I take it back to my own story to say that, while I raised my kids as a stay at home mom, of course, I was the Chair of the California Democratic Party.  I was doing some other things while they were at school, nine to three.  When you have five kids, and then they start to go to school, between nine and three, you think you can do anything – you can save the world, right?

[Laughter]

In any case, the potential, the underutilized resources in our country [from] not fully recognizing the power of women, whether it's in the military, whether it's in corporate America, whether it's academic, you name the subject, certainly in politics – in any event, I thank you for all you've done to take [us] to a place where my kids, and now my grandkids, have much more opportunity in their lives, and also for the country.  And let us thank our Secretary of Labor, isn't he just wonderful?

[Applause]

Secretary Perez.   You were in Congress when the Family Medical Leave Act was passed and that was a remarkably important milestone.  But again, progress is a marathon relay, and we have some work to do.  The Family Medical Leave Act – we're proud to be the enforcement agency.  Pat Shiu, in the second row, San Francisco, East Bay resident –  San Francisco or Oakland?  San Francisco.  Very well – is enforcing it with her dedicated team.  But there's unfinished business.  We, in the United States, we lead on so many things, Leader Pelosi, but paid leave hasn't been one of them.  What are your thoughts on this issue and what we need to do to continue the mobilization efforts that Rosa DeLauro, the President, Valerie Jarett and so many others have been fighting for?

Leader Pelosi.  Well as Pat knows, California's in the lead on this.  We had our ten year anniversary last year; now we're 11 years of having sick leave.  Now, Family Medical Leave, Rosa was there when that bill was passed.  We had been working on it when President George Herbert Walker Bush was President, but we couldn't get the signature.  You all worked on that bill so much.  As you know, Pat Schroeder was the leader on the bill at the time.  So when President Clinton was elected, one of the first things we did was to send him the Family Medical Leave bill, which he considers one of the great accomplishments of his Administration.  And that's great, but we had been working on it a long time.

[Laughter]

So don't be discouraged about things you've been working on for a long time.  There will be the moment and it will come.  Of course we love it.  Of course it's not paid for everyone, and that's really the issue, is paid leave.

I'll just tell you this one story.  Rosa, you know, organized this bus trip – "When Women Succeed, America Succeeds," "Women on a Roll," all that.  But before, we were going from different districts to listen to women as to what our priorities should be.  And in her district, she had a woman – the stories, the stories were the most eloquent, most powerful messages, the stories of people.

So in one place, a woman got up and said: "Well I was asked to tell my story about how I went from public assistance to what I am now.  But I'm going to tell you a different story, what I see in my job.  Yes I had the struggle, single mom, all of that, and now a job where I drive a school bus.  And every day, I know what I'm going to see.  I'm going to pull up alongside, by the curb, and a mom will be standing there holding a child's hand with tears in her eyes.  And I know that she's going to put a sick child on the bus."  She has no alternative.  She can't stay home from work because it's unpaid and she can't afford that.  And if she takes too many of those days, she might not even have a job.  She has not one day of paid sick leave.  And it's impossible for her to afford quality childcare.

So not having that paid sick leave so that she can stay home with her child, puts a sick child on the bus, which isn't good for that child or any child on the bus.  But she said: "I see it every day."  And that is really the heart of the matter.  How could it be, in the greatest country that ever existed on the face of the earth, in the history of the world, we' re putting sick kids on the bus, because they don't have one day or one week of sick leave, for dads, dads and moms?  It's about dads too, to take care of the sick child.  Or as some of my colleagues tell me, "I spend more time, I need more sick leave for taking care of my parents than my children, because the demands are different."

So this is almost like a moral imperative that we do this.  And in that vein, of course, not completely related, but in that vein, that's why we're so proud of the Affordable Care Act, because at least it enables everybody to know that they will have access to health care, and being a woman is no longer a preexisting medical condition, and that if that child has a preexisting a condition, that that child will no longer be branded for life, discriminated against in terms of seeking healthcare.

But just to have a mom, a parent – mom or dad – to stay home with that child when that child is sick is such an absolute necessity for our country.  So this "Lead [on] Leave" that the President, the First Lady and Valerie all are doing is really essential.  But as we discussed earlier, the states and localities are leading the way in some respects, because we don't have a well-disposed Congress at this moment for this.  But again, Family Medical Leave we celebrated at the 20th anniversary a couple years ago, but it still needs to be paid leave, at least for part of it.  So Pat, thank you for your work in California.

