Transcript of Pelosi Press Conference Today
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press conference today in the Capitol Visitor Center. Below is a transcript of the press conference:
Leader Pelosi. Good morning, everyone. Yesterday, the Prime Minister of the Ukraine was welcomed to the White House by President Obama, a very productive meeting. Last night, he met with Members of the Senate, and earlier today the Prime Minister was welcomed by Speaker Boehner and House leaders. We emphasized that the United States stands firmly behind the democratic aspirations of the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian people have a right to determine their own future free from interference of any foreign nation.
And I told him – I mentioned that our pledge was a promise that Congress and our President, we associate ourselves with the Congress and the President upholding a promise in word and deed to support the Ukrainian people. Our commitment continues with the acts of our government through economic aid and political support. I, myself, personally conveyed to the Prime Minister that I believe that the IMF provisions which were hashed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should be also passed by the House of Representatives, and it is my hope that that would be in a final comprehensive financial package.
Nonetheless, we are very pleased that the House has passed the loan guarantee package, and I commend the Speaker for that. The United States and our allies seek to empower Ukraine with the tools and resources to engage in free, fair and transparent elections this spring, and those would be consistent with the highest standard of the international community. The international community must offer essential assistance to Ukraine on the ground for the elections with the participation of international elections observers and monitors. Working with President Obama and Secretary Kerry, we must assure that Ukraine's future is one of its own choosing.
Yesterday a bicameral – that is the House and the Senate – with Democratic leaders on the issues also, had the opportunity to sit down with President Obama at the White House to address the challenges facing women and working families. As the President declared in his State of the Union address: "When women succeed, America succeeds." That is not just a phrase, it is a statement of fact. House Democrats agree. Many of our Members supporting women, children and families, especially our veterans, has been our life's work. That is why we delivered our agenda – again, "When Women Succeed, America Succeeds," standing on three pillars: fair pay – paycheck fairness and raising the minimum wage – paid sick leave and affordable quality childcare as the third pillar.
We look forward to working together on our agenda. Hopefully it is non-partisan. We are taking our message – we have over 15 "When Women Succeeds, America Succeeds" events coming together across the country and more to follow. And we look forward to working with the President on the White House Summit on Working Families, which he announced yesterday.
Here in the Capitol, Democrats are taking action on behalf of more than two million Americans who lost their lifeline of emergency unemployment insurance, thanks to Republicans' callous and immoral refusal to act. I think that we shouldn't mince our words here. Two million people. The loss of the line is not abstract. It is a true emergency in the lives of millions of Americans – two million workers and their families who are already dealing with the crisis of long-term unemployment.
As you know, yesterday we announced our discharge petition filed by Congressman Schneider. It already has over 150 signatures. This is important, because again, of this number of people, over 200,000 of them are veterans, and many of them are women, and women and children are affected, and some of these Americans are barely hanging on. And really, they can't go on without this essential support.
I might hasten to add that unemployment insurance has always had a stimulative effect on our economy. People receive this unemployment insurance, which is part of our safety net, not of these individuals only, but of our whole economic system. The cycles can go and come, but when unemployment is high or jobs are not where people are, they have access to this. So this is money that is spent immediately, injecting demand into the economy, and creating jobs.
We want a vote. Americans deserve a vote. It is time to renew UI, it is time to pass the minimum wage, give America a raise, close the opportunity gap, and build an economy that works for everyone.
Now, what is really unfortunate about all the silliness that the Republicans are bringing up on the floor, not only are they failing to address the urgent priorities of the American people with their 51st vote to repeal and undermine the Affordable Care Act, they are turning their toxic, empty partisanship against the health and security of our nation's seniors. Yesterday, AARP, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the National Council on Aging, and other senior advocacy groups wrote congressional leadership to make it clear that actions that the Republicans are taking on SGR inject partisan politics into the bipartisan legislation, and undermine the months of hard work done by the committees in a bipartisan way, their staffs and concerned stakeholders.
Providers and insurance companies have already also rejected the approach the Republicans are putting forth. Republicans are wasting time that should be spent on creating jobs here at home, investing in our infrastructure to rebuild America, and working to pass bipartisan permanent Medicare "doc fix."
And on the subject of that, yesterday Democrats offered a road back to commonsense by introducing a fully paid-for bill written by Congressman John Tierney of Massachusetts that includes the reforms of a sustainable growth rate – SGR – supported by both Democrats and Republicans. Republicans blocked the House from considering, the Republican House blocked this from being considered. It is time for them to end their obsession to destroy the Affordable Care Act and the quality affordable health coverage it's already providing. Republicans should stop these reckless and destructive partisan tactics and work with Democrats to advance bipartisan permanent Medicare "doc fix" that seniors need. We were almost there when we had the majority working together and promises were made by the Republicans, but as you can see, they have not been kept.
