President of the National Press club. Pleased to have you all here. Nice capacity in the lounge. Please dont forget to put your phones on silent or vibrate so they dont disturb the proceedings. You can follow the proceedings today on twitter, on mpclive. Also, if you have a question, i will call i will call upon you but you must rise. You must identify yourself. And i will call upon you in addition to the questions i have already, some of which of course have been developing in just the past few hours given the events of earlier today. You noticed that leader pelosi is here leader schumer is on his way here and he will join us very shortly, as quickly as the streets can clear for him. But we want to get things started a little bit before excuse me before we get going. A couple other decor rum items. I understand mostly most of us are journalists, but we understand that some of the people here are indeed members of the club, guests of our speakers. We do have a bit of decorum. No applause here during this unless i call for it to introduce, of course, the people im speaking with because, you know, we just have to observe what we do here. Also, i want to just a couple of thank yous. I want to express my thanks to National PressClub Past PresidentJonathan Salant who organized todays news maker and i also want to extend a really gracious thank you for our new team of what we reconstituted here at the press club called the headliners team. We used to have several committees that do the things that were doing here in terms of bringing speakers before the club. Theyve now come together under one roof and now we have lisa matthews. We have betsy fisher martin, jamie hor row wits and heather weaver have all come together as one team to help bring the best and the brightest news makers here to the National Press club in the wake of its wonderful centuryplus history. Couple of things i wanted to highlight before we get going this evening, tonight here in the Fourth Estate just down the hall, author phillip green headlines one of our occasional wine dinners called the manhattan project, as in the drink. The author of the manhattan, the first modern cocktail gets going at 6 30 p. M. P. J. Orourke returns on march 16th to talk about his latest book. The ceo of pfizer on march 23rd. April 21st, joint chiefs chairman general Joseph Dunford will be joining us. And for details on these and other things, log on to wwww. Press. Org. A little about the speakers with us currently, when i first got to washington in 1990 she was speaking out on u. S. Policy towards china, specifically human rights issues, becoming a goto expert on the matters. I remember several time mas dam leader when you were also deeply involved in Intelligence Matters you served on that committee which you still do to this day. Nancy pelosi is the baltimore born daughter of a congressman and sister to charmed city major. She took her talents out west and decided much later to follow in her fathers and brothers political footsteps starting in the late 70s and being elected to the house of representatives in 1987. But dont let the late start fool you because she made up for it in historic fashion, rising to become the first woman to hold the gavel as speaker of the house in 2006. She became a friendly thorn in the side of president george w. Bush on his iraq war policy but had to find a way to work with him on rescuing the u. S. Economy from economic collapse of 2008 and 2009. Along the way, navigating what has become an increasingly partisan house while trying to win the day for her side of the aisle, even surviving the occasional challenge for leadership. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a welcome to democratic leader, nancy pelosi. [ applause ]. Thank you very much, jeff. Thank you and congratulations to you for your election as president of the historic National Press club. Thank you, jonathan, for arranging all of this. Its an honor to be here with chuck schumer, when he will be here momentarily. The newlyelected leader of the Senate Democrats and newly elected reelected member of the senate from his state of new york. He comes with the confidence of his colleagues and the enthusiastic support of his constituents. Youll tell him i said that, right, when he gets here . So tomorrow is 40 days into the new administration. President trump will deliver his address, his first address to a joint session of congress. As we have reminded every time the president or anyone from his administration speaks to the American People dealing with this administration demands that we stand up for the facts. And the facts are these on january 20th, 2009, in the middle of the worst economic catastrophe since the great depression, president obama in his inaugural address called for swift, bold, action now to create jobs and lay a foundation for economic growth. One week and one day later, the Democratic House passed the american recovery and reinvestment act. One week after that, the Senate Passed the bill and on february 17th, president obama signed it into law, four weeks from his inauguration. He had already signed fair pay act and Childrens HealthInsurance Program and made other progress as well, four weeks into his administration. By the time a few days later, february 24th, when he made his first address to a joint session of congress, he could report on what he had asked for in his inauguration what he had already accomplished. Creating or saving 4 million jobs and so much else. Were not allowed to applaud here, chuck, but if we did, we would be allow to applaud for you right now. Welcome. I talked about you