“Thank you Madam [Chairwoman Marcia Fudge of the Congressional Black Caucus], thank you for bringing us together today on the steps of the Supreme Court. In a year when we are observing the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, on a day when we are dedicating a statue to Rosa Parks in the Capitol of the United States, at a time when the Supreme Court will be hearing arguments about the right to vote in America.”

“We look forward to meeting with President Obama to develop a balanced, bipartisan solution to avoid the unemployment and economic uncertainty caused by the indiscriminate cuts set to take effect.”

“Okay, 500 days have passed since the Violence Against Women Act authorization has expired. Since then the Senate, in a bipartisan way on two occasions, have passed the reauthorization; one just a matter of days ago. The House Democrats have been eager to in a bipartisan fashion, as the Senate did, to support that bipartisan bill.”

“We’ve just come back from – what – a ten day break. We’ve listened to Members as to what they heard from the public, and what our constituents are telling us is to get the job done. We are doing just that with a proposal under the leadership of Chris Van Hollen, our ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee. He’ll talk about our proposal, which we have had on the table for a while. Our Chairman talked about jobs. Month after month after month of private sector job increases, remarkable, that can, that can be reversed if we have this sequester; which is harmful to growth and harmful to job creation, in addition to being harmful – for example, Members told me about psychiatric nurses who deal with PTSD of our returning vets, who will be furloughed. Is that what the American people want? I don’t think so.”

“A congresswoman since 1987, Pelosi on Saturday recalled memories of Castro’s predecessors in the 20th Congressional District, calling storied San Antonio politician Henry B. Gonzalez “the greatest person I ever served with.” His son and successor in the seat, Charlie Gonzalez, “was just remarkable.” She also suggested that mantle would now pass to Castro, elected after the younger Gonzalez decided not to seek another term.”

“House Republicans just can’t help themselves. Even with a strong, bipartisan bill passed by the Senate for the second Congress in a row, even with countless women in need of support and protection, Republicans are still turning the Violence Against Women Act into a partisan political football. But we cannot allow House Republican leaders to play games with the safety and security of American families.”

“Pelosi also questioned whether voters would believe Republicans are opposing the minimum wage hike for the good of low wage workers — after all, they opposed tax hikes on the rich on behalf of small businesses, and have held to this line even as the public has grown more convinced that GOP policies favor the rich.”

Asked whether she believed the Paycheck Fairness Act would pass this year, Pelosi hedged, saying she hoped by the president’s “raising the profile of the issue” would not only pressure the House to pass the bill but prompt voters to ask — 50 years after passage of the Equal Pay Act — “why do we even have this?”

“President Obama and Democrats agree: America cannot afford more Republican obstruction and delay. The stakes are too high and time is running too short. Republican inaction will simply leave the indiscriminate, across-the-board spending cuts in place – threatening jobs, undermining public safety and first responders, injecting uncertainty into our markets, and harming our economy.”

“Thank you all for being here as we just came from a vote recently on the floor, where the Democrats tried to stop the Republicans from leaving, but 222 Republicans voted to adjourn. That means that we have, what – four legislative days left to avoid the across the board cuts. This month, the Republicans are engaged in some early March Madness.”