So with that, nothing is going on the floor, but a great deal of advocacy going on outside the Chamber and outside the Capitol, whether it is "When Women Succeed, America Succeeds," whether it is outside mobilization on immigration, whether it is outside mobilization on the "doc fix," you name the subject, the country is aware and active on it. The only place that nothing is happening is here, and the opportunity cost of wasting time on the floor instead of creating jobs and addressing the challenges of the American people is something that the public must be aware of, because they have to know why their needs are not being addressed. Any questions?
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Q: Given the results of the Florida special election this week, how big of a political weight is the health care law on Democrats, and how can other Democrats avoid similar fates in the fall?
Leader Pelosi. I am very proud of our House Democrats and how they have not only embraced the Affordable Care Act – because they helped create it – but how proud they are of it. I think the Republicans are wasting their time using that as their electoral issue and they will find that out. I wasn't pleased with the results; I wanted to win, of course. But you have a district that for 58 years has been Republican. The 13 point advantage to the Republicans, we reduced it down to two points. And as the Speaker would understand, we set ourselves up for the next putt. This is a one-two play here in that district.
The fact that it was an off-year election, and it was a non-presidential year and a special election, it is like a double whammy in terms of reducing turnout. But I am very proud of the efforts that were made to get out the vote. I think that our candidate, Alex Sink – she is so excellent, so superb, and she said it just right: There are many good things about the Affordable Care Act that are good for the health and well-being of the American people. There are some things that need to be fixed. Let us do that.
And that is the message of our Members. So this is, for us unfortunate. It came close, within two points, but again, we feel confident in the fuller participation in November and what that will mean for that election.
Q: The Democrats shouldn't shy away from it?
Leader Pelosi. No. Absolutely not.
Q: Madam Leader, you said you had met with the acting Ukrainian leader this morning. The Senate obviously did not pass the bill. There was nothing for the bill on the floor yet. I know your call for the IMF language here. But is it a problem that we might get some time down the road here and still not have a package to send to the Ukraine because of the legislative process here, and moreover, would you anticipate a problem reconciling the differences between what the House and Senate passes?
Leader Pelosi. Well, first of all, the Senate did pass out by only losing three votes – was it 14 to 3? From the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was the aid package – the loan guarantee plus the IMF reforms. And I salute that. I think that was really very important, and I hope that the House will come to an understanding of how important the IMF reforms are. Quantifying it, it is $600 million right away to the Ukraine. And diplomacy, and the economic cooperation that we have with the Ukraine and their leadership gives them leverage in their conversations with the Russians, should they take place.
So this – under the current IMF, we'd only be able to do $1 billion, which is a huge amount of money. But imagine the difference of $1.6 billion, at a time when, again, economic issues are being able to meet the needs of the Ukrainian people. Imagine what Putin would say to the Russians if the economy didn't have its best shot to thrive in the Ukraine. So we passed our bill and we are very proud of that with the loan guarantee. I am disappointed that both in the omnibus bill and in the actions we have taken, we don't have the IMF, but I believe that with the evidence of why this makes a big difference to the countries that we really want to help, that hopefully this discussion will lead to our passing the IMF.
Q: But you don't think this is going to get jammed up in a period of weeks or conference committee or something like that that could delay this?
Leader Pelosi. Well, I don't know. The Senate hasn't acted. It depends on when the Senate acts on this.
Q: But is your sense that because people here in this building view this as such a sensitive and important issue to get stuff to the Ukraine, even if it is not the perfect package, that that's not…
Leader Pelosi. What are the options? The options are we can send a loan guarantee package, and that is a good thing, but we then are falling short of what we really can do to help Ukraine.
Q: You mentioned the Ukraine, but there is another major crisis out there, Syria, over 100,000 dead, a major humanitarian crisis. There's a sense that Washington has forgotten about Syria, especially now with what is happening in Ukraine. Do you support any kind of new involvement in Syria?
