Is more relevant than ever on television and online cspan is your unfiltered view of government so you can i cup your own mind so you can make up your own mind. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke about the legislative agenda with reporters at a Christian Science monitor breakfast in washington. She addressed trade policy, escalating tensions with iran, border security, and other political and policy debates. This runs one hour, five minutes. Speaker pelosi oh, food. This would be more like french. Like brunch. Im good. Maybe you can i will get around to eating later. One of the main reasons i wake up in the morning, my motivation is to have breakfast. Otherwise, it is like, what time is it . Good morning. Today is speaker of the house nancy pelosi. It is her 13th appearance at a monitor breakfast. The first was in 1995 before she was even elected to the house. At that point, she was serving as the finance chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign committee, and i do not know how they figured out she was the speaker, but the future speaker, but i applaud my monitor predecessors for inviting her 34 years ago, so welcome back. Speaker pelosi has been in politics pretty much her whole life. Her father was a member of congress and then mayor of baltimore. After college, she married and moved west to San Francisco where she became a fixture in the state democratic party. A special house race in 1987 and has been a member ever since. Speaker pelosi is now in her second tour as speaker of the house, and we are delighted to have her here today. Now, the ground rules. Please, no life logging or live blogging or tweeting. 9 00 session ends at we will be malia pictures from pictureskfast email from the spec first to everybody as soon as this breakfast end s. Police set me a signal and i will call on as many of you as time permits. Now Speaker Pelosi, would you like to make brief opening remarks . Speaker pelosi think you, linda, very much for the invitation to be here this morning. I did not realize it was this many times. 1985, that is a wild back. A wild back. A while back. Me,ge mitchell asked because he became chair of the Senate Campaign committee, we were friends through all of that. He said, they asked me to be chair, but we are not a big fundraising state, so will you help with winning the senate . Number of our large significant establishments, forces in california, to say, i have been asked to do this, but i need to know that we will have the full force of california here. And, i do believe that we can win. That is a very important element. I do believe that we can win the senate for the democrats. This was a very big deal. Not a fundraiser organizer. But, you have to keep the doors open. Think,y night, i would how do i stay three months ahead with the payroll, utilities, rent, Political Activities . Like a small businesswoman, actually. Because you are organizing, you have to have the resources, hence the contact with the community. That was a necessity. I am an organizer, the essence of my being. Anyway, we did win. That was 1986. Then i came into the congress a few months later in a 1987. In 1987. Had good rapport from the start, but never thinking that i would be from 1985 to now, speaker. Anyway, here we are today. When i first came here, this is a much smaller table in every way. Now, it is much bigger and much more diverse. Now, i am happy to see many women here. Not that women are more so than men, but the beauty is in the mix. That diversity is important. Expandinglate you for the universe of those telling the story. Today is an interesting day, today is the day the administration will be eliminating one of the last vestiges of what president obama did to protect the environment. I think the environments i think they are calling it a dirty power scam. That name just emerged this morning. This is fundamental for the air our children brief and the water they drink and the safety children brief and the water children breez children breathe and the water they drink and their safety. Today is the day that Prime Minister trudeau is coming. About the will talk trade agreement, he may want to talk about that, but that is in the past. Also today, we are obviously Going Forward with our appropriations bill, and later today, we will have the meeting, a bipartisan meeting with the white house and how it relates to the debt ceiling. Just a few things that are happening today on the policy side. I would really rather hear what you want to talk about, but i do feel exhilarated, because this weekend, over 140 of our members participated in town halls or events, whether press conferences, townhall meetings, whatever, on the issue of health care. And the response was just spectacular across the country. It still remains the heart of the matter for americas families in terms of the good health, but also the Financial Security that having access to pollard two Affordable Health care having access to Affordable Health care. It is one of the reasons i ed, because Prime Minister trudeau is coming today thank you so much. He is coming today, i will see him tomorrow. Thank you, staff. [laughter] Speaker Pelosi it happens. [laughter] thank you. Appreciate that. Thanks very much. Temple markers. They are being brave. This is what is happening today, this week, etc. Thank you for refining my temple marker. Dont we hearwhy what you want to hear about . We are in a mode of legislate, investigate, litigate. Obviously, we take seriously the constitutional challenge that we have. We share some concerns about that with you, we are concerned about freedom of press, we believe you are the guardians of the gate of our democracy. We do believe that the president is undermining the heart of the matter of the actual constitution, before the bill of rights, in terms of separation of power, go equal branches of government, check and balances. Threat that weus have responsibility a responsibility to hold the president accountable. Our focus is legislate at the same time as we investigate and litigate. We are happy to take any questions you have. I dont even remember 1985, but i do remember a series of meetings. I must have been very nervous that day, can you imagine coming in as a volunteer and politics to this very distinguished group of journalists . They give her the opportunity to be here today. