She was asked about her views on the removal of historical statues depicting the founding others and whether Founding Fathers in whether the house would pursue articles of impeachment against attorney general william barr. This is a half an hour. Ert i am a National Political reporter at the Washington Post. I am joined today by House Speaker nancy pelosi of california. She is the nations top democrat, who is leaving her partys push on police reform, health care, and oversight of the trump administration. Speaker pelosi, welcome back to Washington Post live. Speaker pelosi thank you, bob. My pleasure. Robert i appreciate your time on this important and sad day, one month since george floyd, an unarmed black man, was killed by a white Police Officer in minneapolis. We will cover a lot of topics today, but lets begin there. The house is voting today on your bill, the George Floyd Justice in policing act. It is an expansive bill. How many republicans do you expect to join you . Speaker pelosi i have no idea. I am the last person to ask. But i am proud of the consensus that we have in the House Democratic caucus. This is an historic day for us. We began this morning on the steps of the capital with the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and chair of the subcommittee judiciary, along with jerry nadler and members of presentcratic caucus to not only the legislation, but a perspective on why it was so important. It may get some republican votes. The white house is against the bill, which is unfortunate. But we will pass the bill. Robert speaker pelosi, the protests continue nationwide about racial injustice, calling for political change. Will this piece of legislation satisfied the activists in the streets . Speaker pelosi this legislation addresses the concerns that they are expressing. So many people, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, day in and day out, week in and week out. I will say it this way. When georges brother came to testify before the Judiciary Committee, and i was meeting with him before, he said to me, madam speaker, for georges daughter so his name will be always remembered, will you name the bill after george floyd . Recommend that to the Judiciary Committee and the black caucus if you believe that our legislation is worthy of George Floyds name. And he said, we do. And they did name the bill for george floyd. So yes, i think it addresses the concern of the family and those in the street. It is not the end. There are many other things we want to do and other bills that we will bring up. This iserms of justice, the appropriate measure. Robert speaker pelosi, you say it is not the end, but you also said republicans, the white house, are whipping against your bill. Is it perhaps the end of significant change on this front in congress, at least until after the election . Speaker pelosi i certainly hope not. I do think it is time for the senate to sit down in a bipartisan way and come up with a real bill. What they presented took some of the language from our bill. That is nice. Thecompletely defanged action contained in the bill. It did nothing. So it was irreconcilable. You go to congress to reconcile a bill. When we saw what they had, that could not happen. Now they could work in a bipartisan way to put something together that could be acceptable. They will accept no action. Why dont you compromise . Dont want chokeholds, they want chokehold. This is irreconcilable. Some things are just not reconcilable. Thats it. Robert beyond the confederate statues and paintings in the capital, which you have taken the lead on addressing in congress, should art depicting slaveowners, including our nations Founding Fathers, come down in the country . You are talking about the patriarch of our country, George Washington, the author of our declaration of independence, Thomas Jefferson, no. I dont think they should come down. I do think in the capitol, where we have members of the confederacy, the paintings should come down. I think in the capitol where president atues of the of the confederacy, along with what they said about people in our country, i think they should come out. Not if they at one time owned slaves. It is about, what did they do about it . In terms of military bases, these bases were named years after the civil war. Statements of White Supremacy. Those names have to go. Even if they are not named something else, their name has to go. I think the president once again is on the wrong track by not understanding that you dont glorify White Supremacy in our country and have it be perpetuated once it is uncovered. What isto follow up, your message to some activists who say the Founding Fathers, there needs to be a reckoning of some sort, whether it is tearing down their images or having a conversation . How should this nation handled the issue of slaveowners and our Founding Fathers moving ahead . Speaker pelosi i am very concerned about slavery in our country. I am also concerned about what happened to native americans in our country. Grievances,st of and we do not want that to be continued by glorifying any people who perpetrated injustices. Rather than tearing down and defacing, just have a review. Have a review in terms of lets take it down safely so that we are not hurting anybody when the statue comes down or costing ore money to get rid of it get rid of the defacing of something that maybe should not have been. I am all for it. The sinse glorifying of the past . That doesnt mean Thomas Jefferson or George Washington or others who were slaveowners, that we should undermine what they did for our country. Jeffersonederates, davis, alexander stephen, they committed treason against the United States in the name of slavery. I think that is a different story. But you know what . Subject everything to scrutiny and make a decision. But i do think we should do it in a safer way rather than a more dangerous way. Robert speaker pelosi, lets turn to health care. Republicans keep fighting president obamas health care law. Now you are moving forward with your own bill to expand health care coverage. Pandemiche affected that law and the Broader Health care debate . Speaker pelosi the pandemic, of rse, when we passed the it wasble care act, named the Affordable Care act because affordability is about accessibility, and that was very important. We can do more. We can do more, and that is what we are doing in this legislation, to increase the number of people who have access thosesidies, to expand who would be on medicaid, and so sad that some states would not even accept 100 coverage for medicaid so that people would have access to health care. So when you have a pandemic and you have people avoiding testing because they dont know if they can afford any treatment that might be necessitated because of that, they are not doing the tontry any favor at all follow your ideology at the expense of the health of the