House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi talks with New York Times columnist Paul Krugman

well this is a huge honor for me and nervous yes there there are few people I admire as well actually I should tell you you know New York Times rules do not allow columnist to make explicit endorsements so you have no idea which party I favor politically and my attitude towards my honored guests here is well I actually wrote you may have seen her column that was titled who's afraid of Nancy Pelosi that had the the the blurb the GOP is boogey woman is the greatest speaker of modern times so you've no idea whether so welcome welcome leader Pelosi it's it's a huge honor there's so much I think everyone wants to talk about you know Murr wants to talk about what's going to happen next month but but let's let's talk history just for a bit to start with because you had four years so far we'll see what comes by four years as Speaker which were incredibly an eventful productive what would you consider the your big achievements of of those years well thank you dr. Coleman you call me Nancy I'll call you pause all right I'm myself to do that right well let me first say what an honor it is to be back at the 92nd Street Y to thank Susan Adler angle Susan angle for her leadership and her hospitality to all of us this evening thank you Susan and what an honor it is to be with each and every one of you and I know you share the honor that we all feel to be with dr. Kirwan he is how many times have we been on a Sunday night with a Nobel Prize winner in economics and a person who on a regular basis several days a week gives us hope he he speaks from evidence that's refreshing and and and when he writes people read when he speaks people listen what it what it really I I should be the nervous one but I'm so in awe of him that I'm just gonna have a good time tonight in the startup rooms I think I don't see too much of what's going on out there but very eager to hear your questions okay so I think that our crowning achievement of that time was the Affordable Care Act I think it right it ranks right up there with Social Security Medicare and Medicaid the affordable care act moving us closer to affordable accessible quality care health care for all Americans and that is our goal to keep moving in that direction it was something that had been tried for a hundred years starting with a Republican President Teddy Roosevelt over time some advances were made with Medicare and Medicaid I just was with Lucy Baines Johnson she was telling me of the day that her father went to Independence Missouri to sign Medicare Medicaid with President Truman for whom it was at a very top priority but now we went beyond that and in the Affordable Care Act with the expansion of Medicaid and assuring above the solvency of Medicare just strengthening the pact that we were on so I consider that without any question because it addresses the financial instability of America's families it's this economic issue financial issue for them as weather well of course a health issue and I want to say that the Republicans tried very hard over and over it scores of attempts to undermine it when President Obama was president but when and they had the majority but we were able to sustain any veto that might be necessary and then when they went president yep now I'm going to be very respectful when President Trump took office they then tried to repeal it and they've harmed it but they have not repealed it and you know why because of the American people American people 10,000 events Paul were held around the country by the groups the little lobbyists the children coming in their wheelchairs of pre-existing conditions to fight what they were trying to do and especially when they pass their tax scam which which repealed the individual mandate which gave them what they thought to be their rationalization in any way if to repeal the pre-existing condition benefit but people have been outraged by that but 10,000 events Siddons district offices in the capital of the united states at the town hall meetings press conference every kind of venue 10,000 so I feel very confident that we will be able to contain the damage and then hopefully win and strengthen the Affordable Care Act do some changes that we would have done ourselves you know with the time going by but also to erase some of the damage that they that they did I mean this is a Martin Luther King said of all the inequalities and then justices the one about injustice of health care is the most unconscionable because people can die people can die and so in any event we consider that not an issue but an ethic a moral responsibility so I'm going to ask let me get give give a little voice to my inner nerd here the the thing that has been really impressive about the ACA is that it I mean I think you've famously infamously totally out of context been quoted we would have to pass it from people to see what was in it by what you meant that that people wouldn't really appreciate it until it wasn't one but should we sell with the Senate would do that was before the Senate did that's right but the but the point is now is it has I don't think I fully appreciated just how cleverly it was put together so as to be robust to sabotage we've seen that that all of these that despite everything that the administration that wants it to fail has thrown at it that that it's still standing a little bit damaged but not nearly as much as some feared and I'm just curious about the process how did how did such a technically smart you know given given what the way what we see about policymaking and especially now but just in general yeah you know it's it's generally speaking worse than you can possibly imagine but here's this really intelligent well-designed how did that happen what was the interaction between the political people and the policy experts how did that how did you make that work well something that you base your writings on all the time evidence science facts truth so we evaluated what the challenge would be and this is again a challenge that had been undertaken decade after decade after decade and in our house speak to our house it was about the Committees of three Committees of jurisdiction Ways and Means the funding of a piece of it the education and what we called labor which we will call that again labor committee which had there a piece of their jurisdiction and the Energy and Commerce Committee despite its name health care is a part of its jurisdiction as well and so the expertise that we had there Henry Waxman as chairman for part Charlie Rangel and then a Carl chairman Levin after him and then George Miller on education labor they their staffs really and they really know the territory the intellectual resource that was in the White House with President Obama was a tremendous resource as of course the leadership and the rest in the Senate so it was a question of how do what is the goal it you know it was a funny thing when we tried to talk about what do we call this the word that meant everything to all of us was affordable so while it medicare is