House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a News Conference with reporters at the capitol. She spoke about legislative priorities, including her goals of passing a covid19 relief package during the upcoming lameduck session of congress. This is 25 minutes. Good morning. Good morning, everyone. Another happy day. Joe biden, president elect. This week our nation paused for the sacred observance of veterans day. Every day, we honor our veterans, but one day especially set aside, just as the military leaves no soldier on the field, when they come home, our commitment is to leave no veteran behind. This morning, it was my honor to be joined by the chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee as we the veteranss of compact act, critical legislation to prevent veteran suicide. As our nation confronts the accelerated coronavirus crisis, it is important to note that this has affected tens of thousands of veterans nba workers. It is imperative that we secure even more funding to support the v. A. And care for veterans and their families. I also had the privilege of of participating in the work of Elizabeth Dole, the observances she had on veterans day this year. It was in cars at the kennedy center, and some of us were virtual, but secretary senator Elizabeth Dole has been an angel for our veterans, and i was honored to be asked by her to join senator john mccain and others to be part of the initiative to honor our hidden heroes. The families that care for our veterans. Fork you, elizabeth stole, all of that Elizabeth Dole, for all of that. Again, as we honor the needs of veterans, we must recognize it that meets the v. A. Their needs, it is the role that these Small Businesses play and that many of our veterans rely on medicaid. They constantly come to us and say the medicaid piece is important to their lives. So many of the things that we have in the coronavirus bill, the heroes bill, will affect our veterans. Yes, associated with this, we had a call with president elect joe biden. We stayed close touch in the coming days. Andpoke about the pandemic the economic crisis accompanying it and the urgent need for congress to pass a bipartisan bill in the lameduck session that provides this sources to fight the pandemic and relief for working families and Small Businesses, support for state and local governments to keep frontline workers on the payroll, and engage, and spend it expanded Unemployment Insurance and health care for families. At the same time, as you know, earlier in the week the administration was, instead of crushing the virus, trying to crush the Affordable Care act. We were very pleased at the presentations that were made in support of the Affordable Care act in the courts. But on that call that wasnt our call we discussed the need for Bipartisan Solutions to create millions of good paying ans including infrastructure, manufacturing, research and development, and clean energy. Infrastructure legislation has largely not been a partisan issue. We believe it is a good place where we can find common ground. Work onsomething we can now, but as we go into the new congress. For now, two areas, the coronavirus and also to pass an omnibus bill in a bipartisan way i am optimistic that will happen. I have a good rapport with the appropriators and i think to their own devices, they can get said before. I chairman shelby and i had this conversation, assuring each other that we wanted to have a bill. Again, our focus in the congress now and on this lameduck continues to be on covid relief. This is a red alert. All hands on deck. As leaders schumer and i discussed yesterday, this is an emergency of the highest magnitude and yet our republican colleagues want to focus elsewhere instead of recognizing as the Health Emergency which science has given us a path to crush. We have worse numbers than even yesterday. The numbers speak very eloquently. 160,000 infections were reported a horrifying number following a week of over 100,000 infections a day. These levels are two times higher than the summer peak. Than 67,000 americans are hospitalized with covid, a new record a new threatening to overwhelm our hospitals. Over 10 Million People have been infected over 10 Million People. 240,000 americans have died because of this pandemic. According to news reports, it was reported that more than 130 secret Service Agents are infected or quarantining. In the wake of Trumps Campaign schedule. 130 secret service. Meanwhile, on the economic front, over 20 million americans are on unemployment and america has fewer teachers and education jobs compared to a year ago, and it has an impact on our childrens education. 8 Million People have fallen into poverty. 17 million children are food insecure. There is no time to waste. We must save lives and livelihoods. And yet, republicans in congress continue their tactics of delay, distort, and deny which has led to deaths. It has led to deaths. Now they are trying to distract the country and refuse the election results. The election is over. Joe biden is the president elect, elected with the mandate of over 78 million vote. But dont take it from me. The coordinating council and the election infrastructure coordinating executive Committee Said in their joint statement, this election was the most secure in american history. Evidence that any Voting Systems deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or in any way compromised. While we knowsay we have other claims and opportunities for misinformation, in the process of our elections, we can assure you that we have the utmost in the security and integrity of our elections. You should too. Republicans, shamefully, by pretending otherwise are doing serious damage to our democracy here and around the world, making it even harder to address the crises facing america right now. The longer the republicans keep up this charade, the more in danger americans will be. I urge republicans to accept the facts, acknowledge the crisis and immediately to the table to work on covid relief. There is a vaccine on the ing people hope, but