Pat Shiu.  Well, actually, it's David Weil who is really our Wage and Hourly man…

Secretary Perez.  Oh, I'm sorry, David.

Pat Shiu.  But I did work on this in California for a long time.

Leader Pelosi.  Well, it has been there for a long time.  Thank you, David.

Secretary Perez.   No, that is my bad Leader Pelosi.  Yes, David Weil.  I apologize on behalf of myself, here.

[Laughter]

I'd like to bring Rosa DeLauro up, because Rosa – we have another seat for you right here – and, you know, I'll just move over like this so we can do this really quickly.  Because Rosa is one of my heroes, and I think you can't talk about paid leave without talking about the leadership that you have brought to this issue.

Leader Pelosi.  Relentless, persistent, dissatisfied, constant, successful...

Secretary Perez.   We had John Lewis here, a couple months ago, a couple weeks before he headed down to Selma to celebrate, commemorate, and recommit on the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday.  And he talked about how he told his parents that when they said "Are you getting in trouble?" – and he said, "I'm causing good trouble."  So, as we talk about this issue of paid leave and equal pay, what suggestions do you have about the good trouble that needs to occur so that we can no longer have to celebrate equal payday anymore?

Congresswoman DeLauro.  Well, since we're reflecting on families – well, first of all, many, many thanks to you, Mr. Secretary, for your outstanding work, and to our Speaker, she will always be the Speaker of the House, for all of us.

[Applause]

Every day, every day, she works with courage and strength, and is not afraid to take on the very toughest of fights, and that is an inspiration to all of us.  I know she wants me to get on with what I'm want to say, she does this every time, but it's true, my friends.  You have to be in those meetings.

But I too had a – I reflect on my own background.  I had a mom, who today is 101 years old, she lives with us in New Haven, with Stan and I.  My dad is deceased, for a while.  But my mother wrote in 1938 in a Democratic newsletter – she was not yet married to my dad, of course, he was the chairman of whatever it was, she was the recording secretary, those were the days – and in that she admonished women, that many an idea was being lost because of women being [too] timid to bring it forward.  And her last admonition in this wonderful article that I found when I first ran for office 25 years ago was: "Come on girls, let's make ourselves heard!"  Well, we've got to make ourselves heard – that's men and women today – on these issues.

And that, I think, is what is so critically important.  As the Leader spoke about the number of issues, I reflected on our folks who are in the advocacy community and what they've done all of their professional careers.  When we were on that bus and we spoke about these issues we said that those pieces – paid leave, pay equity, child care, paid sick days – were all on the margins not that long ago.  And we were trying to fight for each one individually, and then coalescing them.  What we found is they are now the center of the debate in this country.  They are the domestic issues, they are the economic issues that are driving where we are going today in the United States.

And that is because of the tenacity of the folks in this audience and others to carry it forward, because those economic issues for women and families are so singular for where we do go in the future.  And they are reflective of what families are encompassing today.  And the wage inequality – by the way, inequality, income inequality begins with stagnant wages – and that's what this effort in terms of pay equity is all about.  So again, I go back to my mom.  We need to make our voices heard, and put the pressure on those folks who will be making the decision to say that there is a price to pay if they are not there for working families today.  By the way, I'm so pleased to tell you –  and the Leader knows this – we have all of the Democrats, 100 percent of the Democratic Caucus on the Paycheck Fairness Bill.

[Applause]

Secretary Perez.   I have a few questions from the audience.  Leader Pelosi, what advice do you have for young women who are trying to balance career and family?

Leader Pelosi.  Before I go to that, and I will go to that, I just want to say, because you mentioned John Lewis, and many of us were down there for the 50th Anniversary, and heard the President's beautiful speech and heard John, and how honored we are to call him a colleague and serve with him.  That was a bridge to the ballot – that march over that bridge was a bridge to the ballot.  Martin Luther King, in years earlier, had talked about healthcare as being a very important right.  And so, he talked earlier about that.  But in the context of all of that, whether it was in San Francisco or South Carolina in the '50s, he talked about the ballot, the ballot, the ballot, the ballot; the legislation; never to underestimate the power of legislation.

And that is what we have to do.  Whether it's Mrs. DeLauro or Abraham Lincoln, who said: "Public sentiment is everything," – they were in sync.  You have to take it to the public.  So we can do all the maneuvering we are capable of doing in the Congress and be relentless and persistent, but the mobilization that you all do is essential to having any success.  But beyond that, in the polls, now I would use the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, use that inspiration to get people to register and to vote, and to give them a reason.  This is the reason: strengthening families, job opportunities, the rest of that.  But as we do that, I don't care if people register Democratic or Republican, just so long as they let the people know that they're voting for what their priorities are, because these are not partisan issues – family, leave, pay, all of that.