probably the best name for any program but since that was taken that the affordable a ACA the Affordable Care Act because that was the point of it if it's not affordable it's not accessible and that was our goal and so we had great intellectual resources to advance initiatives but also competing initiatives I myself would have liked have had a public option in there we had it in the house we couldn't prevail and then the fall for Congress so so there were some the things we didn't we didn't get and and there's some things we know that we have to do but it was based on knowledge and at one point someone told me who was in a position to know and who had sway in the administration that the House bill is as close to a perfect bill as you can come which is an implant no bells are perfect or even close but it really saw its purpose met its needs but then you go through the whole process the Senate was a valuable resource don't get don't let me diminish that at all but but on the if you want to say on the political side we knew we had to you can have all the commitment all that conviction all the knowledge all the judgment but it's a question of who has the courage who's going to be able to go out and vote for this bill right in light of the fact that there was an enormous ly well-funded campaign to undermine it from the start big money interest interest that do not believe in a public role they didn't believe in Medicare some of them still say Medicare should wither on the vine and those people are in the Congress of the United States on the other side of the aisle but big money undermining it and and it was about that courage so I'll just tell you this story because you asked a specific question when events did not go the way we wanted them to go in Massachusetts you remember after the passing of Senator Kennedy by the way in life and beyond senator Kennedy was a major force in this legislation let me say he had been trying to do this for a very long time but anyway when he when he passed and then a Republican won in Massachusetts I don't know how much politics we can talk here but we'll see but you invited me so you know something's done we've been anyway here's the thing so the press said to me what are you going to do now you've lost that vote I said this we consider this the responsibility of a generation we will not let anything stand in the way of our passing the Affordable Care Act if there's a fence we will go up and push open the gate if that doesn't work we'll climb the fence if there's if that doesn't work we'll pull Bulbul in and if that doesn't work we'll helicopter in but we are not letting anything stand in the way of expanding affordable quality health care accessible to many many millions more Americans okay because they thought it was dead then right so then we passed the bill and then they come and say which one of these did you do and and I said actually we pushed open the gate because it wasn't just us it just wasn't the requisite number of Democrats in the House and Senate pushing open that gate it was people all over the country who understood what this meant in their lives it was a people from but March of Dimes or any of the groups advocacy groups whether it's cancer this that the other thing just understanding that we had to pass this it was the nuns thank God for the nuns to Trump the bishops anyway there we go I can say that as a Catholic I went to Mass at st. Patrick's Cathedral today so I can say that the nuns to Trump the bishops and because there were certain misrepresentations about what it meant for a woman's right to choose and we were not going to have a bill that would diminish a woman's right to choose so in any event it was inside maneuvering knowledge of the issue understanding of the what it takes for some people to vote for something you know and the outside mobilization which was out absolutely essential and that's that same outside mobilization which has saved the Affordable Care Act as we go along is there something you I think it's really two questions I know that there are things you wish you could have had in the legislation is there something you think you could have gotten that that that if you had it to do over again you would owe what I do know I think that one of the things that would be important now to do as we see when you pass a bill you can't see every ramification and as you see it we I would have put at a higher percentage of poverty the level at which people could get subsidies because there is this place between people on Medicare Medicaid and Medicare of course but let's talk about the rest of the population people on Medicaid and we had the expansion of Medicaid which some governors and state legislatures did not accept which was really to the harmful harmful to the disadvantage of their own constituents that's very sad as an aside in this election we accept a win much many more Democratic governors and state legislatures to move many more people onto the expansion of Medicaid okay that's so yeah Medicaid and people are on that and then you had the subsidies for a certain percentage of poverty I gone higher I mean I'm not we we did what we could but now I would say there's a gap between there's just this gap among people who are just at that place that we can just raise the percentage as to where people would get them subsidies and that is the beauty of the bill as you see there no matter what they do to it those subsidies keep on coming yeah I was going to say that the the audience the the way that the ACA is set up the as long as you are below 400% of the poverty line there are it's a sliding scale but premium payments are limited to a maximum sheer of your income and what that has meant is that for everybody below that which is about 80 percent I guess to the people who are covered whatever they do they can sabotage the markets the premiums go up it doesn't actually affect what people pay but there is that other 20% who are not people who are super rich they're just people who are just a little bit too high and those are the people who've been exposed to the premium increases but it's an amazing class this is why it hasn't had a death spiral despite on everything Trump has been able to do it's that's that's structure those subsidies was there a person who said unless structure the subsidies this will protect us against death spiral or was it just sort of emerged the subsidies work I mean you you know the subject very well when you're looking at how you're going to expand maintaining of the fact that many people receive their benefits from their employer you know recognizing what the reality so it's not a tabula rasa where you say okay we're a new country how would we do it will reduce single-payer would do public - would know it's a system that has place where some people have a comfort level with how they get their insurance respecting that their coverage respecting that we knew that subsidies had to be central to the legislation for it to be affordable affordable that is the you know yeah they need structure of them it's just it just turns out to be extremely clever it