Speaker pelosi i wish we werent Wearing Masks to see how exciting it is to come before you today with joe biden having the tremendous mandate he has in that pretty soon, the hyphen will be gone from Vice President to president elect, joe biden. It is a happy day for our country because joe biden is a unifier, because he is determined to bring people together, because he respects all points of view, and as he has said, i ran as a democrat, i will govern as president for all of the people whether they voted for me or not. I am so officially pleased with the outcome that is imminent and also personally delighted because of the quality and caliber of leadership that joe biden will provide. This morning, it is clear that the bidenharris ticket will win the white house. His election is historic, propelled by the biggest vote ever in the history of our country, 73. 8 million and counting americans, the most votes ever received by any president ial ticket in history. President elect biden has a strong mandate to lead and will have a strong Democratic House with him and Many Democrats in the senate. This has been a life or death fight for the fate of our democracy, as he says, the soul of our country. We did not win every battle in the house, but we did win the war. In 2018, we won 40 seats, 30 or 31 in districts where trump had won before. They were in trump districts. In preparation for the 2020 election, i said to people, you have to help us. They say, oh, you have won. Lets just do the senate and white house. We won in trump districts with trump not on the ballot. In the next election, he will be on the ballot, and that makes winning those districts a steeper climb. I am pleased that we have overwhelmingly won those districts, not all of them. Not all of them, but next time, he wont be on the ballot. One of the reasons we were able to win so many seats was because of the caliber of leadership of our members. Some of them won, a few did not, all of them excellent. I hope that some of them will reconsider, will consider going at it again. As you all know, the right to vote is a sacred right in our country. Having that vote counted as cast is the foundation of our democracy. We must be patient. I have said to people, be calm, said this sunday, monday, tuesday, be calm, be confident, be patient. The votes are tallying in the races are called. We look forward to continued victories in house races, and we look forward to progress for the people, which was our agenda and continues to be for the people, Lower Health Care costs, bigger paychecks by Building Infrastructure in america in a green way, cleaner government hr1, which will be the first on the ballot in january. While we prepare for the new Biden Administration, we must also move swiftly for a new Coronavirus Relief bill. We want the republicans to come back to the table, the white house and leadership or whatever. For two days in a row, over 100,000 cases were reported. The imperative to act could not be greater. Millionine people infected. Tense of millions on unemployment. Tens of millions on unemployment. Congress has committed to passing appropriations bill. Work inthe core of our the lameduck, when we dont have a pandemic killing hundreds of people in the infecting millions. Making people food insecure. Our responsibility to keep , to have a bill. We intend to do that. We want to be able to do so in a way that gives confidence that we wont have government open and continue to be, rather than having a cr. Of questionnstead im the virus, it appears the Trump Administration will use its final moments in office in a desperate last step to destroy every possible protection for Americans Health and wellbeing. So many people have said to me, perhaps some of you along the way, what damage do you think trump will do between losing the election and the inauguration of joe biden . Quiteyou didnt phrase it that way, but that is how i heard it. He would be that and we knew that he would be up to mischief, trying to destroy the credibility of our elections, which we criticize other nations for doing, our enemies, foreign and domestic. But apart from that, on the policy side, which is why we are here, people ask that question, what will he try to do that is harmful . Theireek, they showed hand. We had suspicions of it, but could not speak publicly about it until they went public. This we, the Trump Administration put forward a radical new rule that would make regulations from the fda and other health and Human Services agencies automatically sunset, unless the agencies undertake a cumbersome to, timeconsuming process to renew them. This is the time when we need full attention of the fda on the development and approval of vaccines. Opportunity cost, but it is a reflection of their disdain for science and government. They have been messing with the whole process in the fda trying to diminish the importance of the trials that are necessary to approve efficacy and safety of a vaccine. The lameduck trump rule seeks to paralyze government in generations of lifesaving protections and try to burden a new president elected by the American People. The Trump Administration was to seek this legislation rule rule,is regulation beyond hhs to other agencies, as well. People have been asking what can he do . Clean air, clean water, food safety. This is a dream of the radical right wing. First, they started undermining the Civil Service, and now they are trying to say, unless we review all of these regulations, they will be sunsetted. Now, we do believe that regulations should be subject to review. That is not any objection. That is part of the process. But there is a way to do it. Way to do it is not to first zero in on the fda at a time when we are trying to achieve a vaccine for the people. And this is the work of the energy and Commerce Committee and that is why i am so glad and honored by the presence of the distinguished chair of the energy and Commerce Committee. You will hear from him about this. I refer you to the