it should also give them encouragement to listen to science on the way to a vaccine. Testing, tracing, treatment, mask wearing, isolation, sanitation, all of those things because the sooner we do that, the sooner we have a vaccine, the sooner we question crush the virus. I hoped it would be an incentive for people to follow science all the way to the vaccine. And in that score, in our covid bill, we have a great deal of funding for the vaccine. The development, as i said yesterday, should be taken under the defense bill. I just dont know why the president is not doing that. And then and also we want to make sure that when the vaccine occurs, there will be sufficient funding to ensure we have enough vaccine to reach everyone in our country as well as in the world because, as we know, unless we are all secure, none of us a re. A Record Number of republican women have been elected this year. They are saying every year is the year of republican women. Is it . I am excited that we have more women in congress. That doesnt mean we have shared views, but hope we we can find on some issues related to Domestic Violence or how the women in a caucus in the bipartisan way came together in the beginning, if shes related teen pregnancy, having a bipartisan focus over time, reducing that. Lets be optimistic and lets see. I congratulate each and every one of them. Of course, we have nine or 10 new women coming into our caucus this time. We are sadly losing a few new women in the congress. But we are happy to have all these new members, and they are beautifully diverse. You, good morning. You are going to have to narrow the story here. T is your power right now what is your power right now a pressureority, inside the caucus, and [indiscernible] . With thatjust say score, we are very much involved in these races. We have a number that have not been counted. We were impatiently waiting on the count of the president ial, and nowke an attorney t and now itsy another week later. We had a very deep victory two years ago. I dont think people are quite understanding. Of the 40 seats that we won were , 31 in trump districts. He was not on the ballot. Right away we said, he is going to be on the ballot. With the actions we were taking, we have saved most of those seats, so we are very proud of that. We have a president of our party in the white house, joe biden. A majority in the house, but nonetheless a majority. We have 132 gavels, chairs of committees, subcommittees, and the rest. The beautiful diversity of our caucus as we go forward. We have to address the fact is that President Trump, to his credit, turned out a take vote big vote and in some districts, people wondered how we won them before, they were so trumpian, and with him on the ballot, we have those some have said they will run again. I am not going to make announcements for anybody. But they have told me they were ready. They loved being in congress, they were proud to have won, and they were proud of the campaign they made. After joe biden was declared the winner on saturday, i spent most of the weekend listening to those who did not win the election. They succeeded in their campaign in terms of putting forth their views, but will not be coming to congress right now. I have pages of notes of what happened in their districts and how they see and go forward and its clear that a number of people there are certain issues that may have worked in one place or another, but we have a deep dive. We have to relate have the data. Really have the data. When we get more data, we will have a clear picture . Does having a smaller majority mean further caucus in the house . Let me remind you, we have a president of the United States who will be a president of the United States. That is so very important whether you are minority or majority, if the president is of your party, you have more power. I think that is what Mitch Mcconnell is going to find out now, that whether he is in the majority or the minority, not having donald trump in the white house is going to change his leverage and that dynamic. But i am very proud. I knew it was hard in terms of what we did. I never said we were going to all of these pollsters did and thats another question about the polling and the rest and the overestimation of what could be there. But President Trump got out his vote and in those districts, he made a difference. And every majority is fragile. Well on our way to the next election, counting still to have a running start with some of these same candidate saying they will run and others who are waiting cause of their own personal decisions to run next time. Thank you, madam speaker. As the president continues to falsely claim he won the election in one form or another, his allies are making unfounded claims about irregularities with outing machines. We have seen the social Media Companies be forced to step in and cracked down. From your perspective, have you seen big tech do enough specifically, website like facebook, to correct the president s lies . Im not a big fan of facebook i dont know what they have been doing, but i know they have been part of the problem all along. I will refer back to the election day infrastructure, coordinating executive committees and what they said. The election was the most secure in american history. Theres no evidence that any Voting System was deleted or ors votes lost votes votes were changed or in any way compromised. We have had resistance from the other side of protecting the Critical Infrastructure of our election. The mechanics of it. This is a good report back. This is a good report back that two, do your points, what is happening in the social media that is so poisonous to our system and how do we have a remedy for that . Its the social media, the technology is a blessing, but its a doubleedged sword. In terms of communication, democratizing the spread of information. They woulde that have some sense of responsibility, because they were very much a part of causing this problem to begin with. But i do want to say that with the president , the white house is a