is and I complement all of the people who worked on it and all of the people who've voted for it as well okay let me ask you what I think is a less happy eye but maybe you'll disagree with me on this one of the other really big achievements was financial reform yes and my sense is that that's been more sabotage is doing more damage there would you agree and what how are you feeling about financial reform now how that's playing out because we had dodd-frank which was again a very intelligent bill but it's it's I don't think it was designed to be robust to having people like Mulvaney running the system so how are you feeling about it well on they've been a financial service the bill but you have to put it in the context of what happened in 2008 which many people are still scarred from in terms of their homes going underwater their their pensions being in doubt living off their savings their jobs in jeopardy the question of whether they can send their children to school to college all and doubt and question because of what happened there and it was really the result of a lay sail a sail a sail a sail a Seafarer attitude on the part of the Bush administration the the they I don't even think Adam Smith would have been as irresponsible as they were there's actually a part it there's a piece of the wealth of nations where he talks about the need to regulate banks but he does and then he wrote another book about our responsibilities to each other really as a pragmatic matter but nonetheless based on principles and I wish he had just went in one book and put their oath together but in any event this this just no intervention no matter what no supervision no regulation no nothing and it took us to the brink if I have a moment I'd like to tell you a story sure okay so we're in our coffin I'm in my office and this is September what 18th 2008 and I am there with the leadership the Democratic leadership in the speaker's office and I said them you know usually the secretary of the Treasury comes gives us a gives me a briefing on the markets or a regular basis I haven't seen them in a few weeks and then that time it was layman Merrill Lynch and that very day or the day before but we were finding out about it that day AIG so I'm gonna call him and ask him if he'll come and brief not just me but all of us so that we don't say anything that would undermine the confidence of the markets as long as we you know know what's going on so I call them it's three o'clock in the afternoon I think it's a little rude to say can you come nine o'clock tomorrow morning to brief the leadership and he says this is how you talk to each other mr. secretary can either come to my mind madam Speaker tomorrow morning will be too late so I said well why am i calling you why are you not calling me now he has a kind of a different little nuance on this but he said back to me when White House does not want the Congress to know so so what is it you know what you know how at one of the banks I named one which I won't name here is this going down I said a worse another never it's a complete meltdown I think meltdown so I said well we'll make it five o'clock today I called that Chairman Bernanke the Chairman provoked by the clock would be there the White House finds out and they say who does she think she is having this meeting so I said tell them she thinks she is the Speaker of the House yeah so we had the meeting its expanded its later at 7:00 it's Mitch McConnell it's the House and Senate Democratic and Republican leadership plus dodd-frank Shelby you know Bacchus who is the Republican a little bit expanded meeting Chairman Bernanke secretary Paulson by the way for whom I have the greatest respect and Chris Cox who was our former colleague who was head of the SEC at the time they brought him so anyway we had the meeting secretary Paulson describes this meltdown it was going down to the gates of hell to a place that Dante would never have imagined nor did he ever name was so horrible so I say to the Chairman mr. Chairman Bernanke what do you have to say about what the secretary had to say and he said if we do not act immediately we will not have an economy by Monday an economy no commercial paper no nothing by Monday now it's Thursday night not five o'clock the seven o'clock now it's even later so of course we said we have to act in them and a bipartisan way time is of the essence no question we go out we say we're going to do it this that every about every 15 minutes during the meeting Harry purpose leader Reid would say how much is this going to cost a hundred billion dollars no no no no 15 minutes though 200 but no no no no 300 400 he said you're getting warmer I said that's how I talk to my grandchildren that's not how we talk to the leader of the Senate how much is this going to call it all I'll let you know in a few hours so it turned out 700 billion dollars now 350 billion dollars is what we send on that we're spending on the domestic discretionary budget that means no defense and no Social Security Medicare it Center on the discretionary domestic budget everything that the federal government does this was two years worth that we're going to give the bank's in order to have this so before this bailout and so this is what we have to do this is what we have to do I'll produce 120 votes inside the majority president bush you produce 100 votes of course we never to this day we had never seen 100 votes there on the first vote you saw the market going down and the bill going down because they didn't even come through and after it they said why would you expect us to vote for an intervention we don't believe in an intervention we do not believe in an intervention we then got more votes and then they produced a few more but we had to pass the bill which I do think was largely responsible for the election of 2010 because we're supposed to be even Democrats and Republicans taking responsibility but it turned out Democrats because the Republicans do not believe in in their bench and even then when the walls were coming tumbling down so in any event just want us an aside you might be interested to know in the course of the night meeting we said how about if we have in a bipartisan way how come if about if we put in the bill that you can capitalize the banks this is more on the subject you ever want to know don't listen capitalize that no no we would never need do that because we have our break the glass plan we've tested every model this is our plan we're going to buy the toxic assets of these institutions it's toxic asset or the worst oxymorons you've ever heard yeah Texas benefit we're going to buy the toxic asset once it wolf that's such a good plan why haven't you've done it already we were saving it for the next president so you can just imagine they were probably sitting there thinking we just have to hold out two more months where it's seven more weeks the election will happen the walls come tumbling down we have a Democratic president that's probably why it happened right but any but not to question their motivation they didn't do it anyway we passed the bill I said to them