Weekly House Democrats Press Conference 7.27.22 | Delivering For The People

Good morning everyone. As we prepare for the August district work period, this is another busy week here in Washington, D.C. Democrats are working hard to deliver for the everyday Americans which we fight for with everything that we've got. We've had a tremendous amount of success legislatively in moving bills that will make a difference for everyday Americans that put people over politics, lower costs, better paying jobs, safer communities. That's what House Democrats have been all about. People over politics, lower costs, better paying jobs, safer communities. We don't just talk about it, we are about it. We've lowered costs through the American Rescue Plan which saved the economy, of course put shots in arms, money in pockets, enacted the transformational child tax credit, helped to make health care more affordable through enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, and of course get our children back to school. Lower costs and we're continuing to work on that issue. Better paying jobs, historic investment in infrastructure that will create millions of good paying jobs, not a single one of which can be shipped overseas. Good paying jobs, better paying jobs here in America, urban America, suburban America, exurban America, rural America, small town America, Appalachia. That's people over politics. That's delivering for the people and of course safer communities. In the midst of a gun violence epidemic, for the first time in 30 years, under the leadership of President Biden, Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Democrats in the House and the Senate, we've enacted meaningful gun safety legislation. Of course there's more to be done, that's why we're going to continue to fight the safer communities. People over politics, what House Democrats are all about, that's what drives us and that's what we've been working on. Lower cost, better paying jobs, safer communities. Pete Aguilar. Thank you Mr. Chairman. A lot of items on the agenda this week and we look forward to the legislation that the House caucus can pass this week and the Chairman I'm sure will be asked about some of our legislative agenda items this week as well. But I did want to talk briefly about last week. We had another January 6th committee hearing, over 17 million people tuning in and I think Adam Kinzinger summed it up best when he said we had a president who didn't fail to act, he chose not to act, while the insurrection was taking place and the violent assaults on the Capitol. And then even the day after when he reluctantly went before the cameras, he still couldn't bring himself to say that the election was over. That's the type of threat to democracy that we face and that's why I've been privileged to work with January 6th committee members to have hearings and to expose what we have learned in order to protect this Capitol but also to protect democracy. And the fact that people have been willing to cooperate with our investigation is a testament we feel to how the hearings have proceeded. We still continue to take in testimony and we plan to have more to say throughout August and September related to the committee's work. But it has been clear and compelling the American people have tuned in and we continue to work to promote to protect democracy and to expose what happened on January 6th. With that, Chairman, I'll take questions. I think I should yield to our star pitcher to answer that question, Pete Aguilar, and I am going to yield to him. But I'll just say, listen, climate crisis is an existential threat to our way of life here in America and throughout the globe. And I understand and respect the passion of young people on this issue, my children included, as well as others. And we do need decisive action. This is a global emergency and House Democrats have acted in that regard. And we just need some cooperation from folks on the other side of the aisle, on the other side of the Capitol. First Amendment, protest, in my view, peaceful protest is always appropriate. Yeah, completely echo what the Chairman's saying. Nobody has a problem with a peaceful protest. But, and we do agree that this is a climate crisis. We need to take action here. But we're legislators. Our job is to find that common ground and to continue to enact positive pieces of legislation that protect our climate, protect our planet. So we would hope that anybody who shares that sentiment would do so in a peaceful way. And there's ways to have your feelings heard. And we hope that that's the case. But on a lighter note, we wouldn't have practiced this much if we would have thought the game would be shut down. We're out there at 7 a.m. I think the Republicans are out there at 6.30. They have more players. They need a little bit more practice historically. So they take a longer window of time. But we feel that this is a great event that brings Washington together, has historically been such an important fundraiser for local charities. I think the number was over 1.5 million that's already been raised. Thousands of people in the stands, heckling the Chairman, heckling other members. That's baseball. That's fun. That's summer in D.C. It's going to be warm, but we'll have a good time out there. And Kevin Brady, Rodney Davis, Ed Perlmutter, there are members who are going to play who this is going to be the last time that they're playing. So we hope to have a fun game for everybody. Well, there are active discussions that are ongoing right now as we speak with respect to finding the highest common denominator around our principles that all of us within the House Democratic Caucus believe in, which of course is, you know, working hard to promote safer communities, making sure that our law enforcement community has access to the resources that they need, ensuring that there's real accountability, and also leaning into other ways to promote public safety that are widely embraced by the American people, including breaking the cycle of violence, violence interruption, investing in mental health initiatives as well. So those discussions are ongoing and I believe the package will come together. Well, the discussions are ongoing right now being led by a variety of stakeholders within the House Democratic Caucus umbrella, and I can say