Transcript of Pelosi, Hoyer, Clyburn Press Conference on GOP 'So Be It' Spending Bill
Washington, D.C. - Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi , Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, and Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn held a press conference this afternoon in the Capitol on the Republican "So Be It" spending bill being debated on the House floor today that would destroy jobs and hamper economic growth. Below is a transcript of the press conference:
Leader Pelosi. Good afternoon. As we gather here this afternoon, we are in the sixth week of the new Republican Majority, and we have yet to see Congressional Republicans address the country's number one priority. They have not put forth one job, still to create one job. And Democrats and the American people have been repeating a simple refrain: "Show us the jobs." Now the GOP is not just ignoring jobs, they are cutting them.
Today we continue to debate a Republican spending bill that cuts jobs, weakens the middle class and does not reduce the deficit. The bill will destroy 800,000 American jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute. It will increase class sizes and take teachers out of the classrooms. Can you imagine, what does this mean to people across the country? It means that class size in your school may be, the number may be increased. My own granddaughter told me that was not a good idea when she was 11 years old. Now she is 12, and she still doesn't think it is a good idea. It will jeopardize homeless veterans, make our communities less secure, threaten America's innovation, and all the Republicans can say about this loss of jobs, large class size, problems for America's homeless vets and the rest: "So be it."
From the beginning Democrats have said we will measure every proposal by three tests: Does it create jobs; does it reduce the deficit; does it strengthen the middle class? This Continuing Resolution fails on all three scores. It is long past the time when we must work together to create American jobs, job creation and American growth must be our top priority.
Instead, in recent days we've heard talk of a government shutdown. Let's remove all doubt. We all have a responsibility to make sure that there is no government shutdown. The last thing the American people need is for Congressional Republicans or Democrats to draw a line in the sand that hinders keeping the government open. Closing our government would mean our men and women in uniform wouldn't receive their paychecks and veterans would lose critical benefits. Seniors wouldn't receive their Social Security checks and essential functions from food safety inspections to airport security could come to a halt.
When President Bush was in office and I was Speaker, we met with Minority Leader Boehner and the representatives of the Administration to solve critical issues facing our nation, negotiating a stimulus package a couple of years ago, now almost 3, to help American middle class in a financial package to save the economy. We were on the brink of a financial disaster. We worked with the Administration and with Mr. Boehner to halt that steep fall that our financial institutions were about to take. We didn't like having to do that. It wasn't some--the Democrats didn't create the problem, it was President Bush's solution. The Republicans didn't want to vote for it. We cooperated with President Bush. So the idea of cooperation in a bipartisan way to do the right thing for our country is one that we have to keep uppermost in our mind.
As we see this flood of amendments of every idea anybody could ever think of, it's interesting. But it's not what needs to happen. What needs to happen--to govern is to choose, President Kennedy told us. We must establish priorities. It is not everything you can think of, it is what must, those things that must be done for the American people, and their top priority is the creation of jobs. We must have a Continuing Resolution that does just that, make it a priority for job creation, deficit reduction and strengthening the middle class.
And now I'm pleased to yield to the distinguished Democratic Whip, Mr. Hoyer.
Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer. Thank you very much, Madam Leader. We have, as the Speaker indicated, been here for 2 months. We've been here for 2 months and we have not taken a single action to create jobs in America. In fact we've done two major things that will undermine, in my view, jobs in America.
First of all, we adopted a rules package. What did that rules package provide for? An additional $5 trillion in deficits. You hear a lot about cutting spending, but the rules package provides for the cutting of revenues by $5 trillion without any way to pay for it. Therefore, even if the Republicans accomplished what they say they want to accomplish, a $100 billion cut in spending, and we believe there needs to be a cut in spending, and not only that, the President of the United States has offered a budget which cuts over a trillion dollars over the next 10 years in spending. The fact is that the Republicans have now offered a continuing resolution which puts us in a hole. We've said we want to out-educate, out-innovate, and out-invest and-build our competitors in the global marketplace.
In terms about educating, the Republicans have offered a substantial cut in education. They've made it tougher for young people to go to college, for families to be able to afford for their kids to go to college, for 200,000 teachers to be kept on, teaching our children in America. They have cut 20,000 researchers from the National Science Foundation, undermined our ability to innovate and compete in the global marketplace. And as Tom Donohue, the President of the United States Chamber of Commerce, has observed, they have cut investment in infrastructure, which would have created tens of thousands of jobs.