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I would ask that you limit yourself to one questions is there are so many of us. Speaker pelosi i want you to obey what linda had to say. Her son and daughter and mom. At your less monitor breakfast in march of 2017, you last monitor breakfast in march of 2017, when President Trump had taken offer, you told us that you were ready to retire to california because you thought Hillary Clinton was going to win, but that obesity didnt happen. And you said it was really shocking that somebody like donald trump to be president of the United States, but he e to stay. My question for you is, now that we have had president ial for 2. 5 years, what are the stakes . Speaker pelosi i think i was right. But the main reason i stayed was to protect the Affordable Care act. It wasnt necessarily just about him, but about the Affordable Care act, because that is a pillar of health and Financial Security similar to social security, medicare, medicaid, the Affordable Care act. I knew that it would be under threat with this president. Forgetting any of the personal aspects from his behavior, from a policy standpoint. Give creditly, ive to the i give credit to the grassroots. Of course, in his first two years of office, to protect the Affordable Care act. With all of our inside maneuvering, we can only go so far without the outside mobilization. Threat,s still under and it has made the difference 2018. Election in between 100 million and 150 million families are affected by preexisting conditions in addition to the people we added, for larger, tens of millions of families in our country in terms access toe limits, health care. I wont go into the whole thing, but suffice to say, that was my motivation to protect the Affordable Care act from him. Is american democracy at risk . Speaker pelosi our country is a great country. Our founders, we were really blessed with our founders. Thank god they made the constitution amendable, so that we could expand even more freedoms than in the original document, including freedom of the press and the bill of rights would even be on that later in terms of voting rights, etc. I have confidence in the American People. I have confidence in the strength of our democracy, that it could withstand this president. Jerry from the buffalo news . Hi, jerry. Osi reporter he reversed himself and called for an impeachment inquiry. His argument is really based on the fact from the administration stonewalling, the house investigation using the term that there is a legitimate legislative purpose to the documents that were turned over and the testimony. What do you think of congressman higgins argument . Speaker pelosi i respect everybody and think there should be an inquiry, but i do not think you should have an inquiry unless you are ready to impeach. I am not asking members what to do in their own time, what i believe is when we go forward, as we go forward, it has to run deep. It cant be the democrats in preaching the impeaching. This president must be held accountable. I feel no pressure from my members to do anything, and i have no pressure on them to do anything. This is not about politics. This is not a bipartisanship, it is about patriotism, to one of the constitution of the United States to honor the constitution of the United States. But i do think that it is important for the American People to see a purpose of why we would go forward. And now, this week, i dont know if this was news last week, but we will be having access to less redacted versions of the mueller report. , unlessaid originally the country can see what they show us, we shouldnt see it, but i have when we had the offer of the redacted for many more people than just the leadership, ive accepted that i accepted that because i really do not trust the attorney general of the United States and i am afraid that he may, depending on what is in there, try to, shall we say, deal with ongoing matters in a way that is not constructive for our constitution. I cant say anything more than that. Npr laura from npr . [laughter] reporter have a question about legislation. I have a question about legislation. Youre passing a whole bunch of bills even if they cant go anywhere in the senate and members are getting frustrated the are not getting the same attention from the American Public that you would like. In order to get more attention for these bills, do you need to pick the bigger fight with Mitch Mcconnell . Speaker pelosi well, actually, we dont think that these bills are not going anyplace, because they have overwhelming support among the American People. Do we have the graveyard . Gravestone . I want to show you something we gave out at our caucus this morning. Yes, mitch has to be held accountable. Thank you. This is mcconnells graveyard. He has said he is the grim reaper, he takes pride in being the grim reaper. That is his political stolen, because my dear husband for some reason, gets the republican mailers and he brags about being the grim reaper as he is raising money. Here they are, for the people act. Protecting people with preexisting conditions, gun , thence prevention equality act ending dissemination of the lgbtq community, gps, paycheck fairness, climate