Transcript of Pelosi Press Conference Today
Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi held her weekly press conference today. Below is a transcript of the press conference.
Leader Pelosi. Good morning, everyone.
Just such a shocking attack that was made in Charleston. My colleague, Congressman Clyburn, has already returned home. Our colleague, Mr. Sanford, will have, my understanding, a moment of silence on the floor.
I must say, when the news came forth about this, I thought maybe they were reporting on an anniversary of something that happened a long, long time ago. I said, “What is this that’s in the news? Why is this in the news today, unless this is the anniversary day?” And it wasn’t that, of course. It was a new fresh reality of a challenge in our country in terms of respect for one another and the use of violence to express that, or lack thereof.
So it is really – words are totally inadequate, as we say over and over again, and they become less and less adequate the more this happens. So I don’t want to say I’m very pleased, but I’m pleased that the Justice Department will be treating it as what it is, a hate crime.
This morning, Pope Francis released his Encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ on care for our common home. Pope Francis writes with beauty, with clarity and with moral force. This encyclical stands as an urgent call for government, industry and the whole community to honor the responsibility to preserve God’s creation.
It was interesting to me because when we were working on the climate bill in 2009, we had as part of our coalition a large number of evangelicals and they had their own approach which was so beautiful and so similar to Pope Francis’ this seven years later, six years later or whatever. Their materials were about this planet is God’s creation and we have a moral responsibility to preserve it. And as we do so, we have to recognize the impact of climate change on the poor. And we have to further recognize solutions to reversing the climate crisis, solutions and their impact on the poor. And the Pope in his statement talks so much about the impact on the poor.
He quotes Saint Francis at the beginning and, of course, for me that is our patron saint of the City of San Francisco – our namesake, the Pope’s namesake – and in our Song of Saint Francis which I quoted the first day I was sworn in as Speaker of the House. I quoted the Song of Saint Francis: ‘Where there is darkness may we bring light.’ And His Holiness is bringing light on this subject. He talks about the bond that we have as a community in terms of our home – as he references our planet – the poor, society and community and peace. He said that we cannot make ourselves God by usurping the power. We do not have the right, he said, to trample God’s creation. I want to commend President Obama for his remarkable leadership on climate change, the leadership of the evangelical community and so many others. We really must listen to His Holiness as we go forward.
It’s discouraging to see the House today seeking to amend Trade Promotion Authority through a provision in the Customs bill that prohibits the USTR from negotiating on climate change. As I mentioned in my floor speech, I, 25 years ago, passed the Pelosi Amendment to the international banking laws and President George Herbert Walker Bush signed the bill. And that recognized the connection between commerce and climate.
It’s just really inconsistent to see what has been very obvious for a long time, which the Pope today addressed as a moral issue, and that we at the same time are doing violence to the environment by preventing any discussion of climate in the bill. There wasn’t any discussion of climate in the bill. That’s one of my concerns about the TPA. But, in addition to that, to prohibit any discussion from coming forward, it makes it quite a different bill than what our people originally voted on.
In any case, our goal is to give workers more leverage and open more discussion. I think we need a whole new dynamic. This is where we are now – I recognize that – in terms of the debate, but this is a stale, old debate. It’s not entrepreneurial. It’s not fresh in its thinking. It’s not realistic in terms of the connection that we have. We all know we live in a global economy, that globalization – and that goes beyond trade – can have a very weakening impact on wages in our own country. And we want to strengthen the hand of American workers, grow their paychecks.
At the same time, we are coming up to the deadline on the Ex-Im Bank. And all that is being professed on the Republican side about trade and globalization being so important is completely negated by the fact that this debate has been going on outside the Congress for a very long time, but we have not been able to take a vote on it in the House of Representatives.
The Ex-Im Bank is an opportunity for job creation. It’s something that keeps us competitive in the global marketplace. It is supported by almost everyone except a certain element in the Republican caucus. If it were brought to the floor, it would pass overwhelmingly.
So now we have some news about adding a woman to the $10 bill. I hope that – by the time that woman appears on the $10 bill or even sooner, in preparation for that, we should have equal pay for equal work, and that would make it even more significant.
Unless you have any questions about sports or anything else, I am going to have to go to the floor because we have votes. We are in the course of having votes.
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Leader Pelosi. Chuck, congratulations on your career. Best wishes as you go forward. You will be very missed.
Q: Thank you very much. You are very kind.
I was wondering, if TPA does pass in the House today, how would you describe the relationship between House Democrats and the President?
Leader Pelosi. It’s a funny thing because – think of your own relationships. You have deep personal or professional relationships. You have a disagreement. If you never had a relationship, that might be problematic as you go forward.
But we have a deep relationship of trust with the President. In almost every category you can name, he has been excellent. If you want me to, I will spell out for you some of the great accomplishments of his Presidency. And we highly regard his leadership.
But this has been a longstanding difference in the Democratic Party, having nothing to do with the President of the United States and everything to do with our bosses, the constituents we work for. But, again, we have deep friendships, deep respect. And we will move on to the next subject.
Q: Madam Leader, do you have any suggestions about what woman should be added to the ten dollar bill?
Leader Pelosi. I think all the names are great. I would add Frances Perkins, who is the first woman cabinet officer, and the author of Social Security. She certainly has affected many lives. I’m a big fan of so many of the women who are being suggested, and any one of them would be absolutely great. Who are they talking about? Well, in any event, any one of them would be great. But I would add her name to the list.