So that unlike the Democrats who came into office to stabilize and to build and to create jobs, the Republicans, who went through the same election we did and heard America's cry for jobs and growth in the economy, their response has been simply political. We should not be surprised.
I want all of you to ask yourselves what was the long term impact of the Contract with America? I think you will be hard pressed to say that the bills that were focused on in 1995 made a difference in America. And very frankly in this first 2 months, I think you would be hard pressed to say that we have made a difference for America. That's unfortunate. We want to work with our Republican colleagues, and I mean that sincerely.
I've had the opportunity during these first 2 months to sit down for a significant periods of time with Mr. Cantor, the Majority Leader, with Mr. McCarthy the Republican Whip, with Mr. Camp, the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. And I've had an opportunity also to have a brief discussion with Mr. Hensarling, the Chairman of their conference, and I've told all of them we want to work together. We want to reach across to create common cause for solutions to America's challenges. I'm hopeful that we can do that.
One way that America told us very loudly in 1995 is not the way to do it is to shut down government. And I'm going to work very hard, as the Leader said, with all of my Democratic colleagues and hopefully my Republican colleagues to make sure that we do not shut down our government. We don't want to do that. We hope our Republican colleagues don't want to do that. But if the posture that they take is, "no way, our way or no way," then it is possible that will happen, but it will not happen if we work together, which is what we want to do.
We saw the negative consequences of that in 1995. Our Republican colleagues thought it would be politically advantageous. Hopefully, they do not repeat that mistake again.
And now I yield to the Assistant Leader, Mr. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.
Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn. Thank you, Mr. Whip, Madam Leader. I think that all of us remember during our lame duck session last, oh, 3 months ago, we heard some chanting from the other side: "Where are the jobs?" The last 6 weeks it has been anything but jobs--rolling back women's rights, repealing consumer protections, making it harder for students to go to school, balancing the budget on the backs of working families, veterans and young people. And now, they are putting Social Security payments and services at risk. The Social Security Administration is responsible for processing benefit applications, issuing checks to recipients and sending new Social Security cards to children, warned in a letter to its employees on Thursday, that it may have to furlough workers if the proposed cuts to this budget are enacted into law.
In a GOP's "so be it" spending bill, Republicans have proposed cutting Social Security Administration funding by more than 9 percent, from 11.8 billion in 2010 to 10.7 billion this year. In addition, the Republican proposal provides for $1.7 billion less than Social Security needs to keep pace with inflation and its rising workloads. These are the wrong priorities.
Democrats have said we will measure every effort by whether it creates jobs, strengthens the middle class and reduces the deficit. Democrats agree with President Obama that we must out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world. We believe we can live within our means and create jobs, invest in our future and reduce the deficit, starting with an aggressive attack on the waste, fraud and abuse. I hope that when we get back from this break that we can work together on behalf of the American people to move our country forward.
And with that I yield back to the Leader.
Leader Pelosi. Thank you very much, Mr. Leader. As I said to Mr. Hoyer, this is the first time I've heard him make some remarks without saying "Make It in America." I know he's going to catch up with that in the question and answer.
Democratic Whip Hoyer. I'll get to that.
Leader Pelosi. Because that's indeed what we must do. We must "Make It in America" so the American people will make it in America. And this week is the 2 year anniversary of the recovery package. As Mr. Clyburn was speaking and they were talking about the Republicans and their lack of job initiatives, that one week and one day after the President's inaugural address the House of Representatives passed the recovery package which created or saved 3.5 million jobs. President Obama and House Democrats and Congressional Democrats are job creators from day one. It is not enough, much more needs to be done. That's why we want to see some initiatives on the part of our Republican friends.
I do want to just mention, before we go into the questions and answers that, again, as we gather here, in Wisconsin right now, we are watching an extraordinary show of democracy in action. Wisconsin's workers, teachers, and public servants must have a seat at the table to fight for good wages and a safe workplace. I stand in solidarity with the Wisconsin workers fighting for their rights, especially all the students and young people leading the charge, again, for fairness and for opportunity in their community. With that, we will be pleased to take any questions.
