Transcript of Pelosi Press Conference Today

Leader Pelosi.  I thought you would all be on your way to Baltimore.

Q:  They told us we only had 15 minutes to get there. 

Leader Pelosi.  All right, 15 minutes it is.

Let's see.  Very quickly, praising the President for what I thought was a great State of the Union address last night, and agree that the state of the Union is strong.

I was very pleased, and when you all – some of you asked me before what I hoped to hear in the President's speech.  Well, I did hear some of it.  I was pleased that he gave a shout?out to his own leadership and the work we have done together – that the unemployment rate when he took office was 10 percent; now it is half that.  The deficit was $1.4 trillion; it's 70?percent decreased, a drop of a trillion.  In his first year, the stock market was in the 6,000s; it is now in the 16,000s – a change of 10,000.  Imagine if it had been the reverse, what we'd be hearing.

The auto industry was on its heels, it was dying; it is now thriving.  They may produce 17 million cars this year.  In those days, we were saying, if they could only get to double digits in the cars that they are producing.

And that private?sector initiative is part of why for 70 straight months America has been enjoying job creation to the tune of over 14 million jobs.  New private sector jobs created, the longest uninterrupted stretch of private sector job growth in our history.

And, of course, I'm very proud that he recognized that the millions – 18 million previously uninsured Americans now have affordable, accessible, dependable health coverage through the Affordable Care Act.

As the President said, we have more work to be done so that many more people can participate in the prosperity of our country.  And I love the way he framed his questions.  As we go forward, we want to ensure – we should subject what we do to the test, does this ensure a fair shot for all working families?

Are we making technology work for us in so many areas – he mentioned climate change, but so many areas – to keep America number one and, again, to enable our people to have a fair shot; exert our global leadership, he said, in a balanced way; and reduce the role of money in politics – all of it music to my ears, especially the last initiative, which is one that we have been advocating for, to reduce the role in politics.  As you've heard me say over and over, our Founding Fathers, their vision was of a democracy, a government of the many, not the government of the money.

I'm hopeful that in this framework we can go forward in a bipartisan way.  We did when President [George W.] Bush was President and we had the majority.  Disagreed where we disagreed, but came to common ground in other areas.

And in the event, the fight that we see in the Presidential race, the debate that we see there and that we see in Congress all the time is same old, same old, trickle?down, warmed?over stew, trickle?down economics – tax breaks for high end, tax expenditures for special interests.  Hopefully, it trickles down.  If it does, that's good.  If it doesn't, so be it, that's the free market.

Well, we believe in and respect the free market, but we recognize the free market is served by a strong middle class with consumer confidence.  And that's the way we will truly turn our economy around so that everyone can participate in the prosperity of our country.

With that, I'd be pleased to take any questions you may have.

Yes, sir.

***

Q:  What's your response to NARAL criticizing the remarks you made about abortion on demand to Roll Call?

Leader Pelosi.  Well, I don't – I've never supported that.  But I believe that inside and outside the Congress we should all be working together to make sure that women have the right to make their own decisions in terms of the size and timing of their families.  That's something that I [have] been passionate about my whole life in the political arena and also one that I've tried to be dispassionate about, about how we achieve our goals.

Yes?

Q:  With this incident last night with Iran and the sailors, which has been resolved here, Vice President Biden was on CBS today and he called this standard nautical practice. 

I know sometimes anytime we get involved with something with Iran, it gets a little dicey. 

Leader Pelosi.  Right.

Q:  There were people here last night who were afraid to say much about it, and I understand, you know, they wanted to make sure the servicemembers got back safely and so on, so it was sensitive. 

But do you think that, in light of the Iran nuclear accord, that sometimes people are walking on eggshells in these situations when it comes to Iran, you know, and that perhaps they are emboldened in any way? 

Leader Pelosi.  Well, as we are learning more about what happened – there was either a navigational or a mechanical error that placed our sailors, 10 of them, in the situation that we're in.  We're looking forward to a fuller briefing as to everything that transpired.  But what did happen was that in record time the situation was resolved.  The [sailors] are safely returned.

And I think that, frankly, I think that the diplomacy [that] was established during the negotiation of the accord helped facilitate that speedy – I think it's really even speedy – resolution of the situation.

Yes?