action, saving internet act. To name a few. He has said they are dead on arrival in the senate. We are seeing no, they are alive and well in the public. If you intend to not bring them up, there will be a price to pay. Again, i go back to lincoln, public sentiment is everything. Without it, practically nothing with it you can accomplish anything, without it, practically nothing. We insist this legislation we brought up. Some of these things have 70, 80, 90 support in the public. We selected issues that we ran on. When we talk about Lower Health Care cost, lowering the cost of Prescription Drugs, the preexisting conditions, he will have even more legislation in that regard. Building infrastructure of america in a green way, cleaner ,overnment Lower Health Care bigger paychecks, we think the president could be agreeable to legislation in those two areas. Cleaner government. Inont see any hope for that terms of the president , but we do see it in terms of the American People. In all have legislation added to this list that talks about the integrity of our elections and the security of our elections, and that legislation is in the works. I think they will announce it in a day or two. We were hoping to also have republicans, and that is taking a little more time. Thatnt accept any fact of that these will not see the light of day. However, in order for the public sentiment to weigh in, the public has to know. That is why we are having these town meetings and the rest on these subjects as we go around the country. Tomorrow, we will have a big event here on gun violence prevention. 90 popular80 , even among gun owners and members of the nra. That is part of our fight. He is the point person who is standing in the way, and we have to make sure that people know. Is to the second part, no would say our members are not happy that these are being taken up, but there are no frustrations from keeping us from doing even more and pushing even harder on all of this. Bloomberg . Rom reporter you mentioned you will be going later to the white house to talk about the president 750 billionant for spending. On 750ocrats insist billion for nondefense spending . Also, the timing of the deal, do you need it now or are you going to wait until closer to the debt limit increase . Speaker pelosi two things come offer similar, we are not talking about parity in terms of the amount of money, we are talking about parity in the amount of increase. The domestic nondefense discretionary defense domestic has to be increased with how the Defense Budget is increased. , the nondefense , a thirdnary domestic of it, 34 of it is veterans, antiterrorismty activity at the justice department, the state Department Issues the state department, issues that relate. And wehave to listen up have additional initiatives that relate to our veterans. I dont necessarily love them to death, but it has to be paid for. It is the law and we have to pay for it. We are making the case that we need more money on the domestic side. That is what the budget agreement calls for. This, we want to do it as soon as possible so that the Appropriations Bills can move. Or. M not an appropriate propriator. I believe they can come to agreement on the bills. I am still optimistic about that. In terms of the debt ceiling, we said that we have to have an ps, that is not a good thing for anybody. There are some in the administration that do not mind shutting down government, that is not a good idea. We have to recognize there needs to be compromise, but we have to have the budget agreement consistent with parity in the increases, not parity in terms of the amount, because the fence is so far ahead of defense is so far ahead of everything else. In terms of the debt ceiling, we will lift the debt ceiling. We have to have the agreement first so that we know we are on the same page as we go forward. Reporter my question is about china. The situation in hong kong. What do you think about the protest . Am Going Forward, what is the most effective way for the u. S. To help maintain hong kongs legal economy . Legal autonomy . Speaker pelosi thank you. A quarter of the whole population of hong kong was on the streets on this extradition law, which is appalling. You know what it says. In hong kong, you would be tried in beijing, and they can cook up any charge on any person, including journalists. Close to regenerations of hong kong democrats, martin lee, mr. Chan. Mr. Chan. Daschle wong joshua wong. It has always been bipartisan. So dear question, we have legislation to your question, we have legislation that updates u. S. Hong kong policy. Under our law now, hong kong is treated as an Economic Zone for lack of a better word, and has othervileges privileges separate from china. In this legislation senator marco rubio was introducing, and jim mcgovern, i was part of the lead on it, it is very bipartisan, to pass the legislation that says that we no longer assume that china is , twoting under one country systems. We have to have the administration certify that that situation exists in hong kong in order for them to get the separate privileges. In china, they dont get these privileges. I was pleased with the Administration Statement so far, such as they happen, pompeos statement on what is happening, this is a big issue. Has been really taking china backward in terms of repression. There could be 2 million, 3 million in education camps right now. I myself am taking a delegation to see what they are doing to suppress religion, culture, languages of tibet. All over china, there are incidences of suppression of human rights and democratic freedoms. Im not talking about democracy, just freedom of speech. I dont think what they are doing in hong kong is a very taiwan, one to country, two systems. Election is in january, and they always