that those discussions are proceeding in good faith. Go back to this side, second row. I expect that if the assault weapons ban hits the floor, that it will pass. And I personally and strongly support it. There's no reason to have weapons of war flooding the streets of America's communities. Weapons that are not used to hunt deer, they're used to hunt human beings and shred them to pieces. And we've just got to be able to do something about it. And if the bill emerges from the Rules Committee, as I expect that it does and will, and makes it to the House floor, I believe the votes will be there to pass it. A variety of reasons, including security, and neither will I. We want pro-democracy individuals serving under this dome with us on both sides of the aisle. That ad, we don't talk a lot of politics, the chairman and I, you know, from this podium for a reason, but that ad was a negative ad on Mr. Gibbs. And I think it aired legitimate concerns that anybody should have about someone like that serving in higher office. The threat to Peter Meyer is the same threat that Tom Rice had, is from Republican-based voters. And I can't speak to that. And I don't think either of us are here to speak to that. But we want to serve with rational people who are committed to democracy, who are committed to disagreeing occasionally, but to legislate. That's what we came here to do. So, you know, I hope that there's more folks like that on the other side of the aisle. Yeah, we'll go to our front row in a moment. But just to follow up on what Vice Chair Aguilar said, and I agree with him, the threat right now in this country to the American people are extreme MAGA Republicans. That's the threat. That's the problem. That's the crisis that we confront. Extreme MAGA Republicans. Why? They are extreme on reproductive freedom. They want to criminalize abortion care. Extreme on Social Security. They actually want to end it in five years. Social Security, they want to end it in five years. Extreme on democracy. Apparently, they do not believe in it. They want to lead us on a path toward authoritarianism. Extreme on guns. Extreme on Medicare. They also want to end it in five years. Extreme on voting rights. They don't believe in it. That's the threat that the American people confront. That's why we are going to continue to put people over politics and make it very clear what extreme MAGA Republicans are all about. Yeah, the House, pursuant to the Constitution, has a clear role in American foreign policy. And the Speaker has appropriately, at all times, operated consistently with the constitutional role that the House has with respect to American foreign policy. Sergeant, our position is that members should feel safe to exercise their constitutional responsibilities to perform this job. We're not going to comment on specifics of security threats. Broadly, the Capitol Police Chief has testified and said so publicly that the number of threats has been rising over the past few years. I think we all support efforts to ensure that members feel safe. And it is, I'll be honest, it's one thing to be here. But when we're here, all of us think about our families back home and making sure that they're safe when we're not around. Some of us thousands of miles away with families. And we've all seen the increased chatter that's out there from extremists. And so we always have an eye toward that. And we support these efforts. House Administration Committee that I serve on, that Chair Lofgren leads, will be rolling out more information to members directly on this and on the specifics. But we hope members avail themselves of any opportunity that they can to make them feel better and to exercise their job. Well, the notion that any of our frontline members or members of the House Democratic Caucus support defunding the police is just part of the big lie that extreme MAGA Republicans continue to tell about everything. About everything. They lie about COVID. I think the statement was there were 15 cases and it would go down to zero. Lie about the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost. It was an Electoral College landslide to Joe Biden. More than 80 million people voted for him. Pete Aguilar and the January 6th Committee have done a tremendous job telling the story that Donald Trump's closest friends, allies, and political supporters told them you lost. But they continue to lie about it. And extreme MAGA Republicans are lying about our frontline members. They're just lying. We've leaned into law enforcement and safer communities regularly, including with the passage of the American Rescue Plan and most recently, gun safety legislation. In terms of the particulars of this package that is before us right now, those discussions with all of the stakeholders, both inside of the House and outside of the House, which includes also responsible members of the law enforcement community and the civil rights groups, they're ongoing. And I believe we are on a path towards success. As is always the case here in the House, we find the highest common denominator. So we're going to continue to put people over politics and fight for lower cost, better paying jobs and safer communities. We've done that and we're going to continue to do it. Last question. Oh, actually, anyone else who hadn't asked a question? Yeah, I want to give everybody a shot. Well, you know, I'll let Pete respond as well. But the danger, the clear and present danger to the American people are extreme MAGA Republicans. That's just the reality of the situation. And so we do what we do here under the dome as members of the House Democratic Caucus on the official side. And we're going to continue to point out the distinctions between what we're about, putting people over politics and what they're about, and their extremism. They're out of control. That's just the reality of the situation. They are completely and totally out of control, run by people like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Wolbert. This is not the Republican Party of John Boehner and Paul Ryan anymore. And we think that that's a problem. And the American people will understand that in terms of electoral strategy and tactics. You know, that's just a question that's best directed at Chairman Sean Patrick Malone. Michigan voters will sort this out. Thank you, everyone.