As long as the electorate makes its voice heard on these subjects – Walter Reuther said: "You cannot separate the bread box and the ballot box."  Successes that are achieved at the negotiating table be can be eliminated by legislation.  So you have to have strength at the legislative table that can only happen through the election.  And let's hope that it becomes completely non-partisan that we support quality childcare for our children, paid sick leave for our families and pay equity for all Americans.

In terms of what I can say to young women on balance – besides, I just told you, I didn't, I didn't even wash my face, as I said, so how did I know how to balance these things?  But what I did know was that I wanted the best for my kids – you know, we all do, parents all do – and the best for my kids was not having them grow up in a society where there is such inequality, where one in five kids in America lives in poverty.  How's that good for those children?  How's that good for my children?  You know, just to talk about what we want for our children.  So that's what drives me in the morning when I get up, or when I go to sleep at night – is to pray for the one in five.  That's my motivation.

So, my advice to young people who are balancing this is, have your vision about your own aspirations.  What is that?  What is it that you hope to achieve, whether it's family, whether it's work, whether it's public service, creative, whatever it happens to be?  And when you have your goal in spirit – and it can be changed, you know you can always adjust – but just have what it is.  Is it about family and what you want to do?  Does work enable you to do what you want for your family?  Is it that plus aspirations you have for when your family is grown?  And they do grow up.  My kids are all in their 40s now – and now we're talking about grandchildren and going to college.

But the thing is that, I always say: have your vision about who you want to be.  And if you want to be, say, in the political arena or public service arena, you have your vision.  What motivates you?  Is it about the one in five, as it is for me?  Is it about the environment?  Is it about equal rights?  Is it about gender equality?  Whatever it happens to be, and it's probably a combination of those things, fairness.  Know what you're talking about, know whatever it is, know your subject, so when you say something, people will respect your judgment because you know what you're talking about.  And you don't have to know everything and you don't have to make a judgement about everything, but when you speak – and then, have a plan about how you're going to, the vision, the knowledge and judgment, the plan on how to get whatever it is done.

I tell you, if you have the vision, the knowledge and the plan, your eloquence will come through, your authenticity, your sincerity will come through.  Be who you are.  The best advice I ever got when I ran for office was be yourself, the most authentic person you can be.  You can have role models, but be yourself.  There's only one you and that uniqueness is very special to the world.  So, I say that, encouraging young women to be involved in the public arena.

In terms of balancing family and home, it takes a lot of stamina, because having a family is a very tall order.  And imagine – me, I was blessed, my dear husband is a fabulous father, and all the rest of that – but imagine being in a situation that is economically challenged, emotionally challenged, health-wise challenged, and to see our elected officials say to those people, "Get over it.  Go get it done."  And I say to my colleagues, you couldn't possibly do what you're asking these moms and dads to do, to balance work and home.  It's a very big deal.  And it's very important to the future of our country, that the values are conveyed, that respect for each other is conveyed and the rest.

So as I said, I'm not the person to ask, because I didn't have to balance.  But I am watching my own daughters, and we love to see what good parents our children are.  Just know your power.  Know your power.  Just, figure out what your parameters are.  Don't over-extend it.  Don't over-extend, just do what it is that you can do, and respect that for all it's worth.  Because that adds up to something great for our country, but more personally for you, it adds up to something wonderful for your family.

You want to have no regrets about raising that family.  And as I always say, you're going to do the best you can.  It's not always the best you know how.  The best you know how, you'd be baking cakes and all that other stuff.

[Laughter]

You have to get rid of some things.  Maybe not the cakes, okay, chocolate.  But really, I always said I did the best I could.  It wasn't the best I knew how.  I probably could have figured out how to get some other things into the mix.  But don't worry about what that is.  Don't judge yourself for what you didn't do, respect yourself for what you did do.

[Applause]

Congresswoman DeLauro.  I think the inspirational and aspirational quality of what the Leader said is so critically important.  I would just add: become advocates, as you all are in this room, but with your extended networks.  Because that's the very, very agenda that we are reflecting here today, in what the issue of pay equity is.  But it is because of that work-life balance that we need to have affordable child care, that you need to have paid sick days, that you need to have paid leave.  You need to be able to earn the amount of money that you are due because you hold the same job as a man does, and you ought to be paid equitably for that.  So those are the pieces that have been so missing in our society, that have put women at a difficulty in terms of achieving those aspirational desires that women have for themselves and their families.  And all of us are messengers on helping to create that work-life balance.