I'm not going to require prescribe that you capitalize the banks I'm I'm gonna say that you have to do it but 50% of the money but I'm gonna give you the authority in the bill to capitalize the banks like three weeks later they capitalized the banks yeah after we then eventually passed the bill then they capitalized the bay so people were scarred by all of that so therefore we passed dodd-frank with the Volcker Rule which is very important in terms of the stability of the banks and the rest and now when the Republicans came in they were trying all during the Obama administration when they had the majority but now with white house and House and Senate they have chipped away at it in a major way and we just have to make sure that public understands this is about their own financial security you cannot it's amazing that they would want to go right back to the situation that got us in the fix in the first place and the taxpayer bailed out although we got all of our money back with interest because that's the way we wrote it in the bill and secretary Paulson was very much in favor of that but we can't let them do this and I have expressed my displeasure even with the Fed for weakening in my view of the Volcker Rule they don't think they did they said it's a question of interpretation they don't think they did but I don't know what the next step is even at the Fed and I'm a big believer in the Independence of the Fed but I think we have to make sure that the intent of Congress is very clear and we may have to do that again okay that's amazing story and more on the subject than you ever wanted to know this is something of a rhetorical question what do you what how well do you think the current crew would manage it if something like this happened again I'm sorry how do you think the current management would deal with it if something like that happened again because there's no Henry Paulson than this one in this administration sorry okay I then wasn't really a question that's scary okay I'm going to by the way President President Bush was very trying very hard to get the Republicans to both as he knew it he said of course they'll vote for it you know of course he'll vote what yes one of those President Bush looks better in hindsight although probably too good in a way um well the president that I quote the most in the campaign is Ronald Reagan would you have ever guessed that if you ask me I'll tell you one well what don't tell me let's hear it that's we can that's not well the reason I quote President Reagan is because as I go across the country I see with great heartbreak but reality what the current president and the Republicans in the Congress and really Republicans across the country 80% of them support what President Trump is doing on immigration and it's heartbreaking to see the ads on TV that it I don't I don't even go into it you know so I mean they're snatching babies at the arms of their mothers they're depriving dreamers of an opportunity but that's that's the visible part of it what they're doing these ads on TV are just terrible but in any event why up quote Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan President Ronald Reagan he said this this is the last speech I will make as president of the United States how's that for a headline and I want to deliver a message to the country I love he goes on to talk about the Statue of Liberty and what it means to people outside our country when see that beacon of hope and that's a symbol of welcome to America to achieve the American Dream and what it means to Americans who look and see the Statue of Liberty and think my parents my grandparents my ancestors came past that to the American dream then he goes on to say the vital I'm not exactly I'm trying to greet you brief the vital force of America's preeminence in the world as every generation of new immigrants coming to America and once and once we fail to recognize that we will fail to be preeminent in the world Ronald Reagan Ronald Reagan George Herbert Walker Bush I should say President Ronald Reagan President George Herbert Walker President Bill Clinton President George Bush George W Bush great on immigration he couldn't persuade his party but and President Barack Obama all understood that when newcomers come to our country with their hope their optimism their determination to make the future better for their families their courage those are American traits and the newcomers make America more American they constantly revitalize our country until now that's why I quote we're not old Reagan isn't it beautiful look it up because it's longer and better than even I said okay um Wow the time is flying you had this amazing eventful four years of speaker and you first showed up on the cover of Time magazine last month what does that say what does it say about obviously - about politics but also about the West that's a - the women of America it's not exactly that I wasn't on the cover as who was on the cover some people he just said well and anything you would have thought that see that most people really don't know what being speaker is president vice president Speaker of the House President Bush used to call me number three I'm one he's too pointed to change your three so he understood it say a constitutional office with succession to the presidency it's a very big deal but forgetting the succession if the speaker has awesome power and we were able to do so many things trying to do it in the most open way you asked about how we did Affordable Care hundreds of hours of open hearings accepting Democratic and Republican amendments refusing some on both sides of the aisle so so it's it's a very important position and maybe they just didn't realize that however I will say that it is challenging I mean I always thought it would be easier to elect a woman President of the United States than a leader in the Congress because that is not breaking the grass glass ceiling in Congress is breaking the marble ceiling there's so great hundreds of years of pecking order whose next season next season accident never mind they said it's not your turn I said we've been waiting over 200 years it is our turn but but this is a great year this is a tipping point this is a watershed year for women because what so many women will win and they will be a part of the great Democratic victory God willing if the election were today we would have a Democratic Congress I feel certain of that and and they say to women and I had these meetings in Pennsylvania because we're going to let four women to the congregate they've only had one women in the whole history over 200 years of history in Pennsylvania one woman served in the Congress of the United States now they will have four in one in one election oh no they've had to one or two but in any of it they'll have or in one election so we have I just say the young women or women but young and to politics I after my five children were grown I I ran for council yeah I want younger women to run so that people with family balancing home and work are seeing someone who shares their challenges etc making decisions on their