Q:  Leader Pelosi, the President said that one of his regrets – last night, he said one of his regrets was that division between the parties has gotten worse, not better.  Can you take some ownership of that for your party, or is it just the Republicans' fault?  

Leader Pelosi.  Well, it's not a question of fault; it's a question of fact.  It's a question of what has actually happened here.

When we had the majority and President Bush was President, we worked with him.  We did not support the war in Iraq, which I think was one of the greatest blunders in – not "blunder" – absolute mistakes in our country's history.  We didn't agree with him on that, we didn't agree with his privatizing Social Security, but that did not keep us from working together on other issues.

One of the biggest energy bills ever passed, 2007, passed into law, signed by President Bush, we worked together to develop that legislation.  HIV/AIDS, PEPFAR initiative, which President Bush is rightfully proud of, we wanted PEPFAR, we wanted it big.  We were able to celebrate a great initiative that the President and the First Lady, Laura Bush, still work on in their travels and are respected for.

We did something quite remarkable, which Barney Frank said was one of the most progressive pieces of legislation to pass the Congress, when we passed the refundability of the low?income tax credit.  We wanted a stimulus bill.  President Bush said no.  We wanted infrastructure.  Then, finally, he said, okay, we'll do something, but it's not going to be infrastructure, it's going to be tax rebates.  And we said, as long as they're refundable to working families, no matter how low their income.  And that was remarkable, in fact, one of the things that Republicans had in the expenditure package.

I didn't like that package because it was not paid for.  Because I'm a pay, go person, ‘pay as you go,' whether it's a tax expenditure or an investment on the Appropriations side.  Pay for it.  Do not increase the deficit.

So, we were able to work, but we had a very fundamental disagreement on privatizing Social Security and the war in Iraq, to go forward.

I think that the Republicans made clear their intentions when they got the majority, and President Obama was President and their leader in the Senate said, ‘The most important thing we can do is to make sure this President does not succeed.'  And that really was a completely different attitude than we'd seen.  You know, it was a stunning statement for him to make publicly, but nonetheless a prediction of things to come.

So, gosh, we all have our enthusiasm.  We come here representing our districts, our point of view, and the rest.  But none of us comes here thinking that we're going to call the shot.  It's about a negotiation, it's about a compromise.  That wasn't what they were interested in.

This President extended the hand of friendship on a daily basis to the Republicans.  That wasn't reciprocated, and I think that's unfortunate.

But, again, all of us who've been here a while have worked in a very bipartisan way.  I'm an appropriator and an Intelligence person, and they're two places where, by and large, you try to find your common ground.

Yes, sir?

Q:  Madam Leader, are you troubled by the treatment the Iranians gave our sailors?  Some video has been released, and it looks like it was a pretty hostile taking of our people.  Any trouble at all with the treatment?

Leader Pelosi.  I haven't seen the videos.  I did see a couple of photos.  But, again, would be interested in the briefing that we receive and the fact that it was resolved, really, in a matter of hours.  And I think that that's record time, for all of the, shall we say, apprehension of people who may or may not have been in their waters.

I've been to Bahrain.  I've been there under the auspices of the Office of Naval Intelligence.  It's all close there – you know, Bahrain, Iran.  You can practically see across the Persian Gulf, and then Kuwait just off to the side there.  So there's close proximity as to whose waters you might be in, and navigational and mechanical error could enable something like this to happen.

But let's see.  I'm big on getting the facts on what happened.  But I'm glad that it was resolved so quickly.

Q:  Madam Leader, I just want to ask about, going back to Iran again, there are still five Americans right now being held by Iran, including the Washington Post reporter and Bob Levinson.  And Mr. Obama did not mention them, along with the U.S. sailors, who were still being held at that time. 

Do you think that right now this administration is sort of still appeasing Iran in terms of how they're handling this particular situation?

Leader Pelosi.  I don't think this administration has ever appeased Iran.  So if you're asking if they're still doing it…

Q:  As far as the U.S.

Leader Pelosi.  No, no, no, I don't.  No, I don't think they are.

And I do think that these Americans' names are brought up in every meeting as a very high priority.  I was honored yesterday to have the brother of the Washington Post reporter [Jason Rezaian] come to my office last night during our reception before the President's speech.  And, obviously, we have all been trying to weigh in wherever we can on the subject.

