Press Conference with Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
Interview
Press Conference with Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
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REP. PELOSI: Welcome to the Capitol. We have some very special guests today. What a delight. Before we have our press conference, I just have a few words to say to some other visitors here.
All across America, the American people are facing the reality of the price at the pump. The average price of gasoline is now $3.56 a gallon, higher in my state of California. The price of oil has gone -- keeps escalating.
And all across America, we see the consequences of this. I was in three states this weekend. I heard from veterans, who said how the price of gasoline was preventing them from seeking the health care they needed, because they had to travel so many miles to receive that health care.
I spoke to workers whose regions were where unemployment was high. And in order for them to travel to jobs, it would cost them a great deal of money. They couldn't afford to go to work -- again the price of oil, the price at the pump.
With that in mind, I call upon the president today, to work with the Democrats in the Congress, to help protect Americans from record gas prices.
First, I call upon the president to temporarily suspend filling the SPR. I hope he would do that immediately. Today, the SPR is nearly 97 percent full. Independent experts report that suspending deliveries to SPR could cut as much as 5 cents on the low, to 24 cents, off a gallon of gas and provide real savings for families.
At a time when Big Oil is earning record profits, American families need someone on their side. For example, the third largest oil company, ConocoPhillips, reported today its first quarter earnings climbed 17 percent -- $4.1 billion for the first quarter, up nearly $600 million profit.
Suspending deliveries to SPR will not only increase supply but impact energy prices, by sending a signal to the market to stop runaway speculation. There is a precedent for such action.
Ahead of the first Gulf War, the first President Bush withdrew oil from the SPR -- withdrew oil from the SPR. We're not asking for that. President Clinton suspended SPR deliveries in 1995. And even the current President Bush withdrew oil from SPR and sold it on the market, following Hurricane Katrina.
Unlike the plans of Senator McCain to impose a temporary tax moratorium that may not -- may not even reach consumers, may not even be passed on to Americans, this plan will help consumers instead of just handing Big Oil a chance for bigger profits.
The president has the authority to suspend filling SPR. He could take that action today to provide some relief to consumers who are paying record prices. I urge him to do so. The longer the president delays action, the more the American people will pay at the gas pump and the more it will be a drag on our already downturned economy.
House Democrats have already voted and passed legislation to fight high gas prices. And we hope that the administration will tell the Republicans in the Senate, or work with them, to remove their obstacles to this legislation being passed in the United States Senate.
First, I call on the president to fill (sic) the SPR. I mentioned that.
Second, we have legislation that has passed the House which would hold OPEC accountable for oil price fixing. Next, a crackdown on gas price gouging. Third -- I'm going down here -- independent -- energy independence law with the market manipulation ban and new vehicle mileage standards, H.R. 6. That's our legislation to repeal the subsidy. Well, this one is repeal the subsidies to Big Oil companies and invest that money in renewable energy resources. And then this is now law, energy independence law with market manipulation ban and new vehicle mileage standards. That passed in December as well.
So there are -- there is is legislation that can help. This is a big challenge. You have to think short term; you have to think long term. We will not be able to say to the American people with any assurance that we have the consumer in mind until and unless we have a new energy policy that reduces our dependence on foreign oil. As long as these OPEC countries are setting the price -- and here we're trying to stop them from -- hold them accountable for price fixing. Unless we do that, we are held hostage to their manipulations of the market.
Again, we have legislation. We passed part of it last year, signed into law our energy bill, which calls for more miles to the gallon, which is a good step. And there are other parts of it that will help reduce our dependence on foreign oil. But much more needs to be done. Some of it has already passed the House.
We call the president to work with us to get it passed in the Senate, and we ask him today to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The president has the authority to do that. He can do it today and give a price break to the consumers.
With that, I'd be happy to take any questions you may have for a minute or two.
Q Madame Speaker, you mentioned that John McCain's gas tax holiday might not actually --
REP. PELOSI: Be passed on, right.
Q -- trickle down to consumers. But given that the federal tax is essentially assessed at the pump, can you elaborate on your thought there?