try to weigh in on that, but they do not do themselves a service. I can talk on this subject all day, because we live it all the time. Our office has had this priority for a long time. Speaker pelosi john from john from newsmax. Reporter that of figure, i just reread the part madame speaker, i just reread the part of your biography that has your first unique election to the house. Filbert. My question is this, if the house does impeach the president , could you still go ahead and work with him on a deal on infrastructure . Speaker pelosi yes, but again, we take this one step at a time. I dont think we have to wait for that for us to try to get a deal on infrastructure. Spokenthe time i have with the president by phone or in person since his election, he has talked about infrastructure. I really do think reporter 80 of the time . Speaker pelosi i will say there are a couple of incidences he has not brought it up, there are other subjects that took center , but i think you would really like to do that. He goes back and forth on things, but with time to pay for the purpose of that meeting was to say what are you willing to do in terms of paying for it . Going forward, we cannot keep increasing the national debt. If you gave 82 of the benefits 83 of the benefits to the top 1 of the country, they could, but they chose to go that route. How do we at least pay for a good chunk of this . And there are different ways to do it. We wanted to hear what he was willing to support. Of the United States has his signature, he can persuade republicans in the congress to go down a certain route. I havent given up on that. The timing is now on possible impeachment. The timing is now. On possible impeachment, we will see. The obstruction of justice is what has affected members, that he is ignoring subpoenas, obstructing justice, articles of impeachment for a president he ignored nixon, the subpoenas of congress. In this less redacted mueller report, that may affect the timing. We will see. Reporter so youre still for infrastructure . Speaker pelosi it is more a question of if he is. Months until the next election, we will see. I think that they have no accomplishments. Act, to for the people when the role of big, dark money in politics end the rule of big, dark money and politics. In politics. National debt by 2 trillion and then coming back and saying, maybe we can pay for it by cutting back on medicaid and medicare, social security, disabilities, benefits and the rest . From a policy standpoint, we love the campaign to be about policy. These are the choices, this is what it means in your life. Thisis why this meeting weekend also important, because we were listening to what it means in peoples lives. Speaker pelosi lisa from pbs. Speaker pelosi you have a generational advantage. [laughter] reporter my question is, last appropriationste committee and chairman reached a deal in principle on emergency supplemental for the border. What is your understanding of what is in that, and what needs to be in that other than funding for democrats to feel that the border and the treatment of immigrants is going the right direction . Speaker pelosi thank you for your question. This is a senate product. I have not seen it, because this is new. I trust the judgment of an appropriator. The appropriators can come up with a compromise that is necessary between the parties ihis, but i do not know am not at liberty. Ist i think is in there, something they are just going to have to announce. Reporter but what needs to be in there other than funding . Speaker pelosi it is a funding bill. Reporter in terms of requirement of treatment of . Etainees, numbers of detainees Speaker Pelosi money is treatment. If there is money for the humanitarian assistance, money for the judges to expedite and facilitate the process in terms of people being able to stay or go, i do think it has to be based on a values used decision. The president s statement that he was going to be deporting all these people right before his rally. We do recognize that it is a bipartisan product. We certainly hope that it would thatedicated on the fact we have the dignity, and the worse in people, taking babies mothershe arms of their and separating families is not what our country is about. The l. A. Times . Following up your comment on infrastructure earlier, looking at the other bipartisan bills that have had a ,hance in this congress healthcare, usmca, there is limited time before the august break. Can you tell us about how you would try to enough something bipartisan right now even somethingct bipartisan right now . Speaker pelosi the president said he would be interesting on working together on lowering the cost of Prescription Drugs. We had some positive conversations with the administration on that. That is one area where we think we have to go through our Committee Process on that, but i think that is something that we can put forward. It it will be done before the august recess. Our priority right now is to pass the Appropriations Bills. One thing that Congress Must do is pass the Appropriations Bills. We are very proud of the pace that we are on for that. Ialn, the supplement do that. By the end of june, we want to have all of that done. In addition to that, we want to have i dont want to put a date on it, but i do think we are making progress on the Prescription Drug bill. Yesterday, we had an enrollment ceremony with democrats and republicans for the bluewater legislation. The agent orange, it is specific, but a big deal in the veteran community. I was very excited, because when i was chair all those years in the early 80s, the Vietnam Veterans were having hunger angeles, alos massive Hunger Strike and los angeles, which i went and spent a day with them on. One had been there who had been on Hunger Strikes