Secretary Perez.   We have about eight minutes left, and I have way too many questions.  I'm going to try to combine a couple of questions.

Leader Pelosi.  Maybe I can be shorter in my answers.

Secretary Perez.  No, no.  Not at all.  We are blessed to have both of you here.  We have a couple of questions here about what can we do to get more women in elected office?  A related question was, can supporting women in public office make "Equal Pay Day every day" a reality?  So, those are really interconnected.  So I welcome your insights on how do we move the needle even more on getting women in public service, including but not limited to public office?

Leader Pelosi.  Maybe we'll take difference pieces of it.  Let me just say this.  If we want to have more – first of all, the most wholesome thing we can do for our country is to increase the number of women in government and politics and public service – most wholesome; the most wholesome thing we can do.

[Applause]

Two things, I think, will make a very big difference, and I talk about this all of the time.  First of all, we have to reduce the role of money in politics.  We have to reduce the role of money in politics.

[Applause]

And second of all, we have to increase the level of civility in the political debate.  We do those two things, and I promise you, there will be more women succeeding in the political arena.  So many times, we'll approach people, or somebody will self-recruit and come forward and say: "But I can't deal with all this money.  I have friends, I have a following, I can raise some money to run."  But endless buckets of negative money coming into a campaign against a woman – and it's brutal against a woman, because women have advantages in terms of [being] viewed more ethically, if I just may say, more ethically.  So what do they do?  They go after your ethics.  They go after your reputation.

And so pretty soon you're like: "Yeah, I was an upstanding member of community.  My kids were proud of the work I did in the community.  And all of a sudden, my neighbors are crossing the street when they see me coming down the street, because of some freak that has been described in the media by unknown people, endless money."  Because it's about power.  And so, we have to stop that, and we have a plan to do that.  I'm going to be working with Donna Edwards this afternoon, I think, or maybe it's next week, when we put forth our D.A.R.E: Disclose; Amend the Constitution to overturn Citizen's United; Reform with an increasing role of small donors in politics; Empower – with what John Lewis is doing with his bill to empower people, stopping these restrictions on voting.

Okay so: empowering the voter, reducing the role of money.  And then from the civility standpoint, women do very well talking about what they believe in and all the rest, but when it comes in to – people wonder why people have no respect for politics and government.  Well what do they see?  Millions, almost now billions, of dollars spent every other year to muddy the other candidate.  And you're like: "Well, why don't you run for office?"  "Well I have options."  And, believe me, in politics and government and public service, we want people with options.  We don't want somebody who just says: "I have nothing else to do, I think I'll run for Congress.  It's the best job I'll probably get."  No, we want people who have options.  When people have options, they're not willing to risk it all in terms of reputation and the rest to run, if this endless with-no-commitment-to-fact-or-truth money is in the system.

So, I see a direct relationship to more women in politics, in government, at every level, from top to bottom, across the board.  And I was happy that Hillary said, yesterday: "When American families are strong, America is strong."  It's the same thing they're talking about here – less money, more civility.  And even if we can't overturn, right now, the Supreme Court decision, we just have to make a standard of play in politics one where women can succeed, because as Rosa will attest, it will make a difference in policy.

Congresswoman DeLauro.  I've been fortunate in my career to have had two great opportunities.  I worked early on in my career on a program called National Urban Fellows, [and] it was about minorities and women getting access to high management positions in government, whether it was assistants to mayors or working for a Carl Stokes when he was the mayor, or here in Washington, D.C., or Tom Bradley in California.  So it was about placing women and minorities in those situations where they could get the experience that they hadn't had, to be able to take on those high-level jobs.  Subsequent to that, I had the opportunity of being the first executive director for Emily's List…

[Applause]

And we all laud Ellen Malcolm for all the efforts that she has made in making it possible for women to participate in politics and political life.  But that was that encouragement, of the recruiting and of engaging women to participate in areas that have traditionally been a male role.  And I just say to women, at the same time: take the risk; take the chance.  You don't get to have dinner with your family every night.  You just don't.  You don't see as much of the people that you love, that you care about, as much as you can.  But the rewards for making the kinds of change at agencies, or that the political process enables you to do, are overwhelming.