American People. Imagine right now today the white house is presenting to the Supreme Court to do away with the preexisting condition benefit, to do away with access to quality, Affordable Health care for 20 million people, to do away with benefits for 125 million people. Milliony be 125 families with preexisting conditions. Is innow, the white house the Supreme Court saying to take down that benefit, and while we at it, we will take down we will eliminate the tax so people will not be confined on the insurance they would receive. Forget that. With ahave a child born preexisting condition or a family member, you want them to and you donts, want them limited by any cap in the coverage because those caps go very fast. Robert speaker pelosi, the bill does not include a public option. Would that still be of interest for you to pursue in january . Speaker pelosi we have a present option in the Affordable Care act. So the states cannot implement their own public option. I wanted the public option in the bigger bill we did not get it in the senate. But that does not mean i think the competition that springs from that and the opportunity that springs from that is something we should have. That is what the elections are about. Days, seven1 more hours, 15 minutes. Soon. [laughter] we are putting together legislation, and this is one piece of it. Putting together legislation that will be ready. We are not measuring for a curtain, but we are going to be ready when that beautiful opportunity comes. In order for that to happen, people have to know the difference that it will make in their lives. Our agenda was a simple one and a victorious one. 40 seats, 30 of them in trump held districts that trump had won. Are going toe, we lower the cost of health care, by lowering the cost of prescription drugs and preserving preexisting conditions. Debate overll the the affordable weaker pelosi secondly, will build infrastructure in a greenway in a green way. The oppression of some of our voting laws on the anniversary of the unfortunate Supreme Court decision, cutting the Voting Rights act. 1. T was in hr we did it again passing hr4. The manifestation of that better floydment is the George Justice in policing act. We have aspects of our agenda appearing once again in the next several days. Robert lets stick with health care. All these issues. For a moment on the coronavirus, there is a spike nationwide, including in your home state of california. Who is to blame . 1600er pelosi pennsylvania avenue. But what is the use of blaming . Lets pass the heroes act. Testing, testing, testing. Testing, tracing, treating, isolation. There is a plan there to do that and have the resources to reach out. This is a justice issue. Overwhelmingly, people of color have suffered in a disproportionate way by the coronavirus. Why . Because they have not had access to testing, tracing, treating, and isolation because they do not live in situations. The hoax, the denial, it is going to go away magically, we will be in Church Together by easter, that caused deaths. Do is go forward and we have that in the heroes act that is sitting right there on Mitch Mcconnells desk, along with honoring our heroes, state and local government, as well as putting more money in the pockets of the American People with Unemployment Insurance and the resources to do that. Can i tell you something but the heroes act you should know . Robert i would love to have a status update, sure. Speaker pelosi here is the thing. You go to your computer, whatever. Esact. Speaker. Gov hero go there and look up any place you have ever lived, gone to school, where you have relatives, friends, and see how much money is going into those communities in order to cover their outlays for the coronavirus and their loss of revenue from the coronavirus. We see all that money all over depending on the size of the township, county. Look at that. It is remarkable. It is going to help all those entities balance their budgets by the end of june. Robert are you talking with the treasury secretary about that . Speaker pelosi im not finished. Cost of theof the republicans tax scam they passed in 2017, adding 2 trillion to the national debt, andtimulus to the economy, one half of that across the country, look it up and you will be dazzled by it and think, what happened . I just wanted you to know that. Robert i appreciate that, speaker. I dont mean to interrupt. We are all doing the best we can in this skype era. To follow up on this point you just made, are you in touch with the treasury secretary with another round of stimulus . You have been able to broker deals with him before. Speaker pelosi largely, our communication is, shall we say, more general. For example right now. But they are being communicated by mayors, governors, republicans and democrats across the country about the need to honor our heroes in the state and local government. Scientistsaring from that we need to test, trace, treat, and isolate. They know from the chairman of the fed, and they even know by the secretarys own statement that if we do not act we will have a bigger economic problem in our country if we do not invest now in putting money in peoples pockets. Even the chairman of the fed said, state and local governments, they create jobs and provide services. I recommend that to the congress. So this is selfevident. They will come around. They know they have to do it. Puttingately, they are down peoples questions as to when. Itactually have a piece of here on the floor on monday. We can do it that way, too. Not hadno, i have communication directly with the secretary on this, but they know that they have to do it. We have gotten a lot accomplished without having to endure certain conversations just by, shall we say, within the public domain. Robert speaker pelosi, you certainly watched all the testimony this week about the attorney general, about the justice department. After digesting what you have heard and talking to your members, do you now support at least the consideration of impeachment articles against attorney general william barr . 