already. But at that joint address, president obama could report on his toric progress made, bold commitment to education, innovation, clean energy and rebuilding americas infrastructure. Tomorrow, 40 days after his inauguration President Trump and the Republican Congress will have not lifted a finger to create jobs or raise wages for hardworking american families. Instead, the president has put wall street first. He has tried to make america sick again. He has instilled fear in communities across america and he has allowed russias grip on his administration to jeopardize our National Security and undermine our democracy. Putting wall street first, the Republican Congress and Trump Administration moved quickly to enable profiteering by wall street his wall street friends at the expense of hardworking americans. Just two weeks into his administration, President Trump acted to unravel doddfrank reforms, putting main street back at the mercy of wall street. On the same day, he eliminated the rule that Financial Advisers act in the best interest of their clients and House Republicans have also made it harder for 60 million americans to save for retirement. These actions will worsen the conditions that fueled his candidacy. President trump engaged in a bait and switch agenda. No jobs, no Retirement Security and no Health Security either. Instead of acting on jobs, republicans will make america sick again, declaring allout war on Affordable Health care from the Affordable Care act to medicare to medicaid. All of which are now wed. Affordable health care had transformational success in expanding coverage, improving benefits and lowering cost. It extended the life of the Medicare Trust fund, lowered Prescription Drug cost for seniors and provided free preventive care, keeping seniors healthier. It also expanded medicaid. Now a vital tool in the fight against the Opioid Epidemic and major funder of seniors in Nursing Homes or even who go there for day care. As republican Governor John Kasich said, thank god we expanded medicaid because that medicaid money is helping to rehab people. More than under the Affordable Care act, more than 20 million previously uninsured americans now have coverage under the Affordable Care act, 55 million americans who get their insurance through their employer cannot be denied coverage because of the preexisting medical condition are now protected from life time limits on care. Their children can now stay on their policy until age 26 and being a woman is no longer a preexisting medical condition. Republicans seek to dismantle all this progress. In their plan, republicans picture this, republicans will give each of the wealthiest 400 families in america a 7 million tax break each year. 400 wealthiest families in america, 7 million tax break each year. And force tens of millions of americas middle class families to pay a massive new tax on Employer Provided Health coverage. Maybe that affects you. Again, instead of acting on jobs, the Trump Administration has prioritized a brutal agenda to target vulnerable populations and instill fear. The president s muslim and refugee ban dishonors our values, violates our constitution and undermines our nations fight against terror. He launched a cruel deportation dragnet that will tear families apart and has hauled lawabiding immigrants out of church alters, courtrooms and schools. And just last week, President Trump dealt a heart breaking blow to transgender children in our schools. A struggling group of lgbt young people who are the most at risk. And all of this to deflect attention away from his failure to advance a jobs agenda and deflect attention away from his russian connection. I called him the deflector in chief. The president says his actions are to make america safer. The fact is, he is making america less safe. President trumps reckless agenda and incompetent judgment is jeopardizing the security of our nation. The president handed the National Security council to a white supremacist. In the nirs month of the trump white house, we saw the resignation of the National Security adviser and we saw the chief of staff pressure the fbi over investigations into a connections between the senior Trump Officials and the russians. The American People deserve the truth. What do the russians have on donald trump that he would flirt with lifting the sanctions against russia because of their aggression in Eastern Europe . That he would undermine the start treaty. Praise putin and stone wall any investigation to bring the truth to life, including releasing his tax returns. When the president talks about a mess, hes talking about his own first 40 days in office, which he utterly squandered. Democrats belief that we must focus everyday on job creation and growing paycheck for everyone everywhere in our country. We should be creating jobs, rebuilding americas infrastructure, investing in science, education, innovation that will drive the jobs of the future and unleash the full potential of your country. Five weeks ago we had a peaceful transfer of power, the inauguration of a new president. Although when President Trump spoke of carnage and decay, it was a sad day for our country. The next morning dawned with a peaceful show of power where women in their families marched for our values in harmony and with good spirit. It was organic, it was personal, it was powerful. The women, men and children who poured into the streets for the womens march, those who turned out at airports shortly thereafter and town halls in the weeks since, they honor the vision of our founders. President trump has made authoritarian