I've been asked if this job, even with its frustrations – I'm sure the Leader's been asked this: how do you feel about being a Member of Congress and what you can do given the frustrations?  This job, every day, exceeds my expectations, as to what the agencies that you work for, or being a Member of Congress, what you can do.  And women have got to take it on, and understand it and understand, as the Leader pointed out before – know your power, to be able to make the changes that accrue to you and your family, but to this nation as a whole.  So we've got to make yourselves heard, women!

[Applause]

Secretary Perez.   We have time for just one more question, but before I ask the question tonight, I feel compelled –  based on the privilege I have of this job and traveling across the country – to say a particular thank you to both of you for one particular thing, that I think history is going to say that you were a leader on, and that is the Affordable Care Act.

[Applause]

I travel everywhere.  I had lunch recently with a couple in Cleveland – she had to hock her wedding ring to pay the bills.  I met another person who got coverage March 1st of last year, who had a liver transplant 13 days later.  Another person who had kidney cancer, and everyone says: "the Affordable Care Act saved my life."  The American people are forever indebted to you.  And every one of those people, I asked them: "So what do you want to do now that you're getting your health back?"  They say the same thing: "I want to work!  I want to go back to work!  I want to be a taxpayer!"  And the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.  It bends a heck of a lot towards justice.  And the Affordable Care Act is the result of both of your leadership and tenacity.

And that leads me really to my last question for both of you, which is: as you look out at the frontier, there's a lot of young people – there was a question from a student from Howard who wants to know how to get involved.  There's a lot of cynicism out there as a result of the politics today of mass destruction, and the sense that nothing can ever get done here.  And yet, I see and I hear in your voices and your body language an abiding optimism that we can summon our better angels.

So my question for you is: what do you see as the principal challenge in bringing regular order back, so that we can do the people's business?  The American people want results.  And what advice to you have?  What do you see as the biggest challenges?  And how can we, as a Department of Labor, as young people in college, as advocates out there who are working every day to build a better America – we have different people in different perches here, who are all part of the same orchestra.  We may play different instruments, but we're all part of that same orchestra, and that's the orchestra of opportunity.  What do you see as the biggest challenge?  And what can we do as a Department, as an advocate, as a nation to get us back on course?

Congresswoman DeLauro.  First of all, let me just say this, because the Leader won't say this, on two instances with regards to the Affordable Care Act.  The Leader said: "We're going.  We're doing the Affordable Care Act," and we were going to march forward, and she was going to get the votes in an effort to be able to do that.  The second issue, that many of you in this room know, was on the issue of choice for women and women's reproductive rights, when those who said "No, let's leave that to a later time," the strong voice in the room was "No, that's not going to happen, it's now and that is that."  So, I say that to you because you need to know what Speaker Pelosi did on the Affordable Care Act and women's reproductive rights and choice, et cetera.  You need to know that.  I was in that room.

[Applause]

There has to be an understanding, in my view today, of the value of what you do as the Secretary of Labor, what we do as the House of Representatives, what role that government has played in the lives of people in this great nation.  It used to be that at the center of our public policy was the family – what was happening to families.  And that was the dictate to what policy should be about.  Go back to FDR.  What was going on?  How were we going to make life better for American families?  Our politics and our policies have moved backward from that, so that the emphasis is not on that strength of that family, and the role that government plays in making sure that opportunity is available for [you], whether it is your job, your house, your education, your retirement security, your ability to raise a family, to own your home and to deal with the American dream.

Middle class families have rolled back from that dream today, because it no longer exists.  It's our job to recreate and to rebuild that opportunity that exists and can only exist at the government level, and for our purposes, at the federal level of making sure that there is a voice, that there is a public policy that says to someone: "This is your chance, take the opportunity."  And as you pointed out, Mr. Secretary, what they said when they had the Affordable Care Act is that what they wanted to do now is to work.  That's what they want to do, we need to provide and help them with that opportunity wherever level we serve.  Thank you.

[Applause]

Leader Pelosi.  Mr. Secretary, I am grateful to you for many, many things, but to give me the opportunity to be on this panel with Rosa DeLauro is a special treat.  Every time she speaks, she refreshens my view of the world and she's an inspiration to all of us.  She is, again, persistent, dissatisfied, relentless.

Congresswoman DeLauro.  And a pain in the neck, right?

[Laughter]

Leader Pelosi.  …Just a fighter, a fighter all the way.  You definitely want her on your side.

