Media Availability with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker of the House of Representatives
Press Conference
Media Availability with Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Speaker of the House of Representatives
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SPEAKER PELOSI: Good afternoon. Are we all here?
Good afternoon. When the Supreme Court made its very unfortunate decision about Lilly Ledbetter and her case, in dissent, Justice Ginsburg said, "This is not the first time the court has ordered a cramped interpretation of Title VII, incompatible with the statute's broad remedial purpose."
She went on to say other things and concluded, "Once again, the ball is in Congress's court. As in 1991, the legislature may act to correct this course's -- court's parsimonious reading of Title VII," end of quote. Justice Ginsburg.
Today, with the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Congress has taken a bold step to move away from that parsimonious interpretation of Title VII by the U.S. Supreme Court. In doing so, it has injected fairness, reason and common sense back into our policy.
Lilly Ledbetter, with her incredible -- her wonderful story, her tremendous courage, and her eloquence in presenting her case, has changed the law in our country for the good of all Americans.
And I was just on the phone with the president.
He called to congratulate us on it and reminded me that not only was he delighted with the passage of the bill and looking forward to signing it -- and I think he told you that, Steny, in his conversation with you earlier -- but that he danced with Lily Ledbetter at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball. (Laughs, laughter.)
And so it's just -- it's really quite a joyful occasion for us when Congress acts in a very positive way on behalf of the American people in ways that are relevant to their lives.
And I want to commend Steny Hoyer, for whom this has been a priority, and the two champions for this issue in the Congress: the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, George Miller, and the relentless, persistent, always dissatisfied until she gets her way for America's working families Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro.
And I yield to Mr. Hoyer.
REP. HOYER: Well, thank you very much, Madame Speaker.
And I want to congratulate three people in particular. First of all, Lily Ledbetter: Lily Ledbetter had the courage and the conviction to pursue the redress of a grievance. And my daughters, my granddaughters and my great-granddaughters will be in her debt.
I also want to congratulate Rosa DeLauro, who is unstinting in her advocacy and extraordinarily effective in her advocacy, and, of course, Chairman Miller, whose leadership made sure that we got this bill to the floor, that when it came back from the Senate we passed it. And this will be the first bill that we will send to the president of the United States.
The speaker made a comment when we passed SCHIP, which was after we passed the Ledbetter bill through the House: Women and children first. Families first.
Now, this is a family victory. But for the Supreme Court of the United States to say that if an employer kept secret for 25 weeks -- just 25 weeks -- her disparity then they could get away with doing that wrong every week thereafter, that made no sense. That made no sense for women. It made no sense for their husbands or those who relied on them, and made no sense for their children. Today the House of Representatives will send to the Senate -- will send to the president a bill that redresses not only Lily Ledbetter's grievance but the grievance of any woman who would be discriminated against the law.
It's a good day for America.
I now yield to the chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, George Miller.
REP. MILLER: Well, thank you very much. And I want to thank the speaker and the majority leader for making this a priority this early in the session. And I, too, want to thank Rosa DeLauro for all of her support, her advocacy, her tenaciousness and, sometimes, her rage against these inequalities in the workplace.
You know, when the Supreme Court rendered the decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, they cast aside the most basic value of the American workplace, and that is equal work for equal pay. With the action that the House of Representatives took today and that the Senate took a few days ago, the Congress of the United States reaffirmed that basic value for all workers: that you will get paid equally for the work that you do that others do that's the same as that.
And we will end what has been a rampant policy in the workplace of discrimination against women for the same work that they do that men also do. So I'm very proud of the House of Representatives. I'm very proud of the Senate. And I look forward to this bill landing on the -- on President Obama's desk, where -- again, he conveyed to the majority leader and to the speaker that he's going to sign this bill. And we will rid the workplace of this disgraceful practice against hardworking women, especially in this economic time when every dollar counts for families. And this policy will be in the trash bin of history.
REP. DELAURO: Thank you very much. It is a very proud day for the Congress. It's a proud day for this nation. And we've come a long way. And passing this bill today reaffirms what everyone believes -- is that the work that women do in our society is valued. And for too long it has been undervalued.
I want to say to the speaker, I thank her for her vision and for her tenacious leadership; to the majority leader for his efforts and for making sure that this was a priority; to George Miller, who has led the committee and has been unyielding on issues that face families today. And he is truly a champion of America's working families.
We have gone a long way, and it is just a short distance now to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where the president will sign this bill into law and we take a critical step to making sure that we turn back gender discrimination based on pay.
And we've a ways to go because we want to make sure that we can turn around and give women the opportunity to be able to continue their venture, making sure that they get paid for the same job, the same money that men in our society are paid for. But it's a special day. And we have all had the pleasure and the honor of getting to know Lilly Ledbetter, a true heroine.
Lilly Ledbetter will not reap the resources of the bill we passed today. But when you get to know her in her heart, she has spoken for the women of this nation. And she has made a difference in their lives. And for us, she is the wind beneath our sails. Thank you.
