CNN "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" - Transcript Interview with Nancy Pelosi

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Joining me now from Capitol Hill is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

And, Madam Speaker, we're going to get to that in a minute.

But I just want to ask you for your reaction to the interview that I just had with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Given what you just heard, briefly, are you confident that students and teachers will go back safely to school in the fall?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): No.

I think what we heard from the secretary was malfeasance and dereliction of duty. This is appalling. They're messing, they're messing -- the president and his administration are messing with the health of our children.

It is -- we all want our children to go back to school. Teachers do. Parents do. And children do. But they must go back safely.

And when you hear what the administration is saying, we know that they have no appreciation for the failure that has brought us to this point.

Going back to school is -- presents the biggest risk for the spread of the coronavirus. They ignore science, and they ignore governance in order to make this happen. If there are CDC guidelines, they should be requirements.

But, most importantly, most importantly -- and I hope the Republicans will join us -- we have to call upon the president to have -- implement the Defense Production Act, so that we can have the PPE, the personal protective equipment, as well as the testing equipment and the equipment to evaluate the test.

[09:30:18]

It's no use taking a test if it's going to take seven days to find out what -- whether you're positive or negative. All of these things are central to controlling this virus and essential to whether our children go back to school safely.

BASH: I just want to ask you about something you just said. You said the CDC guidelines should be requirements.

PELOSI: Yes.

BASH: How do you make that happen? Do you have to pass something in Congress to make that so?

PELOSI: No, you have to have a science-oriented administration to require it, instead of the head of the CDC saying...

BASH: Do they have the authority to do that?

PELOSI: Of course they do.

You just require, just as a governor would, that you have mask wearing, that you have social distancing. You -- they have those guidelines that they have, and that they were going to change because of a tweet from the president.

We think guidelines should always be improved -- there's no question of changing -- improved on the basis of science. But they shouldn't be -- they should be mandates, not requirements.

BASH: I want to ask about something that could be on your plate coming up.

And that is something very specific that you all passed in the first round of coronavirus relief, which is $600 per week in additional unemployment benefits for millions of American families.

Those benefits are set to expire in just two weeks. Are they going to run out? And if so, what would that mean for those families? PELOSI: Well, thank you for taking us to the HEROES Act, which does

three things, honors our heroes and, very essential, if we want our children to go back to school, our teachers, our health care workers, our custodians in the schools, our transportation workers, our sanitation workers.

The state and local governments need the resources in order to meet the needs of the American people, including the education of our children.

Secondly, in the HEROES Act, we talk about opening the economy, testing, tracing, treatment, social distancing, mask, sanita -- hygiene and the rest, and the money to do that.

And that's where the president must have the Defense Production Act to make -- for us to have the equipment to get the job done.

And third is where you are, putting money in the pockets of the American people.

BASH: So...

PELOSI: Not only will the $600 expire. Unemployment insurance will expire.

BASH: So, will you be able to extend that? Will you find a compromise in order to be able to extend that?

PELOSI: Well, we have to find a compromise, because we must extend it. We must extend the unemployment insurance. It will expire at the end of July.

And then the direct payments to people, so that we have $6,000 for a family of five. People are desperately in need. It also has funding for, which the Republicans have resisted, food stamps and emergency food, money for Election Day, in terms of voting from home, an OSHA standard that says, if you want to be protected as a worker, as an employer, have a strong OSHA standard.

BASH: So...

PELOSI: And, of course, it also protects the Postal Service, just to give you an array of concerns.

BASH: So, just to button it up, do you feel confident that, when Congress comes back, that you will be able to pass and work with Republicans to negotiate another round of funding?

PELOSI: Well, let me just say this.

When we first passed our bill, they said nothing, never, no, we need a pause. Now they know that we -- we don't need a pause. We need to act. Then they said, well, we're not going to spend any more money. Now they're saying a trillion dollars.

That's not enough. BASH: OK. So...

PELOSI: That's not enough. But we will have to find common ground to pass legislation that...

BASH: But...

PELOSI: Now, let me just say this.

They have spent they trillion -- they, the Fed, has spent trillions of dollars bolstering the stock market. We think we should spend trillions of dollars bolstering the American middle class.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: OK, Madam Secretary, I want to move on to other issues.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Before I do so, I just -- there's a lot of understandable criticism of the administration's response to this outbreak.

I want to ask about yours and Congress and what you said initially in particular. On February 29, about two weeks before many states shut down, you said -- quote -- "There are no indications of widespread infections in the United States."

And you suggested that the first $8 billion package fully address -- would fully the scale and seriousness of the public health crisis.

Looking back, knowing what you know now, did you underestimate the crisis also?

PELOSI: No, what we did was, at that exact time, was writing the first COVID bill, which we brought to the floor and passed on March 4.

[09:35:02]

And it was about testing, testing, testing, because, if you don't test, you don't have a handle on what the problem is. And that was to address, OK, this is out there. Let's find out the measurement.

BASH: So, no regrets on your part?

PELOSI: No, not at all. We have had four bills, all bipartisan.

But they have not been implemented by the administration. And, no, we said testing for March 4. We were writing the bill to find out what the threat was to us...

BASH: OK.

PELOSI: ... while the president was saying delay, denial, calling it a hoax, and causing deaths.

BASH: I have got to ask you about what Robert Mueller said. He broke his silence yesterday to defend his Russia investigation

after the president commuted the prison sentence of his former associate Roger Stone.

He said -- Mueller said that Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so. You called the president's commutation an act of staggering corruption.

Is it an impeachable offense?

PELOSI: It's staggering corruption.

But I think it's important for people to also know that it's a threat to our natural security. The whole impeachment process was about our national security.

Why we are at the Supreme Court on these -- we are on the Supreme Court on these cases was to find out about the Russian connection. And we will continue to pursue that. This case was about the Russian connection.

So, what the president -- we will have legislation that says a president cannot commute or pardon or offer clemency to anybody who commits a crime, is convicted of a crime that affects the president's behavior and his culpability.

But the -- again, people should know, this isn't just about lying to Congress -- that means lying to the American people -- witness tampering and the rest.

BASH: And...

PELOSI: It's about our national security.

BASH: OK.

And, Madam -- Madam Speaker, before I let you go, just one word after you saw the president wearing a mask. Your reaction?

PELOSI: Well, I'm so glad that he obeyed the rules of the Walter Reed. You can't go see our veterans who are there without wearing a mask.

Now he's crossed a bridge. That's an admission that, if you're going to see our soldiers, you have to wear a mask. If you're going to be with our children, you have to wear a mask. If you want -- if we want to stop the spread of the coronavirus, we have to -- you have to wear a mask.

BASH: Thank you.

PELOSI: So, hopefully, by his example, he will change his attitude, which will be helpful in stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

BASH: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, thank you for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

PELOSI: My pleasure. Thank you.

BASH: Thank you.

PELOSI: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source