But the President didn't mention a number of things last night.  He didn't mention everything last night.  But we do know that they mention it at the table, where it counts, and that is in any negotiations that we're having with Iran.  It's a very high priority for many of us.

Yes, sir?

Q:  Are you concerned at all about the Presidential race on your side of the ticket, in terms of the tightening of the race and whether or not Bernie Sanders could win Iowa and New Hampshire?

Leader Pelosi.  So here you go talking politics again.  Just a small percentage, as we say in the Capitol.  As long as we talk about a lot of other things – politics.

I am not concerned.  What I am concerned about is winning the general election.  And I think the more activity and vitality we have on the Democratic side, the better positioned we will be to win the general election.

Whatever the success that Bernie Sanders has, I think it's important to recognize that his supporters are essential to our success in winning the White House, retaining the White House in November.  I'm excited about the support that he has.  It says that people are paying attention and they are listening.

And Hillary Clinton has retained a very high measure of support throughout.  He has grown his.  We'll see how well Governor O'Malley does in the races that are coming up now.  But all of them – I support all of what each of them is saying and look forward to seeing how it comes down.

There are many States – these races are long.  I keep saying to people, on the Presidential, it's the long term.  You know, it's not about who wins in the beginning; it's who wins towards the end, A.  B, it's like the Olympics.  It's nanoseconds or fractions of an inch, whether you have a gold or you have no medal at all, not even second or third.

So I don't get concerned when races tighten.  I do like the fact that the races are tightening because many more people are becoming interested – not ‘tightening,' but that many more people are interested in the races.  And that increases the number of people who are paying attention, understand that all three of our candidates, while they may have some difference in priority, all are very close in the values that we share and that they are vastly different from the Republicans who are out there.

But it is interesting to see, for example, a State of the Union address happening in the weeks before the first event in a Presidential race when the President in power is not up for election, which was what would've been 4 years ago.  And that's why I was particularly pleased with the spirit of the President's speech, that we could do some good things, still, coming up.

Yes, ma'am?

Q:  Continuing on the subject of politics, what did you make of Governor Nikki Haley's response last night?

Leader Pelosi.  To tell you the truth, I had, like, 250 people in my office last night before the speech, and when you have 250 people in your office before the speech, you have a lot of coats still in your office after the speech.

So, I was really – from what I've read about it, it sounds like it was interesting.  I, frankly, have not seen it because I was – people were in a very celebratory mood after hearing the President's speech last night, so they stayed longer when they came to get their coats, and so I didn't see Governor Haley's speech.  But I've heard words of praise for some of what she said about what immigration means to our country.

Q:  Really important:  Who were you contacting on your watch during the State of the Union?

Leader Pelosi.  I wasn't.  My watch was telling me – this is new.  I got my watch for Christmas.

Q:  There's a famous picture last night of you checking it.  Who was it?

Leader Pelosi.  But my watch was telling me to stand up for 1 minute now.  I didn't know that that was part of the advantage of having such a watch.  It did it on the plane when I was coming.  I mean, the seatbelt sign was on and all, and it said, "Stand up now for 1 minute."

So, last night, all of a sudden, it starts to, like, vibrate, and I looked down, and it's saying, "Stand up now for 1 minute."  So what I was trying to see is, if you stand up to applaud and you sit down and then you stand up to applaud again, if it is cumulative or if it's starting all over again.

Yeah.  I know.  It was…

Q:  Can it get people to the floor to vote on time? 

Leader Pelosi.  Well, that…

Q:  And what do you think about that, by the way? 

Leader Pelosi.  Well, I think it's a great idea to stay within the time.  It is something that has to be consistent.  And the first vote is always the one where people come together.  But 130 people had not voted – 80 Democrats, 57 Republicans.  And they were probably the strongest advocates for convincing the Speaker that we should probably vacate this vote and take it up when we come back again – a very important vote on Iran and one that everyone wanted to be on record.

And many people were in the Chamber, and, according to what I heard some of the Republicans say, they were coming in the door.  And so I think the gaveling was premature.

But I think the Speaker is rightfully serious about expeditiously dealing with the votes in a timely fashion.

Thank you all.

Q:  The NFL back to L.A. – are you excited about that?

Leader Pelosi.  Very excited.

Q:  Yeah.  It'll be a good rivalry.

Leader Pelosi.  Very excited.  Well, we're excited about the Super Bowl – you know, even though we're not in it.