Weekly Press Conference with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
Interview
Weekly Press Conference with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
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REP. PELOSI: Good morning. Pretty soon the president will come before the Congress to deliver the State of the Union Address. The state of the economic situation of America's families is very uncertain at this time. As we know, the price of food, the increasing cost for energy, tuition, you name it, have injected a great deal of uncertainty into the economic lives of America's families.
Here in Congress, as we sit around the table to talk about issues that have a concern to America's households, we think of them sitting around their kitchen tables figuring out how they are going to make ends meet.
So when the president comes, I hope by then we will already have in place a legislative initiative for stimulus to spark economic growth. It is absolutely essential to our middle-income families and our working families in America. It's absolutely essential to our economy.
We have said nothing in the course of the past few weeks to contribute to any uncertainty. We want to increase consumer confidence; we want to increase confidence in the markets. But there is no question that we want to avoid a downturn and have a serious responsibility to do so.
For that reason, in December -- many of you are aware that on December 7th we had a meeting of a wide array of thinking among economists here in the Capitol. They made some suggestions about what a stimulus package would look like. When we originally called the meeting, it was really to talk about the economy. By the time the meeting took place, it was clear that a stimulus was needed.
There was general agreement across the board about what should be contained in such a package. In the week since we've come back after the holiday, I have had the opportunity, as have my colleagues in the leadership as well as the chairs of our appropriate committees, to speak with leaders in the administration, the secretary of the Treasury and others. I, myself, had the opportunity to speak with and then meet with the chairman of the Fed, Mr. Bernanke -- not part of the administration, independent of all of us -- so that we could find a monetary fix and a recommended fiscal initiative to improve the prospects for our economy.
Again, since that time, we have indicators that are discouraging. The unemployment is up. Housing starts are down. Inflation is up. And the -- housing starts are down -- did I say housing starts already. So we have reason to act in a way that is timely on initiatives that are targeted and are temporary.
As we speak here today, the chairman of the Fed is testifying before the Budget Committee, and he does testify inflation is contributing -- the cost of food and energy is contributing to inflation in our country. He has suggested that we need an efficient stimulus package that will get -- an effective package that will get the job done that is temporary and that is timely.
So there is every reason to think that we -- to be hopeful, the American people -- that we can get this job done and we can get it done very soon.
Later today, as you know, we will be having a conference call with the president with the Democratic and Republican leadership of the House and the Senate. On Tuesday we will go to the White House to continue that conversation. Yes, to hear a report on the president's trip, but to continue the conversation on the possible stimulus package.
Coming out of that meeting, I hope that we will be in agreement in a bipartisan way on the particulars of that agreement so that even before the president makes his State of the Union address, the American people have more reason to be hopeful that the state of the union is stronger as we go into this year.
With that, I would be pleased to take any questions.
Yes, sir?
Q Why are you so confident that Congress could within less than two weeks pass this package and get -- (off mike) -- get the package and get Bush to sign it? (Off mike.)
REP. PELOSI: My confidence springs from the fact that it's so urgent for the American people. We have known that for a long time. I think Mr. Bernanke's testimony this morning, as he testified to the fact of that hardship and the need for a package, gives me hope that we can get this done. We may not be able to do all the technical legislative aspects of it in two weeks, but I would hope that we would have begun it and that it would be completed, as Mr. Hoyer said yesterday, in 30 days, because every economist that we talk to, every message that we get from the American people, every opinion we have from the experts and those in the administration and in the Congress is this must be timely, a stimulus must be timely; if it comes too late, it can interfere with a recovery.
Q So you're saying it's not going to be done in two weeks, it could take as much as three or four weeks.
REP. PELOSI: No, no, no. No, I'm saying that as we come out of the meetings, that we can take some of the first steps. I would hope before the month is out, one month from now, that we will be watching the effects of the legislation that we have passed. And this is -- I'm hopeful because we are working in a bipartisan way, try to remove any obstacles to the timeliness that this legislation requires.
Q Madame Speaker, this bipartisan dynamic and the sense of urgency, do you think that sort of atmosphere is to going to lead you to produce a bill that is chosen from a relatively small number of moving parts, or is a little bit of everybody's idea going to get in there?
REP. PELOSI: Well, when I speak to the administration, when I speak to my Republican colleagues and when I speak to my caucus, we all have the same stipulation: Whatever it is, it must stimulative. This cannot be something that is used as an engine that's leaving the station and we'll put something on, because that can be harmful to, again, a recovery when that recovery comes. We cannot do anything in the stimulus that could damage our fiscal soundness when we come out of the recovery.