before for civil rights, and he was giving them guidance, drink liquids, take showers, you must completely be taking showers so your body is not poisoned by the effects of hunger. So, i have been close to this issue for decades. Finally, we passed a bill unanimously in both houses, and so we had our enrollment there for that. Their issue is that we have a bill that will address john lewis, we have legislation that will go to the president s desk. Some of these other issues. But, some of them make a big difference in the lives of the American People. Youerms of Mitch Mcconnell, have to ask him the questions, why would he not want to have gun violence protection with a background check . Agreedupon inst the public mind. It has tremendous support. Wee will be working dont separate things out so much as the break or this or try to forust several pass all of our bills so by september 30, government will be open. That is our must do. Where hoping to have bipartisanship we are hoping to have bipartisanship on Election Security as well. Julie from the New York Times . In the category of bipartisanship, this year, the administration has been making positive, confident noises about the possibility that they will be able to persuade a large number of House Democrats to support the agreement and legislation to implement it, what is your sense of the prospect for that . Ambassador lighthizer was very couple of injury a few todays ing to the senate about was very complimentary of you to the senate. Speaker pelosi i myself voted for nafta. I was disappointed in how things were represented the representations that were made that were never fulfilled. You have leverage, because everybody wants an improved nafta. This is not the traditional trade fight. I thought this would be the easiest trade agreement that we could pass, however, these are the unresolved issues. First of all, enforcement. On any number of enforcements, but if you are not having agreement, youre just having a conversation and you will have the same problems you had before. That is the overarching issue. Enforcement. The major the three major categories are workers, we won any agreement to benefit americas workers, but you dont benefit American Workers by suppressing workers in another country. That is just an invitation for jobs to go to a place where workers do not get treated well. Again, there are good provisions in the bill, but if you do not have enforcement, you just have provisions in the bill. The second one is the environment. There has been disappointed about what happened on nafta and the environment, so those concerns i think can be worked out. I course, as a californian, know very well what some of the challenges are for the environment. Loomed as ahich has big issue in our caucus, is the issue of pharmaceuticals. How pharmaceuticals are treated. So, the language is good on workers. The question is, is it really going to happen in mexico . Parity with canada on wages and things like that. Is it really going to happen in mexico . We hope so. Thisrequires something may be more than you wanted on the subject. , onerms of the enforcement of the proposals that has come standing with the workers community, laborers, etc. They have a proposal that could be the answer for the enforcementpe piece. It is a way to make sure that enforcement takes place. We will see how that goes. Chairmanenator grassley the other day, and we talked a little bit about that. We would like that to be resolved. Naftas it cant be, this is nafta, the nafta with sugar on top. That isnt that much of a change. The presiden there are those on the other side saying we are holding it up. We are not. Our people want a better nafta. That gives some leverage, but we have to have enforcement and answer for the three categories i mentioned. Then, there will be some dogs and cats. There are some issues that are regional, and i do not say that a negative way, we love our dogs and we love our cats. Theloped o Philadelphia Inquirer . There have been suggestions about getting word of the filibuster, using executive action, cooperation. How do you think a democrat could get something done, can Mitch Mcconnell be coaxed or shamed into action, do you think . Speaker pelosi if youre talking about what happens, we just have to win. We just have to win. That is just the way it is. As i said earlier in two different answers, one, i believe in the American People, and two, public sentiment is everything. I think we have to take the conversation very forcefully to the American People so that they know what is in it, and these policy debates for them. And they have their apprehensions as well as their apprehensions and hopes and fears, and we need to connect with that. And i think that public sentiment will make a difference in the behavior of the senate. We could probably get into a discussion of the unicameral legislator, if we go down that path. The wisdom that our founders established, what they did, whatever i dont know, protocol they decided. I dont really get into the senate. The when we selected our fourpeople agenda, better paychecks, cleaner government, i dont know that the republicans are interested in that, but public sentiment is we were looking for areas where we had agreement , where we could be unifying. Issues innot divisive terms of the public, none of these are. Debates, that in our which they had in a lively way at the beginning of our country, that is what a democracy is about. We had to try to always be uniting for our country and not dividing. That is what informs decisions about impeachment, decisions about selecting issues where you can find common ground. Sentiment,ly, public the goodwill of the American People will not be continued to be ignored by the republicans in the senate even when we have a Democratic Senate and a democratic president. 