Pelosi Remarks at Press Conference with Young Americans on Health Reform and Student Aid
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke held a press conference this afternoon on the East Front Steps of the Capitol with students and youth advocates to discuss benefits for young Americans in health insurance reform and the expansion of federal aid for college students. Below are the Speaker’s opening remarks and closing statement:
Speaker Pelosi Opening Remarks
“Good afternoon. And a great afternoon it is, isn’t it on this Saint Patrick’s day? Here we are in this beautiful weather, perfect climate for us to pass a wonderful bill to expand opportunity for access to health care and education in our country.
“I want to acknowledge the leadership of Chairman George Miller, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke. And I also want to acknowledge Eric O’Connor, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin and, until recently, one of millions of Americans denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. We are so proud to stand with Samuel Obergh, a student at Rutgers University – the first in his family to go to college – who is putting our Pell Grant to the best use possible: getting a quality education.
“Organizations supporting reform are: Young Invincibles, Campus Progress, Rock the Vote, U.S. Students Association, U.S. PIRG, Young Democrats, College Democrats of America.
“Young adults have come to Capitol Hill from across the country to add their voices to their voices to the chorus of taking our country in a new direction. A leader in that effort is the Chairman of our Policy Committee, also Chair of the Education and Labor Committee, a person who fought so hard to have this education initiatives, this new fresh thinking, the Chairman, George Miller of California. Please welcome him.”
Speaker Pelosi Closing Statement
“Thank you very much, Samuel. I am very honored to receive the microphone from you. When we heard Samuel speak and when we heard Eric, and when we heard their friends and those in a similar situation cheer, we heard the voices of the future.
“We stand here on the steps of the Capitol, surrounded to monuments to the past, which we respect as part of our tradition. Our responsibility is to the future.
“President Obama made it very clear when he stood on the steps of the Capitol, the other side, that we would need swift, bold action now to take our country in a new direction. And the budget that he presented to us later talked about two pillars of opportunity: education, investments in education, investments in health care. Today, after passing these bills in the House, this week we are considering how we make this the law of the land, improving the lives of our young people, honoring our responsibility to the future. Innovation, competitiveness to make our country strong economically, that innovation begins in the classroom. We want every young person to have the opportunity to reach his or her fulfillment. That’s why I am so pleased that the President’s budget has this emphasis and that this budget reconciliation has that focus.
“Opportunity, though, we want a level of freedom. So that if somebody is sick or doesn’t have insurance, that they are not confined, tethered–Eric used the word–tethered to a situation because they don’t have other options for health insurance.
“Think of an economy where young people could get the education they need, come out of school and be able to if they wanted to be self employed, if they are an artist, a musician, a cameraman, a writer. They start their own business if they are entrepreneurial and have an idea, working with their young friends graduating without the worry of having no health insurance. Think of the freedom they have to leave a job and start a business or again be self employed without worrying about the cost of health insurance, especially as time goes by if they have a family and they have a pre-existing condition.
“This is about our young people. It is about their opportunity. It is about the competitiveness of our country. That competitiveness depends on an entrepreneurial spirit. That entrepreneurial spirit cannot flourish unless we pass health care reform for all Americans, so people are not job-locked but free, as George Miller put it, a fresh start. That doesn’t just apply to young people–moms leaving home after their children are grown to go into the workplace, people leaving an occupation and going from one to another in their 50s, and that’s why AARP at the other end of the spectrum is so supportive of this bill. If you are 50 to 65 and you lose your job, under this bill, you do not lose your health insurance. In that age group, you can repot, you can go on to other things because you have the confidence that you have health insurance.
“So this is about a lot of things, but it is certainly about the future. It’s about jobs– 4 million that will be formed in the life of this bill, hundreds of thousands almost immediately. It is about opportunity, both in terms of education and those investments and investments in our community colleges which say that our young people will be trained and they can go onto college further if they wish or they can go into an occupation. It’s really about the strength of our country. And nobody speaks more eloquently to the future than our young people, so I am here to say thank you to them for being here, for adding their strong, young voices of the future to this campaign. I hope that they will be visiting our colleagues in the Congress to make sure their voices are heard on opportunity, fulfilling the American dream for many more people in our country.
“So I thank you all, and I want to thank again, Eric and Samuel for sure. But I also want to acknowledge the strong leadership of Chairman George Miller. Yvette Clarke serves on that committee. She helped write this legislation. She helped make it relevant to the lives of the American people, especially our young people. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, serves on Energy and Commerce, a committee of jurisdiction for health care. She helped make this legislation better. They are about the future, so is this legislation. Let’s get on with it and take our country in a new direction.
“Thank you all very much. Let’s hear it for all of our young people who are here today. Thank you all.
“Let’s hear it again. Who do we have? The Invincibles? The Young Invincibles, Campus Progress, Rock the Vote, U.S. Student Association, U.S. PIRG, Young Democrats, College Democrats. Let’s hear it for all of our young people. Thank you all.”