REP. PELOSI: Well, when this has happened before, it has not accrued to the benefit of the consumer, because it doesn't have to be passed on to the consumer. This can be absorbed by the supplier. And that's really what the big difference is between -- of adding supply, which not filling the SPR would do, to reduce the price of oil. There is a big difference.
You know what, I'm going to take a couple more questions from you all, and then we had some hands raised here, so we'll have to go to our special guests.
Q Madame Speaker, the stories this morning about North Korea and Syria. This morning Congressman Gary Ackerman, who chairs the Middle East Subcommittee, called the Bush administration's behavior on this, quote, "bizarre" in leaking this out to reporters and not briefing members of Congress. What's your thought on this?
REP. PELOSI: Well, I was not aware of Chairman Ackerman's statement on that. But this has happened a while ago, and the timing of it is interesting. I do think that's just another example where members of Congress, especially those on the committees of jurisdiction, should have been briefed long before now. And I would hope that it just focuses on the need for us to have some success at the six-party talks, for us to elevate the priority of stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
In terms of the action taken by the administration, I find the timing curious. I will ask about it.
Q What is Syria guilty of here, based on what you do know?
REP. PELOSI: Well, what I do know, I can't talk about. And let me know what is in the -- I'll find out what's in the public domain. But whatever it is, we don't want North Korea or any other country proliferating the technologies for weapons of mass destruction.
Yes, ma'am?
Q Madame Speaker, now that the Out of Iraq Caucus has come out against adding domestic spending to the supplemental --
SPEAKER PELOSI: I'm sorry? The Out of Iraq Caucus has done what?
Q Now that the Out of Iraq Caucus has come out against adding domestic spending to the supplemental bill, where (do you stand ?) on the issue?
REP. PELOSI: We're putting together a supplemental bill, and when it's ready, we will announce it to you.
Q Do you have a timeline?
Q Senator --
SPEAKER PELOSI: No. When it is ready. That's the timeline.
Q The Hispanic Caucus had some very harsh words for Democratic leadership yesterday on what they view as a failure to try to push for comprehensive immigration reform. They called the caucus "spineless" and said they're no better than the Republicans that they replaced. So what is your response to that?
SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, I appreciate their frustration. I'm frustrated too. And as I've said since the day we took over here, we're not going to have an immigration bill unless the president takes the lead on it. There is no way to have a partisan immigration bill. And we saw what happened in the Senate on it.
We do need to address the concerns that the Hispanic Caucus raised, which are very legitimate. In homes across America, people's doors are getting kicked in and families are being split. And so I understand their frustration with this.
In order, though, to have any compromise, even something that falls short of comprehensive, which is what I support, we're going to have to have presidential cooperation and, more than that, leadership.
But the principles of the caucus -- of the Hispanic Caucus are the principles of the caucus: secure our borders, enforce our laws, keep families united -- even His Holiness, the Holy Father when he was here, Pope Benedict, spoke about unifying families -- to have some kind of insistence that people who are here be here legally.
One more. Just one more and then I have to go to the children.
Q (Off mike) -- bill from the Senate that -- (off mike) -- developing on things like price gouging due to OPEC?
SPEAKER PELOSI: Oh, these bills have been part of the -- some of the Senators have taken the lead on this legislation. Senator Cantwell, for example, has been in the lead on legislation relating to price gouging. Many of these issues have strong champions in the United States Senate, and we hope that they would become law.
But none of them is a panacea; all of it is part of a comprehensive approach to say the leverage now is with the consumer and not with Big Oil and not with the OPEC countries.
How could it be that these profits are skyrocketing, a record, are historic, and there's no way that the consumer can participate in those profits by having lower costs at the pump because of the volume?
Now I'm going to have to turn to our special guests who are here today. Welcome to the Capitol. We're honored that you are here. In fact, I'm going to get closer to you over here. And I'm very eager to hear your questions.
I have some for you, too, because you know, a couple of days ago was Earth Day. And on Earth Day, some of us went outside and planted a tree. President Bush, I believe, planted a tree at the White House, too. Trees are very good for the environment. And I know that many of you are doing things at home and in school to recycle, to preserve the planet.
Do you have any ideas in that regard that you want to share with me? Are you doing any of that? What you are doing?
Q On Saturday.