behalf in Washington I say to women know your power know your purpose why do you want to run know your subject know how you're going to get it done connect listen to your constituents just connect if connection is everything you can have the best ideas and vision and all plans and all the rest if you don't connect that's not a winning formula for an election but know your power and I know this as an absolute fact you may think some of the things I've said our opinion this is an absolute fact if we reduce the role of money in politics and increase the level of civility in politics we will left many more women minorities young people and the rest and nothing is more wholesome to our political system and our governance than the increased participation of women and women in the leadership now that applies the military to corporate America to academic world it applies all over but as such it's absolutely essential and this year will make a tremendous difference but there's no question there there is something out there that is perhaps unspoken in my case very spoken I'm the biggest target right after I said they just do because I'm so effective I'm an effective legislator I'm an effective political force in the rest and I say that with a modesty because you know why I want young women and women who want to be involved in politics to be confident and just put forth why they think as none of us is indispensable but we have to show why we think we can do the job in a very important way and it's very important to have women at the table I just proved that I'm really in unsuited for anything like the work you've done because my time budgeting has been terrible here but the let me ask quite oh that's the time I thought that was the minutes we had left no but we were we want to throw this off to the audience pretty soon but let me ask I let me skip imagine that it's it's it's January 2021 and the Democrats control both houses and president Michael avenatti I checked Taylor Swift will be too young so but anyway a Democratic president progressive Democratic president what what would be at the top of your agenda to do at that point what will Democrats agenda whether it's you or someone else but well I have an agenda right now for 2019 I just take this one Congress at a time and I do believe when we go in now we have said what are Democrats or we are for the people for lowering health care costs by reducing the price of prescription drugs that's one - by lifting increasing paychecks by building the infrastructure of America lower cost bigger paychecks cleaner government others I think it will be but it's up to the caucus the first HR one House Resolution 1 will be campaign finance reform and legislation so that would be that would be the three things that we we think we could do in a bipartisan way because the president says he's for reducing the cost of prescription drugs he said he was going to negotiate like crazy for them I think like crazy meant not at all but no but the day he made his announcement on prescription drugs he completely pulled his punch and don't take it from me take it from the stock market the platform of stocks went through the roof yeah because the president for his part so but anyway we think we could Pat it bipartisan and the infrastructure has always been nonpartisan so we think we could pass that and we think with public opinion we could pass the campaign finance reform but the public President Lincoln another Republican president that makes two they they he said public sentiment is everything with it you can accomplish almost anything without it practically nothing and so we think with public opinion or that the idea that people's voices are just as strong as anyone elses and that special interests do not override the public interest so that would be 3 and then we promptly asked the speaker for common-sense legislation for sensible background checks and we know there's bipartisan support for that so that is something that we would do everything you've missed that background checks for gun purchases their gun purchase oh yes Sun safety background checks this is very very important in our country and we're just not ever stopping until we get increase that safety issue and on paper yes it has bipartisan support in the Congress now if they gave us a boat I think we would win but we certainly asked the speaker to do it he didn't maybe he will and lame duck I hope so every day counts but we would have a gun violence prevention background check bill that would pass the House of Representatives and the other thing that we've asked him for is legislation to protect the dreamers and with that's something that we should be able to do in a bipartisan way very perfect the bigger issue of comprehensive immigration reform I think would have bipartisan support but I'm just talking about right up front another issue on our agenda is something called the Equality Act which is about equality for the LGBTQ community in our countries agreed it makes up protections for the community part of the Civil Rights Act right now it's women minorities I said it adds that important participant community to the okay that's David Cicilline nice bill that so that's six for starters all right I'm supposed to but I'm gonna throw in one more question than I believe I'm gonna be getting questions from the audience passed up here I think but at this so it forgive me and I we didn't talk about that but I asked her staff was okay to ask this and they friends of mine want to know do you decompress and if so what do you do that's a personal just that's this amazing person and all these things but you seem to be the completely non stop what do you do to get away from it for an hour or two after I read your column well that's the most refreshing thing of all I well of course my family my five children my grandchildren and the rest that's the strength for all of us we would all say it's our motivation it's our relaxation it's our pleasure it's our challenge to make sure we do the right thing by all of that so that's that's a source of strength to me for my whole life I mean let me just say I don't let me say my adult life every single day I have done the New York Times crossword puzzle all right and that is it I mean like one of the Sunday don't come near me until I do the puzzle because I'm timing myself and I'm in a zone and I'm focusing on it my Kip family will tell you oh my gosh she's doing the puzzle if anybody comes near me it's like I'm in my zone so that is a real pleasure for me no all right that's that's a of course I read books and I go but I'm just trying that every single day all right okay I'm going to even when they write terrible articles about me oh yes well even I don't necessarily enjoy everything I see in my paper so oh wow all right let me let me throw through you so I have some questions for you oh that's not that was not the agenda here well Jonas you have some questions I've done these events and want people to leave here hopeful and I'm trying to tell them we're gonna win this election if we own the ground if we own the ground we don't