National Register of november 4th. The day after the election, they put this destructive rule in the congressional record. More, from our distinguished chair. Thank you, mr. Colon, for coming down to be here for this conversation, which is very important to the health and wellbeing of the American People. With the respect for science, for government, especially at a time of the pandemic, when the fda should be focusing on a vaccine, and not on a Heritage Foundation agenda. Thank you, madam speaker, and let me say, like you, like all democrats and most americans, it is a very happy day, because we do believe it is quite clear that joe biden and Kamala Harris will be our next president and Vice President. We cannot help but be happy about that, as the speaker is and i am. I want to commend the speaker for still stressing so much that this virus,rush which she has been saying for so many months. I think the last time i was here with her, we talked about the need for Robust National testing, tracing, and treatment testing, tracing, and treatment, which is in the heroes act, and which she kept insisting on, as she negotiated with the white house. She realizes, as most of us do, that we are never going to get the economy back on foot, we are not going to create jobs, and we are never going to make this country strong again unless we compress the virus. Unless we can crush the virus. She is like a laser beam, she keeps insisting that that is so crucial. As she mentioned, the numbers, the virus continues to spread. I mean, yesterday, more than 116,000 americans contracted covid19. It was a oneday record since the pandemic again. So when the speaker says this has to be crushed, its because its getting worse. And we have to address it. Sad thing, my role is to get into more specifics about what the Trump Administration is doing, what President Trump is doing in this lameduck in these last few months is exactly the opposite. In other words, rather than trying to help with the scientists, with the Health Experts, with those career servants, who have been helping us try to come up with a response to this virus, he is trying to undermine it all. He is trying to make it more difficult for us to crush the virus. He is making it more difficult for the Health Experts to speak to into even be there at all help with this effort. That is so unfortunate. He is moving in the opposite direction of what the speaker and most people say we need in order to crush the virus. And so, i wanted to talk a little bit about these two things that the speaker mentioned. One is an executive order threatening the Civil Service employees. A lot of the people helping us within hhs and other agencies are career Civil Servants. And he issued this lastditch effort to fire career Civil Servants on october 21. This executive order. Includesnow, this people at the fda, the cdc, as the speaker mentioned. It says that over the next month or so, the president and his administration could put out a new schedule classifying career Civil Servants someone like dr. Classifying career Civil Servants, someone like dr. Fauci, as nonCivil Service employees who can be fired. You remember that at one of his rallies before the election, he suggested that he might fire dr. Fauci after the election. Dr. Fauci is an example of the type of person who could be fired under this executive order and possibly replaced by people like dr. Atlas, who are not qualified. To actually deal with this virus effectively, because of their lack of background, or their policies. And all of this, before he leaves office on january 19. Some said, well, is he really going to fire these people . I dont know, but the fact that this is in place is a threat. In other words, its either, im going to fire them, or threaten them with the fact that if speak if they speak out and do things contrary to what i want to do regard to covid19, they will know they might lose their job, and lose their Civil Service job. In fact, it is really basically the same thing. The other thing the speaker mentioned is this rule change that was put in place issued a proposed rule. Put in place. He issued a proposed rule. Justice wednesday. Just this wednesday. It could be finalized by early december. What that says is Something Like 2500 regulations within health and Human Services. We may see it with other things. It says, if any regulation has been around for more than 10 years, then you have a time to justify it, otherwise it expires and sunsets. These are all regulations that deal with food safety, approval of drugs, which has been such a controversy, because he has always been trying to approve these drugs that we know the scientists think are not effective. And beyond that, it also diverts resources. Staff whoords, if the are working to crush the virus, if they have to be diverted to justify and spend their time dealing with these regulations they would not want to sunset, it is also a question of staff time. It takes away from our ability to deal with the virus. Period closes december 4, and he could start this process to undermine not only the regulations, but others that might become 10 years old later, during the joe Biden Administration. We are trying to emphasize, why is this president doing these things that undermine our ability to crush the virus rather than working with the speaker and trying to put together a plan like heroes act like the heroes act that would make a difference and effectively crush the virus . I just want to conclude by saying this we need the scientists, and the public Health Experts. We need to scale up the testing, the contact tracing, the treatment. This, unfortunately, will likely be a dark winter. And it doesnt make any sense for the president to use the short time he still has left to undermine the National Response. It is also an insult to the Civil Servants. And one of the things we are certainly going to do, we are going to spend our time in the energy and commerce and the other committees trying to shore up