SPEAKER PELOSI: Any questions about Lilly Ledbetter and her case before the Supreme Court.
Q I just want to ask, Speaker Pelosi, what the next workers rights bill that you pick up will be.
SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, we have Paycheck Fairness, sponsored by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, which Mr. Miller passed out of his committee and we under the leadership of Mr. Hoyer, on the floor, passed and sent over to the Senate. So we hope that eventually that will become law someday too, because that's the obvious next step.
Q Are there any others on the horizon that you see?
SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, in everything that we do, we're looking out for working families. And the next fairness bill that we have is on the floor tomorrow. And that is our recovery package.
In it, we have jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. It's a job-creating initiative. It's tax cuts for working families. It's accountability to the American people. It's assistance to the states, so they don't have to cut back on their services, public safety, education, health care for our poorest children.
So we think that that is a workplace fairness piece of legislation. And we're very excited about the response we have received, from our members, and the interest of the president of the United States. Under his leadership, the Congress will soon act and send to him legislation, by Presidents Day recess, to again create jobs, cut taxes, help the states and be accountable to the American people.
Q Speaker Pelosi, can you address -- it turns out the family planning Medicaid provision will not be in the bill that's coming to the floor tomorrow.
Do you agree with President Obama's call to take that out?
SPEAKER PELOSI: I think that these -- Mr. Hoyer, do you want to speak to that? -- these issues are being resolved now. And as I've said to my colleagues over and over again, we cannot do everything in this bill. We will -- you know what our goals are. We think that that was an important bill that saved money for the states and their treasuries. But whatever it is, if it's in this bill, fine; if it isn't, it will be in some bill.
Q Speaker, your Republican colleagues today have lavished praise on President Obama for his bipartisan efforts, but had some harsh words for the effort on your part and other House Democrats, saying that your efforts at bipartisanship are hollow, and that they've had three meetings with the president and none with you.
SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, let me say this. That if our efforts are hollow, that is because we've responded to their request. They have requested for bipartisan meetings, and not only did we meet with them, we met with them with the president-elect. And then we met with them with the president of the United States in a bipartisan way. He has met with them, as you know, today. I have met -- spoken with Mr. Boehner about this issue. And they've asked for -- they've asked for markups. They wanted the opportunity to present amendments in committees. We had over 29 hours, was it , 27 hours, Steny?
REP. HOYER (?): (Off mike.)
SPEAKER PELOSI: Over 25 hours -- to be conservative -- hours of opportunity for them to present amendments in the committees of jurisdiction. They've asked for a substitute, which they are granted. They will have, in addition to that, a motion to recommit. And we will give -- under Mr. Hoyer's leadership, who controls the floor, they will have opportunity for amendments tomorrow. They have opportunity to make their views heard and put on the table.
Now, we had an election, which was about our differing views of the direction our country was going in. We had a different point of view. The American people agreed with us. So bipartisanship means giving them an opportunity to make their voices heard and maybe to persuade and prevail in the marketplace of ideas. It does not mean that we are going to have a continuation of the last eight years of failed economic policies that have taken us where we are today.
And so in the spirit of listening to the American people -- Democrats, Republicans and independents -- we welcome any and all views that can improve the package, if it creates jobs, if it stabilizes the economy and it does so in a fiscally sound way with openness and, again, accountability to the American people.
Q Madame Speaker --
REP. HOYER: Can I --
STAFF: Last question.
REP. HOYER: I just want to make one addition. I agree with everything the speaker had to say, obviously. But it is -- I'm somewhat amused and bemused by the assertion that somehow they're showing bipartisanship meeting with the president. It's not very bipartisan, before the president meets with you, to instruct your members to vote against his bill before he even discusses it with you. And the speaker has indicated, I've indicated we want to work in a bipartisan fashion.
The crisis that confronts this country is of great magnitude. America expects us to come together and work together to solve the problems and to make America whole.
We're committed to doing that. We hope our Republican colleagues are committed to doing that. And we're looking forward to working with them to accomplish that objective.
(Cross talk.)
Q Madame Speaker -- (inaudible) -- support for the Democratic package tomorrow, what does a largely party-line vote on Obama's first big legislative priority say about the effort about bipartisanship?
SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, it says that some of us have heard the voices of the American people and their desire for change.
This legislation has a strategic vision of taking us into the future -- in the near, near future, to create jobs, good-paying jobs, immediately, and then in the near future to continue job creation to stabilize our economy. I's about the future, about investments in new green technologies, to build the infrastructure of America in a way that reduces our dependence on foreign oil, reverses climate change. It's about creating jobs through innovation to keep America number one. It's about investments in technologies that will make America healthier and in a more cost-effective way.
And so it's about the future. We hope they would join us in going into the future, with the change that was promised in the election, and its representation in this important legislation. We're very proud of it, and it is, again, heeding the message of the American people to take the country in a new direction.
Thank you all very much.
Q Thank you.
END.
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