So we have to spend the money, invest the resources, give the tax relief in a way that, again, injects demand into the economy, puts it in the hands of those who need it most and into the middle class, injects demand into the economy so that we can create jobs. We don't want to heap things on there that will increase the deficit, not have an immediate stimulus effect and then -- because fiscal, the budget aspects of this, are very, very important.
Q Madame Speaker, is there an upper limit in terms of the dollar amount?
REP. PELOSI: That's what we are discussing now with the Republicans.
Q What's the range? I mean, $100 billion? Or could it go as high as ?200 (billion)?
REP. PELOSI: Well, I think that if you said something in the range of $100 billion as an average, you probably would be right. (Laughter.) But I'm not -- let me just say this. In our letter to the president, Senator Reid and I said that it was our hope that we would be able to meet, to come to some agreement on this before everyone started putting out their own packages, and that was really important to us.
So, respectful of that letter to the president, I have said to, again, my caucus, my Republican colleagues and others, I really won't be discussing details of the package until we come to some agreement and meet with the president on Tuesday.
Q Madame Speaker, former Speaker Dennis Hastert asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to determine whether or not former Congressman Foley violated any state laws. Now, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is saying that your office -- (off mike) -- said that they've been having trouble getting access to the computers that were used in his office. Can you explain why that is a problem?
REP. PELOSI: Well, that's a matter for the counsel for the House of Representatives. That is an independent office, and they are dealing with that request. And my understanding is that that is that they're advising the Florida --
Q Department of Law Enforcement.
REP. PELOSI: Department of Law Enforcement -- how they can work with the U.S. Justice Department to get that information.
Q If I could follow up briefly, they need this information. Some people have cited the speech and debate clause. You were very firm in what you said about when action was taken against Mr. Foley in terms of an ethics investigation, that Congress should move on this. Is this an issue of hindering them investigating someone who -- (off mike)?
REP. PELOSI: It is not any hindering. It is just a process that our -- the counsel for the House of Representatives, not the counsel for the speaker. The counsel for the House of Representatives is the appropriate place for that discussion to take place. And as I said, they are advising the Florida justice -- their law enforcement officials on how they can get this resolved working with the Department of Justice.
Q Back on the economy. In a broader sense, this comes as members come back, and there seems to be a lot of calls -- I don't know what people heard over the recess -- that Congress should work together and get things done. How genuine do you think this feeling is on both sides of the aisle, and what could derail it?
REP. PELOSI: Well, first, let me say that from day one, all of the initiatives that we have put forth in the Six for '06 and other issues that came later, like the Innovation Agenda, we have passed that legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support, and much of it has been signed into law by the president. So we have in this first year a record of working together with the Republicans.
Sometimes the leadership has taken a different course, but the members have overwhelmingly voted with us, whether it was passing an energy bill, an innovation agenda, reducing the interest on college tuition, passing the minimum wage, passing the 9/11 commission recommendations -- one that was not signed into law -- the stem cell research legislation.
So we have a record in the first year of strong bipartisan support for our initiatives, and there is a reason for that. That is because we came in looking for areas of agreement, not looking for areas of disagreement. In terms of this, now, much of that is a down payment on what we want to do for the future, and I hope that working together with the Republican leadership will serve as a model for how we go forward with the rest of the agenda for this year.
Q Madame Speaker -- (off mike) -- presidential question: As you are watching --
REP. PELOSI: No. (Laughter.) Whatever it is.
Q I won't ask you to endorse a candidate, although you can if you --
REP. PELOSI: I'll just do that when they all leave.
Q All of the, most of the candidates in both parties are running -- (off mike) -- the buzz word is "change." But everybody is running on the notion that they can get things done with Congress. I'm not talking about any specific candidate.
As speaker of the House, what traits would you like to see in the next president to get more things done, or even get some things done? I shouldn't say more. What traits would you like to see in their ability to operate and pass legislation, to work with you, and to work with the Senate? What are you looking for?
REP. PELOSI: Well, Democrat or Republican? First of all, the first trait, I would say, is I would want it to be a Democrat who shares the values of the American people. (Laughter.) But having said that, any measure of a great president, I think, should be one who has a vision, he or she has a vision, for America that is larger than each of us, that takes us to a new horizon, thinking in a bigger, more entrepreneurial way about the future. I think that person should have knowledge and judgment of the issues that have to be decided upon or initiated.
And I believe that it's important that any plan, that that president has, be something that would work together in a bipartisan way with the Congress of the United States.
I think we'll produce better policy with more legitimacy so that it can be sustained over a period of time that meets the needs of the American people. And I hope that the leader, that the president would be someone who can connect with the American people and take our country to this new place.