On behalf of my colleagues, I thank you for giving us this opportunity to share some thoughts and to talk about how we can take it back to a place.  We've had an unusual situation in the past, say, ten years.  We came into a majority in 2006-2007, sworn in with a Republican President.  So I've been Minority Leader under a Republican President; I've been Speaker under a Republican President; I've been Speaker under a Democratic President and a Minority Leader under a Democratic President.  And being Speaker is a lot better than being Minority Leader.

[Laughter]

Now let me just say this, relating to your question about how do we bring people back together, and how do we have hope about getting the job done for the American people, however we can do that.  And we referenced the Affordable Care Act.  Well, during the Affordable Care Act – I'm going to get back to the subject of money and people, money and people.  There was enormous money spent against us – in fact, so much money that it may be forever before we can correct the record as to how they misrepresented, mischaracterized what it was and what it did.  So while we were fighting the fight in the trenches, the air game was on their side – you know the things they were saying; I won't get into it.  So, the press came up to me, especially after we lost the seat, Ted Kennedy's seat, in Massachusetts, and they said: "Oh it's impossible.  How can you get this done?"

I said, "We are going get it done."

"Well how are you going to get it done?"

And this is about you.  I said: "We're not ever going to allow anything to stand in our way.  This is an opportunity of a generation.  If it doesn't happen now, it's not going to happen for a long time, so we are going to go up to any obstacle that is in our way and we're going to push open the gate.  And if the gate doesn't open, we're going to climb the fence.  If the fence is too tall, we're going to pole vault.  If that doesn't work, we're going to helicopter and parachute in.  We're going to parachute in.  But we are not allowing anything to stand in the way of affordable, quality healthcare for all of Americans as a right, not a privilege."

So, they're sort of like, "yeah, yeah."  So when we got it done, they said, "Which one did you do?"

[Laughter]

And this where you come in.  I said, we pushed open the gate and we were able to do it because we had people who believed that it should happen.  Not just the 220 House Democrats, and God bless them, because I accept your compliments on their behalf – the courage to take this vote, in light of everything that was being said and done.  We pushed open that gate, but it just wasn't us alone.  It was people across the country who knew this was important.  It was all of you who mobilized on this issue.  It was the nuns, thank God for the nuns – Sister Simone, Sister Carol, you know, all the nuns, thank God for the nuns – pushing open that gate with us.  And I tell you that, because it's totally self-serving as to what it took to get it done, but also – that was supposed to be a laugh line – I had to tell you it was a laugh line; you thought I was serious!

[Laughter]

I tell you that because this how we are going to succeed.  They can have all the money in the world and they do.  They can make all the misrepresentations they want, and they will.  But the fact is, people have to know – this is the biggest challenge, and we can all help each other with it – people have to know that there's a reason for them to register, a reason for them to vote, a reason for them to show up and tell Democrats, Republicans, Declines to State, whatever they are: "If you want my vote, this is what I care about: the strength of American families" – and that means empowering moms and dads; it means what we did with the Affordable Care Act.

Our Founders, they said: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – imagine, they put that in a founding document, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  So all of this, with healthcare and all of the related issues, equal pay, all of that – give people a life, a healthier life, to pursue their happiness; the liberty, the freedom – money gives you freedom – the liberty to pursue their happiness.  So we are honoring the vows of our Founders when we do this.  This is what they had in mind, that every generation would take responsibility to make the future better for the next – the American Dream.

People flock to our shores.  That invigoration makes America the greatest country that has ever existed in the history of the world and will continue to.  That's why we had to fight hard on Homeland Security, so that they could not erase what the President did on immigration.  That's what America is.  Every immigrant comes here with hopes, dreams, aspirations, courage, and determination to make the future better for the next generation; honors the vows of our Founders and make America more American.

So we have the people, but only one-third voted in the last election.  And again, I don't say this in any partisan way, I just say: let it be every agenda in the political arena to know that we see the strength of our country in the education of our children, the opportunity that they have – but that is enabled by having equal pay for equal work, raising the minimum wage, paid sick leave, affordable childcare, so that everyone has the liberty to pursue their happiness.

So, I think we should all find hope in that the numbers are there and that the leadership and mobilizing are there.  We just have to make a decision.  Everything is a decision.  We have to make a decision to do it.  And in this 50th anniversary of Selma, using the inspiration of that bridge to the ballot, what better year for us with John Lewis and Jim Clyburn and others who were on the scene then and are in the Congress now?

So thank you, Mr. Secretary for giving us an opportunity to pull some of these threads together to see the connection of it all, and to take the advice of Rosa's mother and "get out there girls."

[Applause]