these agencies like hhs, cdc, fda, that he is trying to dismantle for the last four years. Morale is low, but i want everyone who works in these agencies to know that he is that we, as democrats, Speaker Pelosi, joe biden, our next president , we are on their side. We are committed to crushing the virus. We are going to support the public servants. We are going to work with the Biden Administration to undo the damage and ensure that Civil Service protections remain in place, and that we have a National Response to the virus. Thank you for all you do, madam speaker. Speaker pelosi mr. Chairman, i want to commend you for the testing, tracing, treatment etc. That is in the heroes act that was a product of your committee under your leadership, as well as working with scientists about what is necessary to crush the virus, so that we can put our children safely back in school, open up our economy, thats what we need to do. We need to do it safely. To a couple of points you made, in terms of the Civil Service, Civil Service is a very important part of democracy. It takes the politics out of the performance of Civil Servants. It is about Public Service being a noble calling. But if those Civil Servants are directed by political appointees to make certain scientific decisions, or else, they will lose their jobs, that undermines the purpose of safety and efficacy in terms of the fda, but also the health and wellbeing of the American People. I want to commend peter marks, the head of one of the centers at the fda, for an important oped he had about a week ago talking about how the scientists were going to stick with the plan to do this in a way that gives people confidence in the vaccines that would come forward that would come forward, because a vaccine is only as effective as its merit but also how people will take it. The vaccine is a big hope for us, but it is not the only way for us to stop the spread of the virus. But it is an essential way for us to curtail the further spread. So again, i thank you for your leadership in that regard and the idea that you referenced. January 19th is the date that they want this all done by. January 19th. Can it be undone . Yes. But it takes a great deal of time and effort to undo, which took a lot of time and effort to make matters worse in terms of approvals, etc. , at the fda. I am pleased to take questions. Jared . Reporter you opened by talking about the big win that joe biden appears he might have. But in that same election, in that same environment, you will end up losing seats off your majority. What does that tell you about what the American People want from their congress . Speaker pelosi we lost a few seats. But we won those seats in trump district. He wasnt on the ballot, he is now. What happened with the democrats with congress across the country helped contribute to the joe biden success. So we are very proud to be part of that mandate. Would i rather while i have the utmost respect for the members whose districts were almost insurmountable with trump on the ballot, i do believe that we will be with biden in the white house, and a democratic congress, and hopefully, a democratic senate, we will see in january, we will be able to do great things for the American People. We have lost some battles, but we have the gavel. We have the gavel. Reporter you dont see any policy or corrective methods from the American People . Speaker pelosi i do think we should always be evaluating and respecting what the people have to say. I, myself, think i have said this over and over again, income inequality, the disparities in income in america must be addressed, and everybody must be at the table. That is something that frank has worked on from the perspective of new jersey and his committee. We have to go to that place. People are concerned about the threat to their jobs from tech from technology, from trade, from other people, newcomers to our country. We have to show them this is not a zerosum game. Somebodys success here is not taking away from your success there. I see this as a tremendous opportunity, where people are respectful of peoples opinions, the diversity of opinion, and again, some members had some concerns about what happened in their district, but most of the people expressed concerns. One. Most of them, one. We had an opportunity spreading out a wide net. I was disappointed we didnt win some seats in texas, but we are paving the way. We held the house. That was our goal. If we could win more, that would be good. We are still in the hunt on a number of seats. We can have this conversation next week with some numbers. Now, safely, the gavel is in the hands of the democrats. The prospect,e momentarily, if not happening while we are here, of president elect joe biden and Vice President elect Kamala Harris. Reporter how do you address with a more narrow majority, how do you address this is something how do you address, and this is something i asked you last week, the philosophical differences, in the caucus when going to be more to the left and from a governing standpoint if youre going to get something done regardless of the cr, that legislation has to be in the middle. How do you sort that out with these pressure points . I would like to say this Speaker Pelosi i would like to say this. It is not both ends of our caucus. I would not want to lead in a caucus that is a rubberstamp lockstep caucus. Thats called republicans. We are the democratic party, and we have several exuberances in our midst, and that is representative of the district that people come to congress to serve. And we respect that. But our unifying principle is americas working families. Everybody is there to make progress for americas working families. In terms of the children, our children, our children, our children, their health, their education, the Economic Security of their families, a safe, healthy environment in which they can thrive including from gun violence and a world of peace in which they can reach their fulfillment. About the