Weekly Press Conference with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker of the House

Statement

REP. PELOSI: Good afternoon.

This morning, we gathered in the Capitol to bid fond farewell to the world's most foremost champions of human rights, Congressman Tom Lantos, actually Chairman Tom Lantos. God graced Tom with special gifts of eloquence, intellect and the courage to act upon them. His leadership will be sorely missed here.

This week, we made significant progress on behalf of the American people, as the economic stimulus package was signed into law. That package will send 130 million American families a recovery rebate. I'm very proud of the fact that 50 million of those families will receive a rebate, or a refundable child tax credit, who have never received a rebate check before -- 50 million families.

Democrats and Republicans in the Congress recognize that our first responsibility is to keep the American people safe. We are committed to protecting our nation from terrorism, while protecting our precious civil liberties, protecting the people and protecting the Constitution. We will continue to work with the Senate to produce a FISA bill that does both.

Yesterday, an overwhelming majority of House Democrats voted to extend the law for three weeks so that we would have time to reach agreement with the Senate on a FISA bill. The president and the House Republicans refused to support the extension and therefore, I think, should bear the responsibility of any adverse national security consequences.

I don't think that will happen. The president knows full well that he has all the authority he needs to protect the American people. The underlying FISA bill gives him much of that authority. And on top of that, the orders that he has issued, under the Protect America Act, extend for one year. So the president has all of the advantage of the underlying FISA law, and all of the advantage of the modernization that the Protect America Act brought forth.

We understand this issue is one that is controversial, that the president is making big statements about. But the fact is, we understand the value of collecting intelligence, and the value it is in our war against terrorism.

We know the president has the authority to do whatever he needs to do to protect the American people in the interim. And when we come to terms on a bill between the House and the Senate, it will be one, I think, that will be a vast improvement over the Protect America Act and indeed, I think, an improvement over the legislation that passed in the United States Senate.

We have two concerns. One is retroactive immunity; the other is exclusivity. Under our bill, the FISA law is the exclusive determinant of how intelligence can be collected. The president believes he has inherent authority from the Constitution to do whatever he wishes, not necessarily under the law. We respectfully disagree.

Franklin Roosevelt, as you know -- something that every school child in America knows -- said that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." And President Bush tells the American people that he has nothing to offer but fear, and I'm afraid that his fear-mongering in -- with this bill is not constructive.

Also on the floor today, we brought up our contempt of Congress resolution. Congress has the responsibility of oversight of the executive branch. I know that members on both sides of the aisle take their responsibility of oversight very seriously. Oversight is an institutional obligation to ensure against the abuse of power. As we are debating on the floor right now in this case, that abuse of power is the politicizing of the Department of Justice. Subpoena authority is a vital tool for that oversight.

Both houses of Congress, the Senate and the House, have issued contempt of Congress citations or have sent resolutions forward. We have taken ours to the floor today.

Former Congressman Mickey Edwards -- many -- some of you -- David, you remember him. He was a member of the Republican leadership, Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma. He has said that the enforcement of subpoenas in the U.S. attorney matter is about defending Congress, "not a Democratic or Republican Congress, but the people's Congress, as a separate, independent and completely equal branch of government," end of quote. Mickey Edwards.

Today we seek to require the Department of Justice to bring contemption notions -- motions against Harriet Miers and John Bolton (sic; Josh Bolten). When our resolution passes, we hope that the administration will realize that Congress is serious about our constitutional role of oversight and will reach a settlement over the documents and the testimony at issue. We've tried over and over again to try to persuade them to negotiate with us over this issue. This is not a day that I looked forward to. I did not want to bring this measure to the floor, but they made it unavoidable.

If the administration fails now to negotiate and if it orders the Department of Justice not to file contempt proceedings, we will then, through this resolution, have the power ourselves to go to the federal court and seek civil enforcement of our subpoenas.