REP. PELOSI: What did you do on Saturday?
Q It's on this Saturday.
REP. PELOSI: Oh, it's coming this Saturday. Oh. And you're going to have an Earth Day observance?
Q And I'm going to clean my whole school.
REP. PELOSI: You're going to clean your whole school. Bravo. That's quite an undertaking. Good for you.
Q Outside and inside.
REP. PELOSI: Outside and inside. Let that be a model to all of us. (Laughter.) We're trying to do that here at the Capitol, as well. We have a Greening of the Capitol initiative, Make the Capitol Green. So that when you go to the cafeteria, all of the things that -- the plates and the cups and everything are biodegradable. That we make the lights that are used to light the Capitol be the ones that save energy. And we're almost finished with that, so I hope you can come back and see how well we're doing another time. And good luck in filling your whole -- cleaning up your whole school inside and out.
You had a question?
Q Yeah. Who do you think is going to be the next president? (Laughter.) Is it going to be Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John McCain?
REP. PELOSI: Well, I think the next president is going to be a Democrat, because I think it's time for a change. And I think that either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama would be a president for change for the future.
Yes, ma'am?
Q Well, I live in Bethesda and we're doing a metal collection. And all the, like, metal that you have, we're going to bring it in a central spot and (pick ?) it up.
And also, if they were going to change the price of the gasoline or oil, what would that be?
REP. PELOSI: Well, we'd like it to come down --
Q Yeah.
REP. PELOSI: -- and that's what we're striving for, for the price of gasoline to come down.
When President Bush took office, the price of gasoline was one- third of what it is now. So it has tripled since he became president. We'd like to get it back to that place.
Yes, ma'am? Have a question? You have a question?
Q (Off mike.)
REP. PELOSI: Hm?
Okay, do you have a question?
Q Well, actually, I'm doing a -- (off mike).
REP. PELOSI: I'm sorry. All of these people want to hear what you are saying.
Q I'm doing -- (off mike) -- at my school about the environment and it is also doing something for, I think, Pakistan. It's called Pennies for Peace. And --
REP. PELOSI: Would you stand up, so that we could all hear you, dear?
Q Well, they're doing something called Pennies for Peace.
REP. PELOSI: Pennies for Peace.
Q It's in Pakistan. And each penny can buy about -- like something that I guess a dollar buys here --
REP. PELOSI: (Inaudible.)
Q -- and they're building schools.
REP. PELOSI: Isn't that great? Isn't that great? Congratulations for doing that. And I assume that this will help poor children in those countries. Children helping children. That is so great. Good for you. Congratulations.
Any other -- did you have a question? Why don't you stand up, so that we can all see you?
Q I just want to know if you like being speaker at all.
REP. PELOSI: Do I like being speaker? It's fabulous. (Laughter.) It's something you should think seriously about. (Laughter.)
Now I've broken the ceiling -- the marble ceiling we call it here -- being the first woman speaker. And you know, the Constitution says it's the president, the vice president, and then the speaker of the House is the second person in line to become president of the United States, God forbid. That's not important. What's important is that I'm the highest-ranking woman, so far -- and that is -- I'm proud of my colleagues for being willing to elect a woman speaker. And I hope you boys and girls both know that anything is possible for you.
St. Peter's Capitol Hill Church?
Q (Off mike) -- about the church, yes. On a scale of one to 10, where is our economy?
REP. PELOSI: On a scale of one to 10, where is our economy? (Laughter.) Well, I'm an optimist, so I always like to think in a very positive way. About a three. (Chuckles.)
Well, I mean, we have -- we can do some things that will change that. But why I say that is because there are experts on the subject who measure these things, and they tell us that the economy is in a downturn. The experts that I know better are people across America who have to make ends meet, and for them, the economy has to do much better than it is now.
Yes, sir?
Q Why is the Anacostia River so dirty still?
REP. PELOSI: I'm sorry. What, dear?
Q Why is the Anacostia River so dirty?
REP. PELOSI: Why is the Anacostia River so dirty? Well, I don't want to say that that's a local issue. (Laughter.) But first of all, I didn't know how dirty it was. So thank you for informing me of that. And let's see if we can work together to change that, so that it isn't so dirty, because our rivers are very important to us. And that they be clean is very important to us as well. But you know what? I'm going to go find out why the Anacostia River is so dirty. (Laughter.)