16. 5 months from now. 10 minutes to go, maybe we can have a lightning round . Christina from the wall street journal . Reporter stephen brooks, the head of the House Republicans recruitment effort, announced her retirement. The you take any message from that and do you want to see republicans recruit more women . Speaker pelosi i was sent to susan brooks is a arful member of wonderful member. That bipartisan entity in the congress, she is gracious and lovely to work with, and smart and talented, and i think it is a real loss to the republicans. On that subject, the recruiter, i know that she probably would want to have more women in so did we, and we made a decision to have more women in congress. When i went to women, there were 23 womens, 12 democrats, 23 women, told democrats, 11 republicans. Now we have 105 women in democrats. 95 democrats and 15 republicans. Youre not counting puerto rico and guam. 13 voting members. We count our delegates in our 91. The tw as well, so o as well, so the 89 and 13. That is a stunning thing, but it is a decision. It is a decision we made to increase the number of women. 60 of our congress are women, people of color, lgbtq. We are very proud of that. We go to the table to negotiate whether it is in committee or we havethat, that different demographics from the other side of the aisle and bring a different array of oferstanding of the concerns the American People. It is a loss for them that she is not running. I have not had a chance to speak with her, but i respect her a great deal. From your home, San Francisco. Abouter he said it is upholding the constitution, not politics. He also said pretty clearly the president is engaging in a criminal coverup, obstruction of justice. Where exactly is the line for you . Rise above all the other stuff . Speaker pelosi when we stop finding even more information. As i said, we are a few months deep, and every day we see more, so why would we stop . If you are going to go down this path, you have to go down this path, you have to make it so time, ifsay it all the youre going to go down this path, you have to make sure that the public has an understanding of why. And that when the president , if the president is impeached, that the present that the senate understands that they either honor the oath of office to protect and defend the constitution of the United States, and if they dont, the public will hold them accountable for not holding the president accountable. Come from real clear politics . Tom from real clear politics . Congress writes immigration law, not the president. We do have record numbers of crossings at the border, humanitarian issues. We havent democrats propose any solution to the problem . Do you think the asylum laws as we currently as they currently sit are appropriate . Speaker pelosi let me just say, it is hard to do it rapidfire. We did pass to bills two bills that address short fuse issues, the dream act, the temporary protected status, that offset a couple of Million People in our country. These are popular in the public and are abridged, a confidence builder are a bridge, a confidence builder for immigration reform. In order to do comprise of immigration reform, we have to do that in a bipartisan way and with the administration involved. That is an obstacle that the president is saying he is going to send people out of the country, take babies out of the arms of their mothers. I agree with you, there has to overarching plan on this, and it has to be bipartisan. Let me just say that the asylum is that we doact less in terms of asylum than any other country, especially commensurate with our size. On the had a hearing in froman, people came the military saying you cant do this because it hurts our relationship, the diplomats, the advocates, and the muslim munity, people of faith but what was most interesting to me was that the evangelical not an individual, but a person representing the American Association of evangelicals, came in and testified that the United StatesRefugee Resettlement program is the crown jewel of american humanitarianism. This is a big responsibility, and people are treating it as if it is almost a nuisance. No, it is a responsibility. So, should we have more judges ,here so we can facilitate whatever it is, the conversations, the process that people can say argo . Should we try stay or go . Should we try to improve situations of persecution . For example, in the northern triangle, we have to defend in a way that will be effective to end some of the reasons why people come. This is not about economic immigration, this is about wellfounded fear of death, persecution, whatever it is, in their home country. The evangelical community has been the lead on this, so have the catholics and many people of faith. And they are exhausting their resources to deal with it in these communities, that is why we want to have a legislation that has more of the humanitarian assistance to go there. Should we subject any of our laws to scrutiny . Of course, how can we do this better . But this is not a bad thing that we have to get rid of. It is a humanitarian responsibility that we have. So, we have reached 9 00, but we have started a little late, can you say two more minutes . Speaker pelosi i am here, i am not finished either. Emily from daily mail . Alexandra ocasiocortez is under fire again from comments she made about concentration camps. Have you talked to some of the freshmen members about the power of their words and the use of their social media and you are thinking about this . Speaker pelosi these members of Congress Come and represent their district and their point of view. They take responsibility for the statements that they make. I am not up to date on her most recent one. I saw something