Lastly, I want to close with a mention of February being American Heart Month, thus the red -- Valentine's Day as well. On Valentine's Day, many of us in Congress wear red to note that diseases of the heart are our nation's leading causes of death. I will be meeting with our friends at the American Heart Association hopefully later today to discuss their important work, but wanted to acknowledge the toll that heart disease takes on our country and the excellent work that is being done by the American Heart Association and others to offset that.

With that, I would be pleased to take any questions you have.

Q Madame Speaker, are you saying you agree with the White House that intelligence gaps could result if the law lapses but the president has some inherent power to fill them?

REP. PELOSI: No. No, I didn't say that at all, and forgive me for not being clear. I said that the president has every authority under the underlying FISA law and under the one year that he has for orders that he has already put in place under the Protect America Act.

The assistant attorney general for national security, Kenneth Wainstein, has said -- this is in their own administration -- he has said in an interview that if the August bill was allowed to expire in 10 days -- he said this earlier -- intelligence officials would still be able to continue eavesdropping on already approved targets for another year under the law.

Richard Clarke, the former chief National Security Council counterterrorism adviser -- he served in the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations -- said, "One issue in particular, FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the president misconstrued the truth and manipulated the facts. Simply put, it was wrong for the president to suggest that warrants issued in compliance with FISA would suddenly evaporate with congressional inaction."

What I'm saying to you is, because we are trying to pass a bill that protects the American people and protects the Constitution, it does not diminish in any way the president's authority to continue to collect under the underlying FISA bill and the year of effectiveness of the orders that he's put forth under the Protect America Act.

I have instructed, so you know, the chairman of relevant committees -- Chairman Conyers of Judiciary and Chairman Reyes of the Intelligence Committee -- to meet with their counterparts tomorrow, hopefully by tomorrow, to begin the discussions of what agreements we could come to in a conference. Staff is already at work on this. The president has said he wants to work with Congress. We invite his participation.

Q The president laid down a challenge to you, saying he would delay his trip to Africa to work with you tomorrow to avoid the Protect America Act from expiring. It sounds like you are declining that offer.

REP. PELOSI: No, I said we welcome the president's participation. I don't know what the president's plan is. I understand that he is considering delaying his trip. And as I said, our chairmen will get together and talk about how to reconcile the House and Senate packages; the Senate bill being what the president supports, the House bill being what we support in the House; and that if the president wants to work together on that, we have been trying mightily to get the administration to engage in that conversation.

Q Speaker?

Q Madame Speaker.

REP. PELOSI: Yes, ma'am? And then I'll come back.

Q Republicans have threatened, and they very well may be doing so now, to walk out to protest the Miers/Bolten resolution. How do you take that point? What kind of message do you think it sends? What point are they trying to make?

REP. PELOSI: Well, why don't you ask them what their point is? What our point is is that we take an oath of office, every one of us, to protect and defend the Constitution.

And that Constitution calls for a separation of powers, and it's congressional oversight to make sure there's no abuse of power of the executive branch. We believe there has been. We have on many occasions invited the administration in by invitation, by subpoena. They have refused to come to Congress with the information and people that we want to have before Congress.

If this were a Democratic administration and they acted in this way, I would support a contempt of Congress resolution. This isn't about Democrats or Republicans. As Mickey Edwards said, this is about the people's Congress and our Constitution.

Q Speaker, are you going to vote on extension legislation today and -- (FISA ?) extension legislation today? And what sort of progress have you made members of your Congress about supporting --

REP. PELOSI: Well, the president has said that he would not sign an extension. An overwhelming number of Democrats, overwhelming number of Democrats supported the extension. All of the Republicans opposed it and the president said that he was going to veto it. That says to me that the president knows he doesn't need an extension. He knows that the underlying FISA law and the powers given to him in the Protect America Act gives him sufficient authority to do all of the surveillance and collecting that he needs to do to protect the American people. If it were so urgent, he would have supported an extension.

Q Madame Speaker, superdelegates --

Q You had a meeting with Boehner --

REP. PELOSI: So are we still on the subject of FISA?

Q (Off mike) -- a meeting with Boehner and Mr. Hoyer, I assume to discuss what's been going on the floor today and the --

REP. PELOSI: I'm sorry? Excuse me.