agonize I've told some of you earlier we don't agonize we organize we get out there and organize my three grandchildren who are here tonight hear me say that all the time it's all about the future it's all about our children and and how we prepare for the future so of so perhaps you have some I'm not I'm not going to go read about it you know read about it God knows that so these are we're not going to get through anywhere through these things either let me ask them all and now answer em all at once right if you probably organized enough in your mind to do that but let me add this this actually seems quite urgent when the Democrats win back the house if Republicans control the Senate if you believe the polling that split outcome looks like a reasonably plausible thing what can the house do to protect the Independence of the Malheur investigation it's a big that's a serious question that's a very serious question what we have been trying all along to have bipartisan support for legislation that would say that that any Council I'm not talking about just this guy any Council cannot be fired without cause and then if person is fired then there'd be a three judge an appeal process to review if that cause was justified and that any replacement could not be made by anybody that was not approved by by the Senate but anyway it has protections in it but most important to preserve the documentation to preserve everything that he has collected because that is that is essential some people are concerned that they might destroy some of that those documents and we have to make sure they don't but I'm still hopeful about the United States Senate Chuck Schumer is doing a fabulous job keeping us all focused on health care health care health care while other people are trying to the only other side are trying to exploit this graceful performance of the Republicans in the Senate on on the Supreme Court nomination was a disgrace but they're selling it as a plus to their market but we have to not talk about that we have to talk about health care lower-cost bigger paychecks cleaner government and I think that it's three and a half weeks away that's a long time yeah I okay by the way I have just don't tell anybody I told you this right you okay with that I have asked for a Freedom of Information Act one of all the things that happened with the Supreme Court what what it was the where's the investigation what were the instruction the FBI received things like that so that we have that documentation not that we're going after the judge but where we don't want this to happen again and we want to see we want to see how could they have a report and then they're like they're going to the bathroom one at a time for a certain time a period of time and you can't talk to your staff their staff can say it's really really an insult to the intelligence of American people a besmirch meant of the Supreme Court of the United States and assault to all women who speak their truth so actually this this seems relevant game which just said has Mitch McConnell permanently broken congressional norms and I suspect you won't go for this formulation of it but should Democrats get even when they take back power in January well I'm not not a subscriber to the pound of flesh Club which we do have in our caucus and in our party I do think that this election is bigger than Democrats and Republicans this is about the United States of America so much is at stake these people with this nomination even are undermining the oath of office they take to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States our founders in their wisdom had a constitution that had three co-equal branches of government what did they do be a rubber stamp first amendment first article article 1 the legislative branch with all the powers listed in the Constitution what do they make article 1 the legislative branch a rubber stamp for the second branch of government the executive branch and by confirming an appointment to the Supreme Court who said the president the executive branch is above the law undermining the whole thing so I I think that we have to as I said we don't agonize we organize for helping the American people because this justice will decide on the intent of Congress on certain legislation you know that's a ridiculous power to give the supreme court to determine what the intent of Congress is and so if they're going to make a judgement on at what we do we have to have total clarity about what we do when it comes to everything a woman's right to choose gain merit well we didn't pass a marriage equality that was in the courts but hopefully that will be protected but we passed other LGBTQ legislation whether it be caused by this about immigration whether it's about gun safety whether it's about climate we even talk about climate I'm just talking to Ed Markey mother's coming over here talking about wanting to establish again a select committee on climate and and with the storms and the rest increased interest in it and he said remember that what we said was we wanted to pass an overwhelming number of jobs in order to protect all of our our society I mean this is this is about prosperity as your former mentor yes won the Nobel Prize showing the relationship between environment and prosperity for people who don't know Bill Nordhaus who shared the Nobel Prize and wanted for his work on climate economics was my original mentor I worked I was his research assistant when I was a junior in college so anyway so yes mentored well didn't your your mentor mentor dwell so this is so anyway I think that we owe the American people to be there for them for the for their financial security respecting the dignity and worth of every person in our country and if there's some collateral damage for some others who do not share our view well so be it but it shouldn't be our original purpose this is kind of related and the question was if the House and Senate are split after the election but I think this is a question even even if they are not where do you see opportunities for common ground is there any bipartisan stuff that you name some of them before in terms of infrastructure building the infrastructure of America imagine building infrastructure from sea to shining sea whether it's surface transportation yeah but water systems broadband all over our country schools housing all kinds of infrastructure that creates good-paying jobs building but also build the economy all the way and when you build all of that across the country care and feeding follows issues that relate to the health and well-being of people the education of children it's it's it's really a big issue of prosperity and bigger paychecks for America I think we can find common ground to do that okay structure you think would be a big one and then I mentioned I do think there's common ground on on dreamers and guns and and hopefully also on lowering prescription drug prices and hopefully also on campaign finance reform okay I'm going to read you this is I'm not okay I'll read it to you I'll say I don't fully agree with the premise of the question but the Medicare