bully pulpit. Joe biden knows what he is there. He has a plan to be effective for americas working families, and he will have, again, he will have the stage. So its not as if we are trying to get a distinction made here and press is engaged in equivalence, which i think was unfair, but nonetheless, in terms of having the bully pulpit, it is not just the white house. It is not just a branch of government. It is not just appointments to jobs and a cabinet. Its the connection with the American People. President lincoln public sentiment is everything. With it, you can accomplish him almost anything and without it, practically nothing. This leapfrogs misrepresentations. I hope everyone will give joe biden a chance to have his message out there. What i saw during the Trump Administration is he could say anything, and it would be two days before the news decided it or not. Value lets hope everyone will give joe biden the chance he is the president. 78 million votes and still counting a mandate. A mandate in our country. My confidence in my hope springs from the public the American People were so good. They are very clear about meeting their needs. One of the messages is the clarity. Some of the fears that they had, the automation, mobilization, diverse city, climate issues and the rest, we want them to know that we are all going down this path together. This is not a zerosum game. There is a place in the future for every person in our country and how we use the automation and globalization and those issues in a way to give them that assurance and those jobs. I said yesterday, is a four letter word. Jobs, jobs, jobs, which contribute not only to the Economic Health of families, but the health and wellbeing of americas families yes the smaller majority, are they going to have to compromise more . Are there bills you will not be able to put on the floor . Not at all. We have a president of the United States. Remember, we have the opportunity to have bills signed into law. We are beautifully diverse. Our diversity is our strength. Our unity is our power. And our unity springs from our commitment to americas working families. That is what we will be talking about. A jobs bill that is resilient, doing so in a bipartisan way so everyone in our country benefits with jobs, Workforce Development and with services, housing, and it does not have much effect at all, no. [indiscernible] no. I think youre making more of a as i said, we had a very big win in the last election. It is smaller than now, but we still have the power of the majority. But on top of that, our leverage and our power is greatly enhanced by having a democratic president and him rot in the white house, especially joe biden who is a man, he is the one who will put forth an agenda and will Work Together as we did with president obama and joe biden as Vice President of the United States. I dont see that is any challenge at all. I see it as an opportunity. Thank you, maddow speaker. On what you said about leader mcconnell, what can you stand on that . You said he is going to find out. What do you mean . He has been known to come to my office and say, im not doing anything that donald trump does not want. To me, that is an abdication of your first branch of government responsibilities. Youre just going to do whatever the president wants . No. This is a separation of powers. This is the separation of powers. And if we are saying we do not have the influence, the scrutiny as to what the best way to go is, listening to the beautiful diversity of the caucus is is a reflection of the American People. Theres no question when the president is a president of your party, your leverage is greatly increased. New must know that. You must know that. So again, for the good of the country, i am so overjoyed that joe biden is resident of the United States. President of the United States. His decency. His vision, his values, his authenticity. And this connection with americas working families. I also know he respects the legislative branch, and it is a collaboration and we are working together to put legislation together that will hopefully be bipartisan and signed into law. The big part of all of this is the public, the American People. They want access to health care. They want good paying jobs. This is our agenda. It for the people, Lower Health Care costs, bigger paychecks by building the infrastructure of america in a green, resilient way. , for thepeople people, cleaner government, hr one, which will be a sure one again. We could not be more thrilled. A lot of the Voter Suppression that is out there. We are sad to lose some of our members. Some of them will come back. Some will be in the biden administration. All are proud of their campaigns. And i think universally thrilled that joe biden is president of the United States. Thank you all. [indiscernible] President Trump will give an update today on covid19 vaccine efforts. We will have live coverage from the white house starting at 4 00 p. M. Eastern, online at cspan. Org, or listen on the free cspan radio app. American history tv on cspan3, exploring the events that tell the american story every weekend. Saturday at 2 00 p. M. Eastern, bestselling author Kathleen Randy and miles harvey talk about how they approach research fictionr fixed and nonfiction work. At 8 00 p. M. Eastern on lectures in history, patrick alex discusses president richard national, henry kissinger, and their key Foreign Policy initiatives. Former u. S. Senator sam nunn reflects on the cold war 75 years later. All weekend, every weekend on cspan3. Sunday night on q a, university of texas at austin sociology professor sarah brian talks about the use of big data and new surveillance technologies by law enforcement. Glowing a pool long and policenew and making are increasingly collecting information on those who have no direct criminal justice contacts, and part of that has to do with this variety component of the three ds of big data, that they are increasingly purchasing information, where you dont have to get pulled over by the police for your data to be put