131 days from the solutionhave to many problems, one of them being barr. Anyone who saw that testimony would know that barr is a mess. He is a disgrace to the department of justice. I have been talking about that for a while, and last year about this time we had a motion on the floor to hold him in contempt, criminal contempt. So he is contemptible, there is no question about that. Will solve point, we our problem by going to the polls and voting on election day, 131 days from now. Robert following up on this idea of accountability, ambassador john bolton has this book out. He talks a lot about attorney general barr, a lot about President Trump. He has refused to testify before. Would you like to call him this summer to hear from him on the record under oath . Speaker pelosi i consult with my chairman about how they want their committees to approach different problems. Disgrace. Is a he chose money over patriotism. He decided to hold out to sell his book rather than provide problemsnew about the of the president of the United States. How do you characterize them . They are so varied. The fact is for him, he always wanted to keep his connection there. He said, they should have called me. We would still be waiting for the courts to determine whether he should come. It was a good stalling tactic. Why dont you wait until after the election to hear from me . So we proceeded. I am very proud. I could not be prouder of our managers, adam schiff, and the others. They did such a remarkable job. But he chose the Cash Register over democracy in terms of accountability and transparency in government. I think it is disgraceful. Robert i didnt mean to interrupt. Lets finish on the campaign. Expecty seats do you House Democrats to gain this year, if any . Speaker pelosi annie. Any. [laughter] i dont know how many. Some of the most doomsayer people say under 10. All i want to do is hold our majority, grow it, but grow it in a way that also wins the senate for the democrats so that we are choosing our races in a strategic way, that coordinates with the senate effort, and certainly the electoral college. It is all about the electoral college. I am not taking anything for granted in terms of House Democrats because you mentioned 30 of our seats that donald trump had won in and still retained some level of popularity. God bless the people for their interest in their government. But nonetheless, we want to be sure we have it good, solid majorities for our front liners so they come back strong. Candidates. N that will enhance our number, and we will be strong. But we want to do that strategically. So we dont only leave the house in a strong way, but we also help win the senate and the electoral college. And they will probably never tell you how many we are going to win. I will let you know that 131 days from now. Robert i will follow up about that. Speaker, are you frustrated about representative ocasiocortez and her endorsement of democratic challengers . Speaker pelosi no, not at all. She is a valued member of the congress. Set we dont know what the results were for eliot engel. But she is a very valued member. Loves hisl constituents and his district, and he would want the person who represents them to be well received in congress, and we will do that with the challenger. Isert Vice President biden considering some House Democrats, including representative demings of florida, representative bass, your colleague from california. I know you do not want to meddle in that process, but would you like to see Vice President biden pick a House Democrats . Speaker pelosi i think it is good he is considering congressional democrats, including members of the senate as well. Kamala harris. I have great confidence in joe biden. He is going to be a great president. Whoever he chooses is who i am excited about. All. E them i think we have we are so rich with great talent. Any one of them would be great. Whether they are in congress or not in congress. One thing. I want him to pick the person to make sure that he wins. And i know that anyone of them could serve our country well as Vice President with joe biden as president of the United States and whatever beyond that. Pelosi, will you go to the convention in milwaukee . Speaker pelosi either that or i will stay home in california. They just put out the format for what it will be. If they want it to be in milwaukee, i will be there. I know they will be having what i heard is they will be coming fromote import to places in the state. I am thinking golden gate bridge. Southern california is thinking somewhere else. Whatever serves the purpose, i am always happy to be home. Largestave the delegation, the california delegation. I would be proud to stand there with all of those delegates for joe biden for president of the United States, and the Vice President of the United States. Many we received received many notes from our readers, including one from pennsylvania. She hit a theme that was quite noticeable in our inbox. Here is her question. If viceconcerned that President Biden wins, President Trump will challenge the results and refused to concede . Speaker pelosi no. I dont think so. But just to be prepared, i would because hein big, will try to do questions of certifications. No, i dont think so. You know my opinion of the president. I dont have to go into that. But with that opinion of the president , i think he will respect the results of an election. Henchmane didnt, the around him would understand that he would have to respect the results of the election. You have to be prepared for everything. I take nothing for granted. Just make every day count. No wasted time, no regrets the day after the election. Lets play it out every single day, every 131 of them. It may take a couple days to count the votes, i dont know. But know that the day after the election, i believe that he would understand the office he holds requires him to step aside. Having said that, be prepared for everything. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Robert final question. I know your time is valuable and i appreciate it. Lets say the democrats to win big and you hold onto your house majority, the democrats when the senate and the white house. What would be your First Priority in early 2021 policy wise in that scenario . Speaker pelosi our First Priority will be what it has always been. The First Priority is americas households. Health care. It is a health issue and also a Financial Health issue. Doubtill be to remove all that we will move into health care for all americans, affordable, accessible, Quality Health care for all americans. But as i said before, for the people, our agenda is lower healthcare costs, bigger paychecks by creating big paying jobs by creating higher paying jobs and people can participate in the prosperity of our country and in their government. Care is a financial thath issue as well, and is why it has been such a focus for all of us. That is why it is hard to understand why the president of the United States has made it a priority to strip tens of millions of americans of their health care, making it more costly for others. It is just not shared values. But it is our value. As Martin Luther king said, of all forms of inequality, health care is the most influent and human because people could die. Robert speaker pelosi, thank you for your time this afternoon. Speaker pelosi my pleasure. Thank you, bob. Watch house votes on d. C. Statehood legislation friday at 9 00 eastern live on cspan. The house will vote on legislation to designate the District Of Columbia as a state. Watch live friday on cspan, online at cspan. Org, or listen onn the freeseas been the free cspan radio app
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