All of them are women of courage, women who have made a difference. And I’ve tried to respect some of them when I was Speaker, and some of it didn’t come to fruition until after. But we got started even before, and that’s with a statue to Rosa Parks in the Capitol; Sojourner Truth – the bust of Sojourner Truth in the Capitol; Helen Keller, we have a statue to her. All of this, when we came in and said: “Interesting, gentlemen, but we have others who have contributed to the success of our country.”
So I’m pretty excited about it all – all of the names that have been suggested. We might want to look at some other denominations as well. Why should we be confined to one?
Yes.
Q: You pointed to the Pope’s encyclical on stewardship of the ecology and climate. “We do not have the right to trample on God’s creation.” The Pope equated that, also, to transgender issues within this encyclical. He said that, “Attitudes that seek to cancel sexual difference cause a problem, not a solution.” He equated that to God’s creation as well.
Does that, in your view, undermine his encyclical and his message on climate when he equates transgender issues to that and says that they cause a problem for people to have transgender identity?
Leader Pelosi. I do not have a copy and a translation of the Pope’s encyclical. And I will read it thoroughly, as I do all of the papal encyclicals. Well, I will refer one to you after I finish this thought.
Certain aspects of the positions the church has taken are reinforced sometimes in encyclicals. And that’s what the Pope has done there and a couple other areas, as I understand. What he is talking about is new ground. The church has not spoken on this subject. And so he is breaking new ground in terms of climate. And he will not leave it unbroken because it’s a thorough break. And so that’s what we’re excited about. Any reiteration of standard faith policy that the church has put forth is to be expected.
Q: Well, but I’m not sure that anyone compelled Pope Francis to veer into the issue of transgender issues in a widely…
Leader Pelosi. And why are you so sure of that?
Q: I’m not. I’m saying I’m not sure of it. He seems to have intentionally mentioned that. I wonder if it undermines the message at all for you.
Leader Pelosi. No. I think that he is saying what I hear in church on Sunday. I was going on one of these evangelical – I don’t want to say evangelical, but one of these shows, one of these preachers, you know.
I went to see one of them once, and they said to me, “Well, before you go, you better make sure he is not anti-gay, he is not anti-women’s rights in terms of a woman’s right to choose,” he is not this and that. I said, “Well, that’s interesting because I’ll be going to 9 o’clock mass, where I will hear it all. And you’re going to think that’s going to block me from going to another religious service,” which was frankly silent on the subject.
But getting back to encyclicals, one of my favorite encyclicals – Pope Benedict – was Benedict’s first encyclical. It’s called “God is Love.” And in it, Pope Benedict quotes St. Augustine, who was his favorite saint, and he says in there that Augustine said: 17 centuries ago, any government that does not exist to promote justice is just a bunch of thieves.
And then he, Pope Benedict, His Holiness, goes on to say: “Sometimes it is very hard to define what is justice, but you must be cautioned against the blinding glare of money and special interests.”
Read it. It’s very interesting. Seventeen centuries ago and then reiterated by the Pope. So I’m a big – I look forward to encyclicals. I study them. And I look forward to studying this one.
Any other questions? One more.
Q: The rule just passed…
Leader Pelosi. I guess we have to say two more. Is that okay? I do have to go to the floor because we are going to have a vote right now.
Q: The rule just passed on the Reichert TPA bill.
Leader Pelosi. It passed?
Q: The rule.
Leader Pelosi. Then, we have to go because the next vote is coming up.
Q: Do you predict that TPA and TAA will both be passed by both Houses?
Leader Pelosi. I can’t predict that. I don’t see a path right now for TAA.
Q: Can I ask a follow up? Why are you skeptical?
Leader Pelosi. Well, you asked me the question and I answered it. I don’t think so. No. One of the bills that they want to put it on is AGOA. AGOA is a bill that passed – what, over 400 people voted for it or it was voice votes. But there has never been any major opposition to it. And there is some thought that they may want to put something on that, but I don’t think that that’s the path.
I mean, forgetting TPA, you know, forgetting that, just going on the other side, the AGOA side, let’s just get that moving and done and not have it be part of any controversy. I’m speaking about that from the AGOA side, not from the TPA side. Okay?
You probably want to ask about the Warriors. No? Chad, no sports questions?
Q: Since the vote last week in which you cast a vote to defeat the TPA portion of the question, have you spoken to Speaker Boehner about it in light of the fact that you negotiated with him on setting up that procedure? And are you confident that you can continue to have those kinds of productive discussions in the future?
Leader Pelosi. We have a different scenario here. We also had a rule that gave the impression that, if one vote failed, the other one would not be taken up. So let’s not just pull out a little piece and say there was a change as far as how we would go forward and, really – one that was at the discretion of the Speaker. And God knows I know the power of the Speaker.
Every day is a new day here, new issue. As I told you over and over, it is a giant kaleidoscope. Today this side of the room may disagree with that side of the room. Next day the first three rows are against the last three rows. We are all a resource to each other. And that’s why I always say to my Members that we cannot diminish the strength of any one among us, Democrats or Republicans, because we are all a resource to each other to find common ground for the American people.
Thank you all very much.