Q: In 1995, we had a large freshmen Republican class come into office, 11 months later the government shut down on multiple occasions through early 1996. Here we have a large conservative freshman Republican class. Do you get the sense that this class, they don't understand what happened in 1995? Do you see parallels here because they are so steeled in their positions when it comes to cutting back the budget compared…
Leader Pelosi. We were all here at that time. So I'm sure we all have something to say about that. But I don't want to characterize what their understanding is of the issues. I just think it's important for all us to recognize that we cannot allow the government to shut down. And again, it is important for everyone to say what they would like to see happen, but they must establish priorities as we go forward and none of us, the country cannot afford the luxury of a political standoff. It isn't--it's something that you can't say 'so be it' when it comes to the well being of the American people.
So talking about what happened in the past may be a nice academic exercise. The fact is we have a whole different set of challenges for the American people right now and whatever it was and however urgent the needs of the American people were 16 years ago, it's all intensified now. So again the Republican platform of 'so be it' cannot be how we proceed. It has to be let's see how we can make it happen for the American people, and it's up to the leadership of their party to bring them together around a set of priorities to take to the negotiating table and to make sure that government does not shut down. I am going to yield.
Democratic Whip Hoyer. I just want to add, I agree with the Leader. Looking back is not particularly useful unless you learn from the past, and what we learned from the past was the American people want an efficient, cost effective government. They understand that government is necessary. They don't want to see it shut down. And the lesson we learned in 1995 is when that occurred, they didn't like it. And they won't like it this time either, which is why I hope my Republican colleagues, new or those who have been here, come together with their colleagues in the House and with our colleagues in the United States Senate to reach agreement on moving forward. I think that's the key. And I hope that they will do that and we will see whether that's the case or not.
The implications, however, have been recently that there are some who believe that their pledge is not subject to change. That pledge of course was made unilaterally.
In December, we would not have been able to keep middle class taxes at the present level and not raise them unless we had reached agreement. I think we'll all take a lesson from that--that the legislative process is a process of coming together and reaching common ground. We need to do that.
Leader Pelosi. Mr. Clyburn?
Democratic Whip Clyburn. I believe it was George Santayana who advised us years ago that if we fail to learn the lessons of our past, we are bound to repeat them. I would hope that our colleagues on the other side are at least that well read.
Q: Madam Leader, I wanted to ask you about two of the votes that we just saw in the series of votes, the Planned Parenthood funding that has been stricken from the CR, and also I wanted to ask you about the series of the votes against funding the health care reform law. Now we've seen the House repeal health care and now move to fund it, what's your reaction to both those issues?
Leader Pelosi. Well, in both of those cases--let's talk with the second part of your question first, the health care, the repeal of health care and the total response of implementation of the health care legislation. Of course what that does is increase the deficit. The repeal--the health care bill, as we know, represents a savings of $1.3 trillion to our budget, and the repeal that is suggested here is about a quarter of a trillion dollars in costs to the taxpayer. So again it doesn't create jobs; it increases the deficit; it does not strengthen the middle class.
But what you saw those Members do out there today was to say we are repealing the end of discrimination on the basis of a pre-existing condition. 129 million people under the age of 65 have a preexisting medical condition. Almost every family in America has someone with a pre-existing medical condition, but today the Republicans in the Congress said we want you to be discriminated against if you have that.
To children who are under 26 years old to be able to stay on their parents' policy until they are 26, the Republicans out there said: "My kids can take care of themselves." Well, good for them and good for you. These kids want to take care of themselves, too. They need to have access to quality health care so that they can take the job they want, take the job that matches their talent and their aspirations, not just the job that might have health care.
The list goes on, whether it is closing the donut hole, whether it is ending discrimination against where being a women is no longer a preexisting medical condition, where caps on benefits lifetime or annual benefits are removed. They have put the insurance companies--they have voted to put the insurance companies back in charge. I don't think this will happen, but that's what the vote was about today. It increased the deficit, it weakened the middle class, and it did not strengthen--it did not create jobs, did not create jobs, and increased the deficit, did not strengthen the middle class.
In terms of Planned Parenthood, it was very interesting to me to listen to the debate because I've spent many years with Mr. Hoyer and Mr. Clyburn on the Appropriations Committee. And Steny and I were on Labor HHS, I was also on foreign ops where we had the domestic and then foreign ops family planning initiatives. Over and over and over again our Republican colleagues on that committee would not give us a vote because they said we do not support family planning domestically or internationally. We do not support family planning domestically or internationally.
