"Fox News Sunday" -Transcript
Interview
"Fox News Sunday" -Transcript
(SECOND PART OF INTERVIEW)
MR. WALLACE: And we're back now with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The latest Washington Post poll shows that just 29 percent of the public approves of the job that Congress is doing. That's the lowest number in that poll since 1995, and a 14 percent drop since January.
So, why do you think so many people disapprove of the job that Congress is doing?
REP. PELOSI: Two things. First of all, I believe, the war in Iraq. The public is weary of this war, they want it to end, and they had expectations that Congress could end it. You know we can't without a presidential signature. But that focus on the war has eclipsed all that we have accomplished here. As we come to the end of this first session of Congress, and that's why I'm so happy to be here with you today, because it's sort of at the end of our session, and we talk about what we have done to protect the American people; passing the 9/11 Commission recommendations, giving the biggest increase to veterans benefits in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration.
How we grow our economy with our innovation agenda, raising the minimum wage, first time in 10 years, how we secure, strengthen our families and our children with our health insurance for children, with the biggest package of student affordability for college since the G.I. Bill in 1944, how we preserve our planet, our initiatives on energy, security, and reversing global warming, how we do so with accountability, with no new deficit spending, pay as you go, highest ethical standards --
MR. WALLACE: Okay, that's the campaign pitch , but why are they so unhappy with you now, then?
REP. PELOSI: Well, I think -- they don't know that. Because again, they're interested in one issue, which is the war. But we have to, again, hold the administration accountable every chance we get on a weekly basis.
MR. WALLACE: But let me ask you about that. Because a lot of -- I agree with you, I think that is a big issue, particularly among the Democrats who voted you in --
REP. PELOSI: Right.
MR. WALLACE: And said, all right, we put you in the majority. Now, they'll end the war. And anti-war activists say, look, you can do a lot more than you're doing. You could force a vote a day, you could hold Congress in session, you could cancel vacations. Why continue --
REP. PELOSI: To do what?
MR. WALLACE: To vote and vote and vote against the war.
REP. PELOSI: Look, I have been against the war from the start, as you probably know.
MR. WALLACE: -- (Inaudible) --
REP. PELOSI: I said at the time the intelligence did not support the threat that the administration was contending, and the -- we had -- I believe since we've come in, we have changed the debate on the war. We put a bill on the president's desk which he vetoed. That's the last time the Senate has allowed us to put a vote, a bill, on the president's desk.
MR. WALLACE: But why not do what I said. In other words -- (inaudible.) --
REP. PELOSI: But we are. -- (Inaudible.) -- This week, for example, we had two initiatives. One, asking the administration for any plans that it has on redeploying the troops out of Iraq, and we want that report in 60 days. Yesterday we passed legislation, it took us two days to debate it, that was about accountability again. Next week, we'll have a bill on contracting and profiteering.
MR. WALLACE: So when the left wing says do more, vote every day, no recesses, basically stop Washington, raise the level of pain here --
REP. PELOSI: -- (Inaudible.) -- We don't have the president's signature. What we are doing is something new to the administration, which is intense oversight into the conduct of the war, and we have revealed waste, fraud and abuse, and just plain, simple corruption. But now we're focusing also on the cost of the war. This is a trillion-dollar war if it's stopped today. The president's plans will probably cost us another trillion dollars. And you know what that means, 40 days, 10 million children having healthcare for one year. It means -- you could go on and on. In one day, for the cost of the war in Iraq we could put 7,000 police officers on the street, or we can send 56,000 children into college.
So the cost of war is becoming very apparent to the American people. What we are doing is now establishing criteria, whether it's about contracting, whether it's about profiteering, whether it's about how we redeploy out, which is what we've asked the administration for, and when the time comes, we will have our future votes on the policy. It's about readiness. The administration opposes the readiness initiatives that we are taking. It's a longer struggle than the American people want it to be because the president is insisting on his 10-year war.
MR. WALLACE: Moveon.org says the problem is that there are too many, what they call DINOs, in Congress, Democrats in Name Only. And are afraid to represent their constituents to stop the war, and they say they are seriously considering primary challenges against those Democrats.
