Press Conference With House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)...

Federal News Service October 7, 2004 Thursday

HEADLINE: PRESS CONFERENCE WITH HOUSE MINORITY LEADER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA); REPRESENTATIVE STENY HOYER (D-MD); REPRESENTATIVE HENRY WAXMAN (D-CA); REPRESENTATIVE JOHN SPRATT (D-SC); AND REPRESENTATIVE ROSA DELAURO (D-CT)

SUBJECT: ETHICS COMMITTEE REPORT ON HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER TOM DELAY (R-TX)

BODY:

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REP. DELAURO: May I just make a statement?

REP. PELOSI: Yes, please.

REP. DELAURO: All of you out there, and I think the country, have commented over these last months that what is wrong with this Congress; Democrats and Republicans can't come together on any issue that faces the American people. It is stunning in the very highly politically charged atmosphere of this country today, but an evenly divided country-Democrats, Republicans-that the men and the women on the ethics committee-even, 5 and 5, Democrats and Republicans-concluded, after looking at this information, that they in fact should admonish the majority leader of the House of Representatives.

Henry Waxman pointed out that was not an easy decision. But Democrats and Republicans came together to say: wrongdoing; discredits the House of Representatives; violates the trust that people have put in you to represent their interests; thwarting legislation; threatening other members.

Everyone comes here charged with doing what they believe in the best interest of the people that they represent. No one-not the majority leader, not the speaker of the House, not the minority leader-has a right to threaten me or anyone else in this body about what they feel is the right thing to do on behalf of their constituents. If you take that one instance, courageous men and women in the last few weeks have said, not once-twice, three times and over the course of time four times-wrongdoing, you discredit the House of Representatives.

And the Republican leadership has to take that into consideration to see whether or not this is an individual who ought to represent this body. And they did it on a bipartisan basis in some of the most politically charged environments that we have ever seen in Washington, D.C., and in the nation.

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