I think that one thing -- a word I use over and over is "confidence." What we want to do with this stimulus package is to restore the confidence of the American people, consumer confidence, confidence in markets, and I think their confidence is lifted when they see bipartisan cooperation on their behalf. And so I place a value on a president who can bring people together.
Q Madame Speaker, do you have a message for the president? I mean, what will your message be to the president on your conference call today?
REP. PELOSI: Well, we can probably talk about that after the call. We will probably be doing that because what we want to do is just to reinforce the message in our letter; we stand ready to work in a bipartisan way. Since he has been gone, we have done a lot of the groundwork, both with people in the administration, an independent Fed, as well as with the Republicans in the House of Representatives.
So I think we'll be pretty ready for the call. And I believe that the White House today said that they thought a stimulus package was needed. Is that what I understand? So I think that that's very positive.
So I'm just assuming, because of the urgency of the problem to America's families, that the spirit of bipartisanship and the will, that sense of urgency to get something done will prevail in that conversation. Of course, we have been working in the House in a very bipartisan way, very constructive. Our meetings continue at a staff level. We we'll meet again this afternoon. We'll all be on the phone today. And it's interesting to see how the House can work together when the president's out of the country and the Senate is out of town. (Laughs, laughter.)
Q Madame Speaker, based on your meetings with administration officials and Republican leaders, you have given this a pretty aggressive time line. Is it fair to say that the major obstacles to getting this bill done -- you know, Republicans pushing for making the tax cuts permanent, PAYGO rules pushed by Democrats -- those are sort of off the table now, and you're moving ahead toward a more narrower focus?
REP. PELOSI: When we have a package, we will talk to you about it. I don't want to -- as I said, I told the president, Harry and I told the president we'd be not talking about a package before we had a chance to see where he was on it, to see where our common ground was.
Q What's the likelihood that it looks like many staffers may not be getting cost-of-living increases this year? The MRAs went out yesterday, notices, where we are seeing a 1 percent increase. There is an increase in the cost of tech support from Lockheed Martin, and there's complaints coming out of offices that it looks like for the second year in a row the staff is not going to be getting a cost-of- living increase.
REP. PELOSI: Why would they say staff is not getting a cost of -- I don't know what you're talking about. Do you know about it -- (name inaudible)?
STAFF: There is a dispute about how much money is in the MRA accounts, but people have different views on that.
Q Do we know what the truth is?
REP. PELOSI: Well, I'll be briefed on that, and we'll have an answer for you. But the one thing for sure is that the staff is such a tremendous resource not only to the Congress, but to the American people, and we value the enormous contribution they make. And we want it to be recognized in a way that is more than psychic, but is translated in the market.
Q Madame Speaker?
STAFF: This is the last question.
Q Okay. The short --
Q Madame Speaker?
Q I yield. (Laughter.) Go ahead, sir.
Q Madame Speaker, members of your caucus have accused you of silence and denial concerning their interest in having impeachment hearings concerning Vice President Cheney. Why should not you and the Democratic majority hold the vice president accountable, hold his feet to the fire by having hearings and to see whether or not there were impeachable crimes committed by the vice president?
REP. PELOSI: Now, you had the last question? (Laughs/laughter.)
Q Fair enough, Madame Speaker.
REP. PELOSI: I had said right from the start that what we are trying to do is bring the country together. When the Democrats came into office, we did not want a discussion of impeachment to eclipse, both in perception and in the time that it took, the initiatives that we thought were necessary: raise the minimum wage, make college affordable, make America safer, make health care more accessible, and our full agenda, pass an energy bill.
It was my belief that an impeachment of the vice president or the president of the United States would be very divisive in our country. And that is what I believed then. I said it during the campaign. It should have come to no surprise when I became speaker I said it again, and I continue to hold that view.
That does not mean that if there is a reason to think that anybody, whether it is the president, the vice president, anybody, should be subjected to some scrutiny, that that would not happen. But I'm just saying that I did not encourage the initiation of any impeachment proceedings. Even if you wanted to do so, the prospect for success is so minimal, but the damage that would have been done is so consequential, that that's the course I chose.
And you're right, I am criticized for it, not only in my caucus but across the country, because I go through airports and the rest, and they have buttons; people have buttons, as if they knew I was coming! (Laughs/laughter.)
And in any event, there is a lot of unhappiness in the country about the war in Iraq, how it was initiated, how it's been conducted and where we go from here. And I understand the frustration of the American people. I do think, though, that the unity of our country is something that we all value; and that would not be in furtherance of promoting that unity.
Thank you all very much.
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