choices. Choices in favor of secrecy, the tool of authoritarians instead of transparency and openness, the essentials of a democracy. Calling the press the enemy of the people is a cause for great alarm. And just one reason for the american to be vigilant, very, very vigilant. The American People are mobilizing. As long as republicans continue down this destructive and radical path, the Public Resistance will only increase. As president lincoln said, public sentiment is everything. With it you can do almost anything. Without it, almost nothing. In the halls of congress, in the districts across america, democrats will lead the fight against President Trumps dangerous bait and switch deflector in chief agenda. Its now my honor to present this Senate Leader chuck schumer. I said earlier he comes as a new leader with the full confidence of his Senate Caucus and the overwhelming support of his constituents in new york and he is leading the charge against the trump agenda in the senate. Senator schumer. Thank you, nancy. Theyre not allowed to applaud. Thats okay. Its like church, or synagogue. Okay. Well, i want to thank leader pelosi. Nancy, you continue to be just an outstanding leader of the democrats in the house, and i want to thank the National Press club for hoetsing us this afternoon. Now, before i get into tomorrows speech, i want to briefly take a step back and take a look at the first month of the Trump Presidency and how democrats in the senate stood up to the president. After the election, we democrats were down in the dumps. Republicans turned majorities to both houses of congress and prepared for the first republican president in eight years. My daughters came to me. They were as upset as i was election night. And i taught them the old song. Momma said there would be days like this, there would be days like this my momma said. But a few days after the election i realized that had te election gone the other way and hillary been president and i been majority leader, i certainly would have had more fun. And leader pelosi and i probably would have been able to get more good things done, which is why were here. But i realize that with trump as president and myself as minority leader, our job is even more important. We democrats are steeled for the fight. And its already paying some dividends. Frankly, we had a better first month than i think most would have imagined. Just look at the two biggest debates, the two biggest things the senate has taken up so far. The Affordable Care act in the cabinet. First on the aca. At the beginning of the year, all the pundits were wondering if democrats would stay united over the aca act. Republicans were convinced they could bring some more moderate democrats with them and come up with a bipartisan repeal and replace effort. One month later two things have happened, republicans have not been able to pick off a single democrat to support any of their plans. We have shown a united front while the republican warfare has been on full display. They cant agree on a time line to repeal the aca. They cant agree what to replace it with or even if they should call it repeal and replace anymore. Who would have thought one month after the fight over the aca, its the republicans, not the democrats, who are in disarray, on defense, and pointing at one another like an abbott and costello show. I predict the discord in their party will grow as republicans return to washington after this last week of angry town halls. I believe the odds are very high. We will keep the aca. It will not be repealed. The debate on the president s cabinet is secondary where democrats have done much better than expected. When we entered the confirmation process, we really didnt expect to defeat any of the nominees. We knew the republicans would be under tremendous pressure to walk in lock step. But we didnt want to rush the nominees through. Our first goal was to stretch them out so that the American People could get a look at who they were. Well, mcconnell suggested we do all the cabinet nominees on january 23rd. That quite didnt happen. And what weve done is our second point and the most important point. Weve exposed the cabinet for what it is. A swamp cabinet, a billionaires and bankers who lack basic confidence, whose views are a bestral of what donald trump promised in the campaign. So we achieved our goal. And it will have good effect on democrats and more importantly on america in the coming months. When hh secretary price tries to cut medicare and medicaid, the public knows his record and will be on his case about it. When betsy devos tried to shift money away from public schools, the public knows her record and will be on her case. And when scott pruitt undermines environmental protections for clean air and clean water, the public will be wise to his record and on his case. And of course, labor wont have to deal with the viciously antilabor puster. Because of what democrats did during the confirmation process, these cabinet officials, all of them, are going to have to look over their shoulders after everything they do. So on both the cabinet and aca, the two biggest issues we faced as a senate, in the first month, democrats are united and are on offense. Republicans are divided on defense. Were doing a lot better than we thought. Next, president s speech. What about the speech tomorrow night and the administration so far . Well, in the first month as nancy said on tv yesterday, the president hasnt done very much, but what he has done is fore sake his promises to the working class. Favoring the interests of rich and powerful while shifting the burden on to w