It was stunning to me, because I am a mother of five. The day I brought my fifth child home from the hospital, that week my oldest child was turning 6. So I feel I have credentials in this arena, more than perhaps some of the people who speak about it on the floor of the House. And so they didn't support family planning, and what they did last night was use Planned Parenthood as a whipping boy to disguise their opposition to family planning. The American people knew, and every time we tried to tell them, they said it can't be true, it can't be true that they oppose family planning, that families should determine the size and the timing of their family. Well, they don't. But what was terrible to behold last night was for them to not come right out and say I'm not for family planning, but to say I'm not for Planned Parenthood so as to hide where they really are on this issue.
When we've taken votes on it in previous Congresses, we have seen this in the votes. So again this is a very dangerous situation for the health, the reproductive health of women across our country. Women of the country and those who care about them must pay attention to this issue. It is degrading to women, it's disrespectful, it doesn't make any sense, and if you want to reduce the number of abortions in our country you must commit to supporting contraception and family planning. They've never understood that, and perhaps we have to have a lesson on the birds and bees around here for them to understand that. Because listening to the debate on the floor was so surreal, it was so surreal. What are they talking about? What standing do they have on this issue? How can they characterize this when what we know is they do not support family planning. American people should know that, America's women should know that, and I think that says something but that they should make it a big priority for them.
Instead of job creation what do they do? Repeal health care. And then they came out with H.R. 3, that conglomeration of disrespect for American women. And now they express it again in this Continuing Resolution. It really is cause for great concern, and I'm very proud of our Members who sounded the alarm and the very few Republicans who voted against that amendment. Steve Lynch was--many of our pro life members spoke out against that resolution.
Q: As you talked about the three of you have decades of experience…
Leader Pelosi. Birds and bees?
Q: …on the Appropriations Committee. And you witnessed the power of the President in determining ultimate outcomes on appropriations. Today we've seen votes on health care, Planned Parenthood, global warming, probably on Mexico City. Do you believe that President Obama will have the same success that both President Bush and President Clinton had in driving outcomes and do you think it will be successful in knocking all this stuff off?
Leader Pelosi. I will yield to Steny.
Democratic Whip Hoyer. You raise a question that you've heard me talk about, because presidents ultimately have the power to really fashion and direct spending and policy, and they do so through their veto. You talked about a couple of presidents that did that, President Clinton and President Bush. That's why I maintain that it was President Clinton that brought us the $5.6 trillion of surplus, because he did not allow the reduction of revenues or the increase in spending because it would have brought spending and revenues out of kilter. Unfortunately, President Bush did allow that, so that we turned a $5.6 trillion deficit into a very substantial surplus into a very substantial deficit.
Now your question goes to the fact can President Obama do the same? Absolutely. Not only do I think he can do the same, I think he will do the same. I think he is committed, focused and determined to accomplish the objectives that he set forth for the American people in 2008. He hasn't done anything that he didn't tell the American people he was going to do, or thought needed to be done to enhance the quality of life in our country, to expand our economy, to make accessible health care for our people and to make our nation safer here and around the world. But I don't know that the United States Senate is going to present either the House or ultimately the President with a bill that will confront him with that alternative. I think that the United States Senate is not going to pass this bill. I don't think, frankly, any House Republican believes the United States Senate is going to pass this bill. And there has been no effort, in my view, to try to come to common ground on these issues within our own House or between the Senate and the House.
I'm hopeful, I'm hopeful that in the days ahead that Mr. Boehner and the Republican Caucus and ourselves will come together with the United States Senate to reach an agreement on how to move forward. I'm hopeful that on a budget we will do the same. I'm hopeful that we will pursue what all of us know to be the central concern of our people, and that's jobs.
So the answer to the question is I have little doubt that President Obama will not only have the ability to but will in fact shape the policies as we go forward as we promised the American people he would.
Assistant Democratic Leader Clyburn. I'm convinced that the President is watching this debate on CR very closely, and I am convinced that he is treating all of these votes and the results of these votes with the same kind of incisive vision that he put into putting his budget together. Now if you look at the President's budget proposal, there is some pain there for everybody, but as I've gone through it, it is a tremendous balancing act that he has performed in doing it.
If you look at some of the cuts, the services that he's plused up, for instance, community health centers, plused up by a couple of billion in order to provide the safety net that might be needed because of cuts that take place in other places in the budget. Same thing with education. When people got a chance to look at what he did with Pell grants, they saw that kind of incisive thought being put into it. I am convinced that he will be watching this entire process on the CR with the same kind of insightfulness, and I think that he'll use his pen to bring all of these actions back into balance.