Medicaid and Social Security currently account for over 50 percent of the federal budget with rising health care costs and aging population the cost of these programs is unsustainable how much of a priority is fixing this problem and how would you do so well I think it's a fair question because it is it is about obviously the promise that is made to people in our country and anything that involves that many people and their well-being and their trust in it as well as the amount of money involved we need to subject to scrutiny from time to time as President Reagan and President and speaker speaker O'Neill did and the if we are going to so you're referring to the Social Security reform that took place in the Greenspan Commission will help yeah we didn't really do it but yes okay we have a Social Security that was saved but anyway the so and what we did in the Affordable Care Act was to prolong the solvency of Medicare but if you let me just and separate from the specifics of the question in this way if we are going to address the issue of the solvency of Social Security of Medicare and Medicaid we have to do it believing in those systems not using them as an excuse to say well we can't we've got to give a big tax break to the height this is what they did can we leave this two trillion dollar tax cam one point four five trillion dollars in tax breaks to corporations the top 1% getting 83% of the benefits 1% of people in our country getting 83% of the benefits of the tax thing then they said of course with interest this will be 2 trillion dollars then they said we've got to cut someplace so the president put out his budget and said 1.4 trillion out of Medicaid half a trillion out of Medicare then he went on to food stamps and other things like that so they they they can't consider it their ATM machine to to rationalize tax cuts at the high end which by the way they say pays for themselves never happens never happens don't take it from me even those who've worked on the supply-side economics that gospel they have said to us anyone who tells you these tax cuts pay for themselves it's not true it's nonsense it's BS spelled out fully so so it so in any event there are the things that we should always subject to scrutiny to see how we can do better recognizing the reality of life that there are many more people retiring living longer and fewer percentage of people in the workforce but that doesn't mean I mean actually these trust funds have been a bulwark of funds in terms of the of the budget but I do believe that what we do has to strengthen the institutions and not be predicated on this this is what the Republican view of Medicare is it should wither on the vine how do we do that we and the speaker Ryan's budget that he put forth and which is his goal at the if you if he were to be there or at least who wants the other Republicans to do it is to take away the guarantee of Medicare and make it a voucher voucherize it when you don't have a guarantee you ain't got no Medicare because Medicare is a guarantee and so he wants to voucherize that Block Grant Medicaid make it very hard for people who defend and by the way on Medicaid they're taking 1.4 trillion dollars out of the President's budget out of Medicaid in the President's budget it is initially a program for poor children and that's important many poor children depend on it but probably about 60% of the money that is spent on long-term care for seniors is a middle-income benefit you know comes from Medicaid so when people see what this means to their families they have a different view about whether we should use it as a piggy bank for tax cuts for the rich and for corporations and one of the things that surprised me is that Medicaid is surprisingly popular in polling you know that I thought that you might have thought that people would think of it as a poor people's program but that and they'd be against it but they're not it has almost as much support according to polling as Medicare so I thought that was interesting which actually I'm gonna bring back one of my questions I didn't get to ask what seems relevant here it's been striking also that this tax cuts and Jobs Act the Trump tax cut is not popular it has remained and that's that has come as a surprise to those of us who remember the Bush tax cuts which were also very heavily loaded towards upper income but but we're broadly quite popular because people looked at the little bit they got and they saw that and they did so what do you think has made the difference this time one of the things that they well first of all this is really blatant when you have a tax band that says well we're going to have some something a little something for the middle class but that's temporary Boggan had permanent for corporate America and the rest that already they said to the middle class you're second-class to us so that there was so little and when I get criticized for saying it was crumbs I said it's crumbs from the table that they were giving to other people but here's the here's one thing there there's several different things first of all the nature of the bill dark of night speed of light no hearings no possible figuring out what the ramifications are no expert witnesses nothing there just go in a room they write a bill tax cuts to the high end for corporate America with a benefit to send jobs overseas in the bill yeah an advantage of create jobs overseas rather than there was a terrible bill a scam but anyway in the bill if it weren't bad enough because the public generally gets used to the fact that the rich get richer right I mean right then that's not a good thing but nonetheless no surprise to anybody that a tax bill written by Republicans for Republicans would would benefit that way here's what they did in the bill they repealed the individual mandate for health care and health care why that's important to each and every one of you and here if you know anybody in your family with a pre-existing medical condition but they used that provision of the bill as the basis for their court case to say that the pre-existing condition benefit is not constitutional if people don't know you and there's a lawsuit brought by 20 Republican state attorneys general to overturn the piece of the ACA the central piece which which prohibits insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing medical decisions and that's 125 130 million families in our country which have somebody with a pre-existing medical condition so this is horrible and as I said earlier all of the groups that represent different cancer diabetes heart what you know that you name it they understand what this means people with disabilities children born with the heart defect they have a pre-existing condition for the rest of their lives and and some of the beauty of the Affordable Care Act were that we had this this provision that protected people with a pre-existing condition we also removed the cap so that means that you once you've reached a certain amount the insurance companies can say it's over for you that can be for some people are two years old if they have a number of