Yes, ma'am?
Q What would you do to improve Medicaid if the moratorium that the House approved yesterday became law? (Laughter.)
REP. PELOSI: What will we do to improve Medicaid and remove -- and what did you say about the legislation that passed yesterday? The -- some people in here were laughing.
Q If it became law.
REP. PELOSI: Well, we need that to become law, and what was interesting about what happened yesterday was Democrats and Republicans came together overwhelmingly and said providing health care for poorer people in our country is important to us. And so they voted overwhelmingly in favor of the change -- of the change in the regulations. And so we're hoping now that that will pass in the Senate and the president will sign it. He's not quite ready to do that yet, but we are hoping, because you asked, that he might be more inclined to do so.
But thank you for a very informed and current question -- (laughter) -- as they all are. They all are.
Anybody else have a question?
Q Here.
Q Here.
Q There.
REP. PELOSI: Oh, here we go. I was looking for the candy. Where is the candy? Where is the candy? (Inaudible.)
Oh, okay. Oh, one and two. Okay?
Q Is it okay if I ask you two questions?
REP. PELOSI: It's up to the group. (Chuckles.)
Q Okay. First of all, who would you rather, like, root for, the Giants, the Orioles or the Nats?
REP. PELOSI: The Giants. That's my home team. That's my home team. But there are three good teams there, and I root for all of them depending on who they are playing against. But I -- Giants are my home team in California, in San Francisco. I hope you come there sometime and come to our stadium. It's beautiful.
Can we pass these around or does everybody just want to jump in? You never know when you need a little chocolate fix around here. You have to have it handy.
The Orioles are my second favorite team. My father, when he was mayor of Baltimore, brought the Orioles to Baltimore. So I have a strong allegiance to the Orioles. And now that I spend time in Washington, I root for the Nationals as well. My next-door neighbors --
Q My dad works in Baltimore.
REP. PELOSI: Your dad works in Baltimore? Oh, great. What is your dad's name? (Chuckles.)
Q Tony.
REP PELOSI: Tony. (Chuckles.)
What's the other question?
Q (Off mike) --
REP. PELOSI: I want you all to note that I answered that question very directly, about the teams.
Q (Off mike) -- Puerto Rico a state and like how would that --
REP. PELOSI: Make Puerto Rico a state?
Q Yeah, like saying that you were -- (off mike) -- to, like, make it a state.
REP. PELOSI: Well, I believe that the status of Puerto Rico is up to the people of Puerto Rico, and they should decide about that. It's a wonderful place, Puerto Rico. It's a beautiful -- have you been there?
Q I lived there.
REP. PELOSI: Oh! It is a beautiful place. I went there on my honeymoon. (Laughter.)
(Chuckles.) I love Puerto Rico.
Yes, ma'am?
Q What can you do to help the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, since the Senate has failed to act?
REP. PELOSI: Yeah. (Chuckles.) Have you ever heard of the unicameral legislature? No.
The -- thank you for your question. It's a very important one. This is a question about -- let me ask you this question. If the two of you, if a boy and a girl here did the same job, don't you think they should get the same pay?
Q Yes.
REP. PELOSI: See? The future. The future. So does the House. But apparently some in the Senate do not, and they have held up the legislation. I think the president has threatened to veto the bill as well. But we're going to persist because this is very, very important. It shouldn't be a situation that women would have -- get less pay simply because they're women.
Hey, how are you doing? (Laughter.) How are you doing? Hello. Welcome. You had a question? (Laughter.) Just in it for the candy? (Laughter.)
But it is -- thank you for asking that question, because you can be sure of one thing: we will continue to work hard to pass that legislation, because it's just not right that women should be paid less than men for the same job.
And now that we have a woman speaker, who is the highest-paid person on Capitol Hill -- at least that's what they tell me, that nothing is above my pay grade, so I have all the responsibility -- we are going to make sure that that happens.
And yes, sir. What do you have going?
Q You are going to help restore New Orleans?