REP. PELOSI: Well, let's be --
MR. WALLACE: Would that be a bad thing?
REP. PELOSI: Well, let's be really clear about this. First of all, we have passed bill after bill after bill after bill in the House of Representatives. With a few Republican votes, had been bipartisan, but the overwhelming number of Democrats, the Democrats have made the majority on any issue, whether it's talking about a time certain for the redeployment of our troops out of Iraq, whether it's about the readiness of our troops, that they cannot stay in war zone any longer than they are at home before they can go back again, whether we're talking about accountability and contracting, and profiteering. The Democrats --
MR. WALLACE: But, would primary challenges be a bad thing?
REP. PELOSI: Well, I don't support it, because the point is that their basic premise is wrong. Democrats have voted for this. The problem is, and it's too inside baseball for most people to care, is that it's a 60-vote obstacle in the United States Senate.
There is a bipartisan majority in the Senate for having a goal, for removing our troops from Iraq, and the rest, for readiness, and the rest. But if you don't have the 60 votes to jump over the procedural obstacle, then nothing goes to the president's desk.
Again, the American people don't care about our process, they just want the war to end. And if that is their measure of Congress' performance, the war ended or not, I'm with them. I'm dissatisfied on our ability to end the war. But there's much more that we have done. And as far as Democrats opposing Democrats in the primary, there isn't anybody here who would vote differently than any of these newcomers who are coming. So, their target is the wrong one. They should work for a overwhelming majority in the Congress in a bipartisan way, and of course, they should work for a Democratic president.
And you know what else they should do, Chris, they should pray for peace.
MR. WALLACE: As for the presidential race, I know that you have decided to stay neutral until you get a nominee.
REP. PELOSI: Yes.
MR. WALLACE: But can you honestly say, as the first woman Speaker in our country, you have never thought about the possibility of introducing the first woman president to deliver the State of the Union?
REP. PELOSI: Of course (not ?). Of course I think about it. I think it would be very, very exciting. And similarly for the first African American president, for the first Hispanic president, but no, it would be pretty exciting for us to have the first woman of the United States.
MR. WALLACE: And what message do you think that would send? A woman president addressing the nation with a woman Speaker behind her?
REP. PELOSI: It would send -- I can only tell you the message that my own -- achieving the office of Speaker has sent. I'm deluged with communications from all over the country. And when I travel, people are so excited that there is a woman Speaker, that would have -- (inaudible) -- the marble ceiling, and they're excited for what it means for young girls. And fathers of daughters, particularly, have been enthusiastic about what it means for their children, for their daughters, that anything is possible.
This is a men's club here. It has been. I sometimes think it's harder to become Speaker of the House than president of the United States, for a woman.
MR. WALLACE: So, having said all that, you've got to be for Hillary Clinton.
REP. PELOSI: Well, I'm for my members, and I'm for a Democratic majority in the House, and my members have divided their support among many of the candidates.
MR. WALLACE: -- What about this argument --
REP. PELOSI: I'm very proud of all of them, and I think any one of them would make a great president.
MR. WALLACE: What about this argument you hear, some of the polling that indicates, in swing districts where a lot of your vulnerable Democrats are, Hillary Clinton could drag down the ticket and endanger a lot of your members?
REP. PELOSI: Members of Congress always run on their own. It's a very singular activity. And they are independent representatives of their districts. And as such, they run on their own individual platforms. Of course they would not be menaced by a national platform about security and economic growth and strengthening families and accountability, and did I say growing the economy, but we do it one district at a time.
And while I'm talking about preserving the planet, as I did earlier, may I commend News Corp. for your initiative to make the corporation carbon neutral, and the leadership you're providing in reversing global warming. It's not only great that you're doing it, because it's such a big corporation, it's a wonderful model. So, look at that, Fox News leading the way in environmental protection and reversing global warming.
MR. WALLACE: I had nothing to do with it, but I'm sure that Rupert Murdoch will be very happy. Madame Speaker --
REP. PELOSI: My pleasure.
MR. WALLACE: Thank you for talking with us.
REP. PELOSI: Thank you for coming to the Speaker's office.
END.
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