CNN "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" - Transcript: Affordable Care Act Enrollment and Campaign Finance
Interview
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PELOSI: Well, of all the things that I want to say about the Affordable Care Act, Robert Gibbs' opinion -- and I don't know who his clients are or what his perspective is -- but we are celebrating the fact that we have over seven million who have signed up, not counting the 3.1 million who are on the policies of their parents until they're 26 years old, not including over three million, and probably closer to five million, on Medicaid, which would bring us close to 15 million people who now have quality, affordable health care.
CROWLEY: Right.
PELOSI: It's really pretty exciting for those of us who made this fight, the employer mandate, the individual mandate, all an integral part of giving people the -- eliminating...
CROWLEY: So you think it's integral?
You think the employer mandate is integral...
PELOSI: All that is -- it's integral...
CROWLEY: -- is integral...
PELOSI: -- yes.
CROWLEY: -- and will and has to stay?
PELOSI: Yes. And -- and, you know -- this is a -- a -- a -- an initiative that has strong pillars in it that relate to each other.
CROWLEY: But to put a
It, you cannot be supporting anything that would remove the business mandate?
PELOSI: No. No, no. I mean the -- I don't know why we're focusing on that. One person says one thing.
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: -- changing it.
PELOSI: Seven million people signed up. The Congress of the United States, which wrote the bill, the members, which are proud of what they have done, are happy to not run away from what we have done. We're very proud of what we have accomplished.
CROWLEY: Although, you know there are just -- since you say that, there are folks who are running campaign ads, Democrats, distancing -- distancing themselves...
PELOSI: There's a few...
CROWLEY: -- from it.
PELOSI: -- there may be a few and some of them didn't -- weren't there to even vote for the bill and some of them who were there didn't vote for the bill.
But, you know, that's the exception. Democrats embrace The Affordable Care Act. We're very proud of it. And to -- you know, anecdotally, if you hear this, that, and the other thing, that's exactly what it is.
And the plural of anecdote is really not data, it's -- it's a few examples.
But there are a couple of hundred Democrats in the House who are proceeding in a very positive way.
CROWLEY: Let me ask you about the...
PELOSI: Go ahead.
CROWLEY: -- the Supreme Court ruling this week on campaign finance. And basically, it said that people can donate as much as they want in the aggregate, but the -- you still can only send a certain amount to a congressperson, but you could send it to every congressperson.
PELOSI: Yes.
CROWLEY: So there's no aggregate limit anymore.
You have said bad idea.
PELOSI: Yes.
CROWLEY: You don't like it.
On the other hand, aren't you prepared to use it?
I mean you'll...
PELOSI: You know...
CROWLEY: -- go back to...
PELOSI: It won't (INAUDIBLE).
CROWLEY: -- some of these donors and...
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CROWLEY: -- but for your members, because you -- part of what you do is -- as majority -- as a minority leader is to go out and help others get elected.
So won't you go back to these who have maxed out under the old limit and say you can give more now?
PELOSI: No. What we'll do is -- I'm a big believer in donor's choice. And as we've -- we're respectful of the fact that people have not only federal limits, but they have personal budgets. And the people that I talk to are very idealistic about the environment and children being educated and the rest of that. This is not a pragmatic agenda. It is a -- an agenda for the future.
CROWLEY: I guess my question is...
PELOSI: -- has become.
CROWLEY: -- the game is what the game is. And so they've changed it. So would you still use, if you needed to pump up a race here or there, if there's no limits to the overall amount that a donor can spend, you're going to go (INAUDIBLE).
PELOSI: Well, it's the donor's choice. And the donor -- when it comes to individual races, it's donor's choice. And it's just really a bad idea. And it -- shall we say, an ironic thing -- or maybe ironic is not the word -- is that we have to raise money to win the election so we can reduce the role of money in politics.
CROWLEY: Moving to the CIA and a report that we are still awaiting but may get soon about the CIA's -- what we are told is the CIA's misrepresentation...
PELOSI: Right.
CROWLEY: -- of what was actually going on with these so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, torture, depending on, you know, who's describing it.
PELOSI: Right.
CROWLEY: You have blamed that on the highest levels of the CIA, that misrepresentation.
(CROSSTALK)
PELOSI: I mean I do believe that during the Bush-Cheney administration, that Vice President Cheney set a tone and an attitude for the CIA. Many people in the CIA are so patriotic, they -- they protect our country in a way to avoid conflict and -- viol -- violence, etc.
But the attitude that was there was very, I think, it came from Dick Cheney. That's what I believe.
CROWLEY: And if that happening could be proven and is, in fact, it came from the vice president's office, is there a net result of that or is that just here's a report (INAUDIBLE)?
PELOSI: I think he's proud of it. I think he's proud of it. I think he's proud of it. So it was a -- it's been a -- an interesting week. We had the seven million. And we've had the "McCutcheon" decision, as you mentioned, the CIA report...
CROWLEY: Right.
PELOSI: But we also had the Republican budget which came out. And I call it the ideological manifesto of the -- of the Republican Party. It is a budget that takes us so into the past as compared -- or, shall we say, contrast it with a Democratic budget that is about the future -- investments in growth, education, science, innovation...
CROWLEY: Are you going to put a budget up next week, the Democrats?
PELOSI: Monday. Monday.
CROWLEY: Monday?
And does it balance?
PELOSI: It's about growth and growth will take us to balance. It takes us to about a -- a 2 percent of GDP deficit, which everybody says is...
CROWLEY: So it assumes...
(CROSSTALK)
PELOSI: -- very manageable...
CROWLEY: -- it assumes growth to balance?
PELOSI: Right.
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