REP. PELOSI: New Orleans? That's a very good question. Thank you for asking that. We're continuing to try to help New Orleans in a number of different ways. One of them that we'll be working on soon is to have more funding for the levees, so that the levees hold back the water if any future storms come.
But whether you are talking about the schools or housing, or hospitals or just the environment in New Orleans, everybody in our country, I think, has a responsibility, not only New Orleans, but the surrounding areas as well. So we will continue to help New Orleans.
Okay. Yes, ma'am?
Q How did it feel to meet the pope?
REP. PELOSI: How did it feel to meet the pope? It was wonderful. It was just wonderful. I was so thrilled. I was telling President Bush yesterday that I thanked him for making it possible for so many of us to see the pope at the White House. And then I was telling him about the mass at the stadium that I went to the next day, at Nationals Stadium, and it was thrilling.
When I was about -- a little -- a young girl, I went with my family to meet the pope at that time in Rome. And that was thrilling, but it was just my family meeting the pope. It was very thrilling. And then I had -- when I became a congresswoman, I welcomed Pope John Paul to San Francisco when he came there. And that was thrilling. And at that time I received Holy Communion from Pope John Paul, which is something that I treasure for my whole life. And then this past week to meet Pope Benedict XVI was quite thrilling, and I was able to kiss his ring, which is what Catholics would do meeting the pope.
And his speeches were beautiful, about justice and truth and about freedom. So -- but it was personally thrilling and intellectually challenging to have him here. But I can't think of anything outside of my own family that is more exciting than to meet the pope.
Were you excited that he was here in Washington?
Q Yes.
REP. PELOSI: Yes. It was thrilling. What a compliment to our country that he paid a visit so soon.
Anybody else have a question? Are we just going to get back to work? Do you have other people to interview on the beat today? (Laughter.) Got other things to do?
Well, let me just tell you what I told some of you last year and other times: that our country is based on freedom. You know, we take great pride in the freedom of our country. And if there is just one freedom, if we had just one freedom that would protect all the other freedoms, it would be freedom of the press.
That would be the best safeguard for our country. Of course, we want all of our freedoms, but as long as we have freedom of the press, all of our other freedoms are safe.
Have you been to the Newseum yet?
Q Yes.
REP. PELOSI: Have you been? I hope that you all go there, because there you will see how this connects to our Constitution and what it means to protecting the rights of every single person and their rights of freedom of religion as well as speech.
Yes, ma'am?
Q Can I have your autograph, please? (Laughter.)
REP. PELOSI: Can you have -- (laughs) -- only if you give me yours, only if you give me yours too. I'll trade you autographs, okay?
Q Thank you -- (off mike).
REP. PELOSI: So I hope that we have some budding journalists here, or in any event, all of you, respectful of the professions of your parents, the profession of your parents, because part of the dynamic of it is that they challenge people in power. And that's very, very important to our democracy.
And then we have one closing question here.
Q What made you want to be speaker?
REP. PELOSI: What made me want to be speaker? Oh, it was one of those things that just came along. I didn't set out to do it. And this is important for you to remember, because sometimes you may not set out to do something, but then you have an opportunity. Something says, "Would you like to do this," and you think, "Well, I'll think about that." And you have to be ready for the opportunity. But I think one of the reasons I am speaker is because I didn't really seek it.
Once I got into -- let me just be very honest with you, though -- once I got to be the leader, then it was -- I thought it was very important for the country, for the Democrats, to be in control. I always thought it was, but then I had the power to do something about it. So while I may not have wanted to be speaker, I wanted the Democrats to have the majority, and that meant that I would become speaker. But anybody to be speaker would have been fine; the first priority was to have the Democrats.
But having said that, we have to work in a bipartisan way for the American people. I said earlier that we had a bill that passed on the floor yesterday that was asked about, about Medicaid. We were very proud of the strong bipartisan support for that.
Let me say how refreshing it is to see all of you. My grandchildren are the age of the children who are here now. And seeing you just reminds me -- but not that I need a reminder -- but inspires me about that -- our responsibility here, that everything we do has to be about the children.
So they ask me what's the three most important issues in the Congress. I always say the same thing: our children, our children, our children.
Thank you so much for being here right now. Thank you.
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