Leader Pelosi. Well, obviously the situation in Syria really does challenge the conscience of the world, that so many people have died, have lost their homes, are refugees within their own country, and pouring in to other countries. They are displaced within their own country. I don't know how somebody could be proud to be a president of a country who kills its own people, so that is where I come from on that. But I don't think for a moment that this has – in other words, whatever we can do, whether it is humanitarian assistance, whether it is helping countries that are helping the refugees and the rest, we have to do everything we can. There is no appetite in our country for boots on the ground. I think that is very, very clear, but not to have it slip in terms of a priority because now Ukraine has emerged. It is interesting to see what President Putin's real motivation is as far as Syria and as far as Ukraine.
Q: The chemical weapons seem to be a red line for President Obama, but the ongoing mass killings don't seem to be a red line.
Leader Pelosi. Well, one success that we are having there, not as fast as we would have liked, but the chemical weapons, dismantling of those and removing those. It's hard, and it takes time, but that is one ray of success that is there. Again, it challenges our conscience. We have limited options, and one of them, in my view, as far as the public is concerned, is not to have boots on the ground. Can we get engaged in a no-fly zone? What other things can we do? We certainly have to give them strong consideration.
We met with the King of Jordan when he was here just a few weeks ago and he was telling me about the number of refugees in Jordan, and that is not a very large country, so with the percentage, the impact was great there. But it is something that I pray about every day. I have so many constituents and friends who have families in Syria, and they have given me all kinds of Hands of Fatima, all these things to pray over. So I have had it as a priority. It is horrible and it's three years.
Q: Leader Pelosi, since you served on the Intelligence Committee, I wanted to ask you about the back and forth that has been going on. Your California colleague, Senator Feinstein, made some very serious charges about the CIA which Brennan has denied. Another Member of that committee has said in his vote to confirm Brennan was a mistake. Just wondering if you think this complicates Congress' role in what we're seeing with the CIA. And do you still have confidence in Director Brennan?
Leader Pelosi. Well let me just say – does this complicate our oversight? – I think it speaks, I think the actions that have been taken in the last few days in light of revelations previous to that, speak very clearly to the fact that we must have strong congressional oversight. I have been an advocate for that as one of the people with the longest tenure in terms of clearance and the rest – as Ranking Member, as Leader, as Speaker, and now as Leader – I have very serious concerns about transparency and oversight and the intelligence community honoring its responsibility to Congress in that regard.
There are many very patriotic Americans who are engaged in the intelligence community. For years, decades now, I have saluted their service. Whatever the decision is, whether it's from the Administration as was the case with the Bush Administration to withhold information from Congress, I fought that. But you don't fight it without a price because they come after you. And they don't always tell the truth about it.
Now, where that is motivated from? I don't know. And it is not to paint everyone with the same brush. But whatever the situation is, it should be reviewed. I don't think there is any question. I completely agree with Senator Feinstein that this is a matter of great seriousness – the attitude that the CIA had to the rights of Congress and all of this. Whatever else there is that should be examined in terms of what happened and when, let that happen. This may be one of the healthiest things we can do because I know one thing, whatever it was, the intelligence community writes a report on it. They leave, they write a book on it. All of a sudden, it becomes conventional – I wouldn't say wisdom, but conventional gossip that this is what happened there. And we really have to have the ground truth.
President Obama, on his first day in office, stopped the controversial interrogations that this is about. To tell you the truth, I haven't really seen much of Director Brennan's statements on this. But what I have seen are befuddling to me. I have high regard for him. I'll probably see him over the St. Patrick's holiday, and maybe get an attitude of where he thinks this is going. Because that's usually when I see him, on St. Patrick's Day, Mr. Brennan. Because I don't sit in on the committees and get the hearings.
But I salute Senator Feinstein. I tell you: you take on the intelligence community, you're a person of courage. And she does not do that lightly, not without evidence – when I say evidence, documentation of what it is that she is putting forth. And so, it will be interesting to see.
But whatever it is, all of us should look to see – this is a really important element of our national security. This is how we would prevent violent resolution of conflict or war. This is important to our country and it has to be honest. It has to be honest. And from what I know, from what Senator Feinstein said and what you have written, it's pretty appalling what's being alleged, or charged. And whatever it is, we have to remove all doubt that Congress, as I say all the time to the Administration – four or five of them over time – the Administration is the custodian of intelligence information. It is not the owner. They're custodians, but it belongs to us as well.
And we need to see the intelligence. So you asking me this as a final question struck a chord on something that I've been concerned about for a long time, and that is the White House – especially all of this during the Bush Administration and the fake claim made about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq as a basis of our going to war.
If we are to make decisions about budget, make decisions about priorities and spending on the intelligence budget, if we are to have accountability for ourselves, we have to know what the information is, and they have to share it with us.
Thank you all very much. And happy St. Patrick's Day.