Q You just came out of a meeting with Mr. Hoyer and Mr. Boehner, correct?

REP. PELOSI: No, not correct.

Q Oh, we were told by staff that you were -- you guys were meeting.

REP. PELOSI: I was in a meeting with Mr. Boehner.

Q Mr. Boehner, I apologize. Was there any outcome of that meeting? What did you discuss? Was it just FISA? Was it about the floor tactics today?

REP. PELOSI: No, no. Well. They may have come up fleetingly, but really it was about more ongoing issues that we're dealing with, working together to get the work -- the people's work done in the Congress. There were not a discussion -- again, we all knew what each other's plans were for the rest of the afternoon, but it wasn't the -- that was not the purpose of the meeting, nor did it take up much time in the meeting.

Q Madame Speaker?

REP. PELOSI: Yes?

Q House appropriators have vowed to finish up the 2008 war supplemental by the beginning of March. Will you immediately rush this bill to floor? And if not, what will you be waiting for?

REP. PELOSI: I don't know that they said they would finish it by the beginning of March. That's like two days after we come back. I don't think anybody has said that.

Q Murtha said it yesterday, that by early to mid-March it would be finished.

REP. PELOSI: Well, I have not had that conversation with him and I think that that would be a -- (inaudible) -- to have anything done by then. What I do know is that I have been told on good authority that our military has all that it needs until June or July.

Q On FISA, you said that you welcome President Bush's offer to stay in town and work. But will you keep House members here or are they planning to leave the city?

REP. PELOSI: Our principals will be here and we will -- we can be here if we have the necessity to do so, but -- I mean that is to say any reason to be here, but we are -- the first step has to be a reconciliation of the House and Senate bills to see where we have enough common ground to go forward.

As I've said, our two concerns are exclusivity and retroactive immunity. And there are other -- there are other aspects. In a couple of ways, the Senate bill is a little bit better, the Wyden amendment to cover surveillance of Americans overseas, or that aspect of it. So there we'll sit down and hopefully come up with the best possible bill, or at least strive to.

Q Have you and Mr. Boehner agreed now to meet regularly on a weekly basis to assess legislation? And is there more likely to be more leadership-type agreement such as we saw in the stimulus package?

REP. PELOSI: It depends on what you mean by regularly. (Laughs.) I think we will be meeting on an as-needed basis to discuss how we go forward in the House of Representatives.

Q As a superdelegate, would you -- I mean, would you agree it's a good idea for this race in 2008 to be decided by the superdelegates?

REP. PELOSI: No.

Q And how do you prevent that now?

REP. PELOSI: Well, let's hope and pray that the enthusiasm that we see in these elections, from that someone will emerge as a winner and be out far enough that the super-delegates won't matter.

But I think it was an issue that -- I don't think it was ever intended that superdelegates would overturn the verdict, the decision of the American people. What they are there, though, to do is to be in place should there be a need for some change in what happens, but not to change what happened in the election.

There are many issues that delegates are elected for. Some relate to party rules, some to platforms. Others, most importantly, of course, the nomination of the president.

But as chair of the convention, I'm totally neutral in the race. I'm thrilled to death about both of the candidates and the presentations they are making, the crowds they are attracting, the enthusiasm they are generating. I think it's all for the good and we prepared to unify behind one of them very soon. And I do think that we'll have to carefully deal with the role of superdelegates or what we call "unpledged delegates" play in all of this.

David.

Q Madame Leader --

SPEAKER PELOSI: Dave --

Q I want to go to FISA again. The one case you didn't discuss is the new cases that could come under the Protect America Act. Do you think that's a danger, that --

SPEAKER PELOSI: No, the new cases would be covered under the underlying FISA -- I mean, there is -- both -- they're covered every way. And that's why you have Richard Clarke, again, nonpartisan chief National Security Council of terrorism adviser in three Republican administrations, one Democratic, and the president's own assistant Attorney General saying in an interview that if the August bill were allowed to expire in 10 days, intelligence officials would still be able to continue eavesdropping on already approved targets for another year under the law.