Kitchen Table issues, nobody is more attuned to that or connected to americas working families than joe biden, as president of the united states. You will see, we build consensus, we dont govern from on high, we build consensus. I didnt say unanimity, i said consensus. I see it as an opportunity. I do say, and i have said publicly, i represent San Francisco proudly. And some issues that would be wonderful in my district are just not winning issues and in other places in the country that we have to win. That doesnt mean we curb our enthusiasm for our boldest progressive agenda, it does mean but it does mean that if we are going to win in other places in the country, Common Ground that is respectful of what works in my district for me, but also respectful for how it works for members in their district. And frank has a variety of points of view in new jersey. Did you want to speak to that . Maybe use you could new jersey as an example of what the speaker is saying. We had four frontline members, who basically, over the last two election cycles, took back republican districts for democrats. These were republican districts. You look at the ic performance, they leaned republican by 2 6 . Over the last election cycles, we captured them. What i liked to have seen him lose . Sure. That would have been a net gain, and it may still happen. But i take pride in the fact that we were able to keep these four front liners that took republican seats over the last two cycles to a democratic majority. I stand here today with the speaker. Joe biden is going to be president. We retained our majority, we using new jersey again, in these members and districts that were for donald trump in the past, we are proud of our success and we have more opportunity now because we have the white house as well as the house and maybe the senate depending on whats happening in georgia. Reporter [indiscernible] Speaker Pelosi welcome to my world. [laughter] we always have a beautiful dynamism in our caucus. But no, i think people are some people, i would say, we have a healthy difference of opinion within our caucus, but not in any way to be problematic in how we legislate. With the conversation was about was, what is the winning message outside . The message in the districts we have to win is the message that unifies us. A message for americas working families. Everybody knows that. Reporter madam speaker, the previous four president s entered their first year with their party fully in control of congress. The house and the senate. Of congress, the house, and the senate. How much do you have to trim back the ambition knowing that at best its a 5050 senate and some think that the republicans are favored in georgia and you still have majority leader mcconnell . Howker pelosi you know, many times have you heard me quote lincoln . Public sentiment is anything. That is what i think is going to save the date. The public wants the virus to be crushed. They want the economy to reopen. They want children to go to school safely. The public wants a big jobs bill. And i dont care if you are in San Francisco, michigan, alabama, wherever. People want jobs. They want jobs. And that is when we talk about the health and wellbeing of the American People, job security is an important factor of health for this people. For those people. So if we go forward with an infrastructure bill, that is usually not partisan. It is not partisan. Were going to blanket the country with build back better, also called moving america forward. We have a great deal in common two agendas, and when we did for the people in 2018, we werent looking for a fight to lower the cost of prescriptions. The president said he was going to negotiate like crazy to lower the cost of prescriptions by having negotiation. Im going to fight like crazy for negotiating the prices. He didnt, but he said that, and that was Common Ground. He said he wanted to build the infrastructure of america. Every conversation i had with him, starting with congratulating him, then after that, every conversation before he was president and for the months after, i want to build infrastructure. Until it came time to make the tough decisions about paying for them, and then he stomped out of the room. Those were two areas that he had espoused in the campaign. We were looking for the most impactful initiatives to affect people at their Kitchen Table issues. The cost of health care, etc. Preserving the preexisting condition benefits, how many times that he talk about that . He never did anything about that. Reporter [indiscernible] Speaker Pelosi the republicans have taken a lot of time saying how much they support the preexisting conditions. Lets see what the court does their with the court does there. That is franks purview, as well. Again, if you listen to what the Republican Leadership says in the house and senate, they say they want everybody to have health insurance. They say we are going to repeal are still going to make sure we have health insurance. Well, i dont believe that, because the aca is the most effective way to accomplish it. Whether the courts undermine the aca, certainly the president has, there is a recognition with both sides of the aisle that we need to have close to 100 or however close we can get of americans covered. So, i think there are opportunities to work with them to deal with this. Hopefully, the court doesnt repeal the aca, because that would be hugely tragic for the country. It is certainly possible to work with them on a number of these Health Issues and we will. But it is certainly possible to work with them on a number of these Health Issues, and we will. We have the upper hand, because we have the president. They will have to come closer to what we want then what President Trump wanted. I dont even know what he wanted. Speaker pelosi let me just underscore this again, because this is where we go from here. We want to unify joe biden as the great unifier. We want to unify. Joe biden is the great unifier. Where are the issues