Leader Pelosi. Mr. Hoyer talked about the President's ability to do this and his focus on that. Mr. Clyburn talked about the vision that the President has. I would also like to say that the President has respect for the ideas of others. And he knows if we're going to come together on this, we have to all come together on it. And that's why it would be important for the Republicans to get serious about what their priorities are, not to bring, what, 500 amendments to the table, but to say what really helps reduce the deficit, create jobs, strengthen the middle class. We think that criteria--there was nothing partisan about it--it was criteria about what's important for the American people. But it is--without any question the President knows the seriousness of the situation and how we have to get the job done.
But I remind you again, I did not like what President Bush wanted to do on the stimulus package in the winter of 2000 and was it '07? 2007. I didn't like his proposal. I wanted investments in infrastructure, science, technology infrastructure and the rest. The President wanted tax cuts. And we said, okay, if that's what you want, how do we come together to help the people, we're here to help. And we worked together to say they will be refundable so that everybody has some benefit on how we go forward. It wasn't our preference, it wasn't even a question of being in the same category, but it was about the same goal, which was to stimulate the economy. Nobody wanted to vote for TARP, and most of the Republicans did not, but we didn't leave President Bush hanging high and dry just because we didn't like the problem he created and the solution he offered. We knew something had to happen, and that is why we have a difference between us that I see at the moment which I hope will change. One is 'so be it' and the other from our side is 'let's make something happen.' And President Obama is about making something happen.
Q: Since you talked about your experience working with Mr. Boehner and former President Bush, since Speaker Boehner has said he won't bring a CR to the floor at the current levels, could House Democrats work with him to adopt one that had somewhat lower levels so you could work out an ultimate deal on the spending package?
Democratic Leader Pelosi. Well, I really don't know what Mr. Boehner, the Speaker said he wasn't going to bring with current levels. There isn't really a great deal of time. The Senate is going to have 4 days when we get back to do their bill, reconcile these two bills. There may be more time that is needed and we may have to have a continuation of the current CR. That's why I said earlier we don't need any Republicans or Democrats drawing lines in the sand about what won't happen if our goal is to make something that happen that prevents a closing down of government.
Q: But if want to avoid a shutdown couldn't you reach out and agree to something at a somewhat lower level just to work something out?
Leader Pelosi. But we have. The President's budget is a good marker for where that is. We are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars cut. We're talking about saving--what is it, Steny, $1.1 trillion over 10 years. I think the fact that these things are coming forth in the same week shows the sharp contrast. But the strong commitment for making cuts, for reducing the deficit, and on our side for creating jobs, to strengthen the middle class, and we would hope to see something like that.
But again when we were in that room it was the Speaker, Minority Leader and the Administration. And I was in constant touch with the rest of our leadership on where our caucus was willing to go and we were willing to cooperate. But it has to be something that does not undermine the strength of our middle class, the creation of jobs, or reducing the deficit.
Thank you all.
Assistant Democratic Leader Clyburn. The Speaker doesn't say this often, but I don't know if I've ever heard her say it publicly, but I want to say this now. When we were putting the TARP together, that was President Bush, but I remember the night very clearly. When these two people said we'll put up the two thirds. I'm sorry?
Leader Pelosi. 120, 100.
Assistant Democratic Leader Clyburn. I mean, we agreed to go two thirds of the way, they go the other third. If you remember they said they would. And at first they didn't.
Leader Pelosi. Uh huh.
Assistant Democratic Leader Clyburn. We met over that weekend. Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer said this must be done even if we have to go more than the two thirds and we did it. I think that indicates the kind of cooperation that we are willing to give on behalf of the American people.
Finally, let me say this, the Speaker mentioned Wisconsin. I want to mention Wisconsin and Ohio and what we see taking place on the floor here in this Congress. There's a certain philosophy and movement being played out all across the country. I hope the American people are watching this debate here, are watching these new governors in Wisconsin and Ohio and see who--which party is the party of working men and women who are keeping this country afloat. And I might add the ones who are keeping this country safe and secure. This to me...I hope the American people are watching very closely.
Leader Pelosi. Thank you.
Assistant Democratic Leader Clyburn. Thank you.