in the news, but no, i have not spoken to her about that. I do have some comments to make to my caucus at large about the political nature of how politically charged the atmosphere is, so understand that while the republicans have no interest on holding the president accountable for his words, they will misrepresent anything that you say just if you have one word in the sentence that they can exploit. , you the two right there can both us your questions . Speaker pelosi i will hear all three and answer them altogether. Reporter the president has threatened to fire the fed chairman and it came to light this week that he even investigated the legality of the voting into a regular devoting him to a regular board. Do you do anything to maintain the independence of the fed . Speaker pelosi and then . Reporter are you confident that the president will not do something designed to purposely provoke a military confrontation with iran . Speaker pelosi and . Surprised there is competition between some of your members and districts, that they are not as afraid as the media describes them to be of impeachment. For posteritys sake, historys sake, they think it might be important. They dont think this is a radioactive topic. Some have proposed censure that after exhaustive hearings and information search, if you could impeach, that the house could for historys sake, pass a censure resolution that would force someone in the senate to Say Something about the president s conduct. Is this something you are considering . Speaker pelosi no. I think censorship is a way out. If you have to go, you have to go. Censure is nice, but it is not commensurate with the violations of the constitution. That is my view. There are some people in our caucus that say we could just do that, but that is a date at the beach for the president or his golf club or wherever he goes. Republicans, i think it is really important to note this there is not anything that the president is about that the Congressional Republicans have not been for longer and worse. Name any subject, then safety, womens rights gun safety, womens rights to choose, lgbtq, nondiscrimination, immigration issues, treating people with dignity and respect, fairness in our economy, name an issue. They have climate denial about science in every respect, including in terms of climate. They are not ever going to criticize him. In terms of policy, he is there guy their guy. This is it. He crossed over to where they are. I dont expect the republicans to do anything but protect the president , unless the case is so clear in the public mind. In terms of iran, i am very concerned about miscalculations that could happen there. I dont think the president wants to go to war, he has told me over and over again in terms of iraq that was a mistake, it should have never happens. He criticizes that. , im very, very concerned about this situation. Theseou write about attacks on these ships, could you say the norwegian, saudi, and japanese the American People get the impression that these are attacks on u. S. Ships. Now, they are saying they shot a drone, an illusions about iran and is in badn terms of supporting actors and missile and. [no audio] the way this administration did is very wrong, but to have a whole breakfast to talk about that independence is very important, but then as an appropriator and funding different things, i was. Rotecting from congress the last thing we need is a president threatening the chairman of the fed about whether or not he is raising or lowering rate. Democrats wanted to have more you have to have an independent Federal Reserve that and you would think some republicans would say mr. President , you shouldnt be doing that, but we dont. Quoting the by founders and what they had in mind. For you, for all of you and for remind that thomas , he said the founders did to establish to do a country built on the quality us and times have found all of you as well as. The urgency of now is what Martin Luther king talked about to protect the whole constitution, bill of rights and the freedom of the press. Attackse authority and to undermine the constitution of the United States and do so in a that get red meat for certain folks. Im not saying the president is in the read me crowd, but the red meat crowd supports the president. Again, the times have found us and we intend to live up to we see the constitution the constitution, the congress turn tocourts and we litigate that support as well, so this is an important time for our country and i counter all of you to the messengers of truth protectt there and also freedom of the press. You study authoritarians around the world, that is where they go because that is what they want to silence or chill, so dont chill. Us tonot time for any of chill. Thank you for the opportunity to share some thoughts with you. Again, every day it is a new challenge of the iranian situation and it presents a large one right now, but sense within the Defense Department will prevail and im not saying they are, im not saying they dont because we are dealing with the unknown, but not dealing with the unknown here, we have plenty to work with. Thank you for the opportunity. Let us thank linda for managing us so well. Thank you all for coming. Me complete guide to congress is now available. It has a lot of details house andabout the senate, plus information about congressional committees, state governors in the cabinet. The 2019 congressional directory bound guide. Piralbound go heres a look at live coverage thursday. Senators will vote on a set of resolutions regarding President Trumps arms sales to saudi arabia. That is followed by an event on managing the southern border and the potential impact on trade policy. Us fromin m a joins politico. The house moves on to its second spending measure