where we can find as much Common Ground as possible . If we are talking to our supporters in the labor movement, jobs. The poorest people, jobs. Everything in between, jobs, jobs, jobs. Its a four letter word. That is where we should be focusing, on health, jobs, and education for our children. We have to show with our initiatives, for example, the that our planet is on. The climate issue is a big issue for us. It is also a jobs issue. We can create good paying, green jobs. We can be preeminent in the world in green technologies, as we advance it as a health issue of clean air, clean water as a National Security issue to protect the habitat and resources and prevent migration that causes unrest, as well as a moral issue. When we are doing it, we have to have everybody at the table so that people are not afraid of the future, because it is inevitable. It is inevitable. We will have to address the climate crisis. The technology has an inevitability to it. We have to address what it means when you are having precision farming and robots on the Assembly Line and the rest. Trade we are a global economy. There is no getting around that. And we want to be because, we want markets for our products. But people are intimidated by that, and we want to make sure that, again, it is not a zerosum game. Your section wins, this section loses. No, how do we go down this path together . I see everything as an opportunity, and that opportunity is greatly enhanced joe biden and his vision for our country. His knowledge of the issues, his Strategic Thinking about how to get it done, and his connection hearttoheart with the Kitchen Table concerns of americas working families. Reporter a frivolous question, does the election change your strategy . There are good jobs numbers. Lets do his mother package now. Do a smaller package no. Speaker pelosi no, it doesnt appeal to me at all, they still have not agreed to crush the virus. If you dont crush the virus, we are still going to have to be dealing with the consequences of the virus. That is why we have said the three pillars of the bill. Crush the virus, honor our heroes. That is our state and local. Over one Million People have lost their jobs in state and local, teachers and people in education because of the funds that have been used to address the virus, and lost revenue because of the virus. So, no. That isnt anything that we should be looking at. It wasnt the right thing to do before. By the way, while they refused to sign up for the testing initiative, which is what science says we need, and they refused to give an earned income tax credit to poor families to keep them out of poverty, in poverty,ies where 8 million more people have gone into poverty as the covid money has run out, they still insist on having 150 billion for the wealthiest tax break for the wealthiest people in our country. There is a difference between democrats and republicans. We have a responsibility to find Common Ground. Stand our ground where we cant, but make it clear to the American People what the choice is, because public sentiment is everything. But sentiment cannot weigh in unless people know. For us now, the fact that we have the president of the united states, to speak to the American People in these terms is such an advantage for us to be able to Work Together in a bipartisan way, rather than the republicans mischaracterizing what were what we are trying to do in the congress of the united states. I see it as an opportunity. Joe biden has a bigger mandate john asked. Kennedy john f. Kennedy and others, and it is exciting for the country because he respects every Single Person in our country. Certainly, every Single Person who voted. We have challenges that need to be faced because of the future, which is inevitable, in all that it contains, but we want people to know that the decisions start the Kitchen Table, not at the start at the Kitchen Table, not at the corporate boardroom and trickle down. Thank you very much. Reporter madam speaker. [indistinct speaking] announcer house Speaker Pelosi, talking about tuesdays elections. The Associated Press has called morehouse races. Among them, congressman van drew, who switched parties to become a republican earlier this year. He won reelection in new jerseys second district. The current makeup is 210 democratic seats, and 94 republican seats. 31 races have yet to be called. 218 seats are needed for a majority. Senators and harrisburg, pennsylvania, will beginning an update on the vote went in their state, will have live coverage shortly here on cspan. Wehle. Kim she is a professor of law at the universe the baltimore. Thank you for your time. Guest thank you for having me. Host can we start with the president s claims about voter fraud . How would you analyze that . Guest voter fraud is a crime. It carries a fiveyear prison sentence under federal law, which is why it is really rare. I think there has been some confusion around voter fraud and just maladministration, mistakes that are made. There are hundreds if not thousands of people on the front lines of democracy, this week, making it work for the rest of us. They are regular people and they are not committing fraud. That does not mean that they dont have errors along the way. The president is wrong to complain claim fraud. There is no evidence of that. No evidence that would actually show some affect on the election results. That would require a conspiracy of lots of people committing fraud together. It does not happen. Host what is the threshold of proof that has to be presented . Guest it is a criminal question. It is against the law in every state. You have to demonstrate, generally, for voting, that the person is impersonating a legitimate voter. So, again, an individual is not likely to commit that crime for the opportunity of voting in one election, knowing it will not actually change the outcome. For i would just ask you all to relax and let the process unfold. Hopefully, we will get results, but we are not there as of yet