Q On existing ones. But what about new ones?

SPEAKER PELOSI: Then they have -- they have plenty of opportunity under the existing FISA law. So this -- this -- the -- "under the law" is the operative phrase, was a court order. The administration can do almost -- they can do anything because it's under the law. And they know that. That's why they threatened to veto an extension.

Q Madame Speaker, the Senate leadership -- the Senate leadership today unveiled a second stimulus package. It would be almost entirely focused on housing. I'm wondering whether you have plans for another stimulus package, whether you'd like to see it similarly focused?

SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, I think we should use every vehicle at our disposal as we go forward. Some -- some issues that relate to the downturn in our economy might be addressed in a supplemental, some in ongoing legislation, and if there is a need for an additional stimulus package, we'll look at that. And we all have our ideas about what that is. But I don't think we should confine it to just that tactic.

David, and then that will be the last question.

Q You said you instructed Reyes and the Conyers to meet. Did you do that this afternoon?

SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, they had already -- it had already been in the works, but -- with the outcome of -- outcome of yesterday's vote and the the president saying he would -- he would veto and any extension. It made it a little more time sensitive to move quickly.

Q The administration, they're -- they mostly want a path towards a decision on the bill.

SPEAKER PELOSI: Excuse me? I'm sorry.

Q They seem to mostly want a path. They speak in terms of wanting a path towards a decision on the bill.

SPEAKER PELOSI: That's a path.

Q Can you give them some clear read as to when you think an agreement could be reached so that if there was an extension, they could have some confidence that it would be the last one?

SPEAKER PELOSI: This is -- these are not new issues. Everyone understands retroactive immunity and everybody understands exclusivity, that the president does not operate outside the law. There are some other issues that I don't think will be difficult to resolve. But remember this, last night -- was it -- the night before last, the Senate finally passed its bill. We passed our bill a long time ago. There are dilatory tactics on the part of the administration so that they couldn't -- they couldn't pass their bill until toward the end of this session so that we had -- they had us up against the wall once again.

But we can't -- you know, this is -- how we protect the American people, how we collect intelligence despite -- to fight terrorism is a very important responsibility, and we take it deadly seriously. Not -- not an issue that we would deal with. The Senate passed a bill the night before last. We should have passed it yesterday.

Q If you were to get an extension such what was defeated yesterday, could you say you're confident that you --

SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, we would -- David, I'd say it this way, we will -- we will continue to track that same 21 days because that's what we think we would need. Of course, with the members out largely next week, but the principals can be working on it, and then when we come back to continue whatever floor action we would need in that regard. But we will make sure that everyone knows what the differences are between us on this legislation, and this is not an issue about whether we want to protect the American people. We certainly do. It's about whether the president can act outside the law. He certainly shouldn't. Whether he's a Democrat or he or she is a Republican, they should honor the law. And that's what this discussion is about.

Q Do you think you could have an agreement in the 21 days?

SPEAKER PELOSI: I believe we could. Yes, I think so. I mean, that's why we were asking for 21 days.

Yes.

Q Did anything come out of the meeting with Ms. Rice yesterday?

SPEAKER PELOSI: No. No, nothing. (Laughter.)

We meet fairly regularly to discuss issues. So that was not an unusual meeting. I don't want to say regularly, but sometimes --

Q (Off mike) -- was discussed. Was -- can you go into any specifics?

SPEAKER PELOSI: I think that meeting would be up to her to talk about to the press. But on a -- from time to time when she's up here to testify, or just if she comes up for a specific purpose, we have -- we take the opportunity to have some discussions about subjects.

Q Was there concern of miscommunication with bringing back -- the calling the House back into session during the middle of that memorial service? Can you address that?

SPEAKER PELOSI: No. I don't -- I don't know about some miscommunication at all, but evidently someone thought it was. But whatever it is, we're moving forward.

Thank you all very much. Happy Valentine's Day.

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