of procedures and so it's a terrible thing but anyway they don't believe in a public role and that's really what people have to understand they do not believe in a public role so Medicare should wither on the vine Medicaid should be Block Grant pre-existing conditions forget about it just the list goes on and on but in that regard what is the normal thing when a law which this is is challenged as this is being by those attorneys general it is the role of the Justice Department to defend the law of the land but this administration said not only we're not going to defend it we join in the consideration that that pre-existing condition benefit should go it's probably one of the biggest things now getting back to your question about why the tax bill was unpopular the groups that to save the Affordable Care Act they're out there on this tax bill again they care about the unfairness of it but they care more about the fact of what it does to people with pre-existing conditions and that is a big motivator all their nuns on the bus now going all around the country thank God for the nuns but their groups all their beautiful works are benefiting everyone but but all of these same groups are fighting this and this is one of the biggest issues in the election the cost of health care but it's the cost of prescription drugs getting rid of the pre-existing condition undermining Medicare and Medicaid and rising cost of some premiums because of Trump I don't care but I think he calls it Trump care but I don't think he does so in any case the unpopularity not only goes to the unfairness of it but to the fact of what it does to health care and that in terms of the outside mobilization is now we'd also have following them around they have a jobs Joe kind of a thing about their tax bill that they're going around but we're going around with them with a group tax fairness group about inoculating against their terrible message but also saying we can do better we should go to the table in a bipartisan way should we reduce the corporate tax rate let's consider that how low should it go and how does that relate but whatever we do with the with the tax code and whatever we do with the budget see the tax code relates directly to the budget budget should be a statement of our national values what is important to us a nation should be how we allocate our resources and that means how we obtain the resources as well and that I don't think anything they're doing is a reflection of anybody's values except the special interest but having said that the the the groups know the impact on the budget opportunities the opportunity cost of these tax cuts and that is why I think it's less popular than what President Bush did as harmful as that was to our budget so we're really out of time but I gotta give you the one last question is it a bad politics it is about politics it's and I need to say this is not my question because I probably I'm not allowed to ask this but someone did ask besides donations and phone banks what is the most effective way that voters can ensure you become Speaker of the House again besides what besides besides donation donations and phone banks okay here's the thing as I said earlier so many of you said to me oh my god no but don't agonize organize channel that energy we must own the ground we must own the ground and I listen to volunteers all over the country and they tell me what they're hearing and it's very very encouraging people are excited they're ready to vote this or that but until they do we don't have a victory we just have it there a vision without a plan as a fantasy a vision with the plant as a victory and so the plan is all of you just please volunteer or encourage others to do if you can or even by phoning because that is that is what will make all the difference in the world owning the ground every step I say to the volunteers you are our VIPs volunteers in politics you will make the difference the fate of the nation is riding on people knocking on doors making calls and every steps they take a beach or they knock every phone you make every sign you plant every postcard your scent scent takes us closer to taking our country to a better place a place where when we win we will have openness and transparency and how we run the Congress as we did before but very different from where it is now we will have respect for bipartisanship some Democrats don't like me saying that but where we can find common ground we have a responsibility to seek it where we can't as Jefferson said stand like a rock stand like a rock where you can't find your common ground and we will have honor the vows of our founders when they talked about a pluribus unum from many one from many one they couldn't possibly imagine how many we would become or how different we would be from each other but they knew that we had to be had that oneness about the United States of America this is this is the greatest country that ever existed in the history of the world and yet we have one in five children in America who lives in poverty in our country that's my motivation to be in politics whatever your Y is just get out there and and on the ground I do think at the election today we would win I do not accept the fact that we are not going to win the Senate I think we just have to keep working and the work we do to win the house will help with the Senate as well but nothing less than the fate of the nation is writing it's not about Democrats or Republicans that would be the least of it it's about how we honor the valves the vision of our founders with the Constitution checks-and-balances co-equal branches of government how we honor the bravery and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform and their families to make us they'll keep us the land of free home of the brave and how we just attend to the aspirations of our children our children our children our children elections are about the future and how we win how we have conduct the election how we conduct ourselves when we win so that we can responsibly again have our children grow up in a country that is worthy of the vision and sacrifice of those who went before and the aspirations of those children so if you can just tell a friend get out there but and if you live in a district that is highly democratic call a friend who lives some other place or go visit them and have a buddy system and go door to door I'm just telling you if I just may say these elections are very close people ask me is it a wave or is it a tsunami I said in either case it's many drops of water and these elections are that close there are many close elections think of the Olympics one second gold silver bronze happy to be an Olympian within a second we're going for the gold we're going for the gold and at the end all right thank you so much what a fabulous

Channel: The 92nd Street Y, New York

Views: 42,586

Keywords: 92Y, 92nd Street Y, Nancy Pelosi, Paul Krugman, midterms, midterm elections, midterm elections 2018, politics, politicians

Id: OjT-9A2HdpY

Length: 68min 34sec (4114 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 03 2019