Weekly House Democrats Press Conference 5.17.22 | Delivering for Everyday Americans

I did not say that. I did not say that. I said you should do exactly whatever you want. You said you didn't want to do it because of some date that you didn't like. Okay, sorry. What do you do for MS? Oh, cool. Jocko is my man. Jocko is my favorite. You almost said top and then you thought about Ali. I love Jocko. Someone should make like a book about it. We really should. You know about that? Good morning, everyone. Thank you for your presence. Vice Chair Aguilar and myself are joined today by two extraordinary leaders within the caucus. Our assistant speaker, Catherine Clark, our DCCC chair, Sean Patrick Maloney. We're thankful for their work and for their leadership during such an extraordinary time for the Congress, most importantly for the country. House Democrats are continuing to work to make life better for everyday Americans. House Republicans are fanning the flames of hatred and embracing a racist conspiracy theory put forth by white supremacists on so-called replacement. And we're still waiting for a single House Republican leader to denounce replacement theory, the theory that led to the massacre in Buffalo, New York. And hopefully we'll see some decency from them today and throughout the week. House Democrats are continuing to address some of the challenges that the American people confront. And we'll be moving legislation this week to address the shortage in baby formula that exists in large measure because of some supply chain challenges that need to be confronted. And we will do so this week decisively. We're also continuing to address the inflationary pressures that the American people are experiencing, again, connected to the initial shutdown of the economy, supply chain challenges that we're experiencing, and the need for us to respond decisively, which we will do this week. Republicans continue to complain about challenges. House Democrats work to address those challenges decisively to make life better for everyday Americans. We will continue to do so. We also, of course, have to act decisively to address the poison of white supremacy and domestic terrorism in America. It's a poison. It's a cancer. It's destroying our society. This shouldn't be a partisan issue. It's not a Democratic issue or Republican issue dealing with the crisis of violent white supremacy. It is an American issue. And I'm hopeful that Elise Stefanik and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will see the error of their ways to date and change course immediately. Because if they don't, blood will continue to be shed. I now yield to my distinguished colleague, our Vice Chair, Pete Aguilar. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. House Democrats met this morning, and I was pleased to join the three colleagues behind me. We're unified in our grief this week as we mourn the lives lost in Buffalo, New York. We now know that the shooter was motivated by a disgusting and debunked conspiracy theory known as the Great Replacement. The Republican conference chair is running ads pushing this theory. One of them read, their plan is to grant amnesty to 11 million illegal immigrants to overthrow our current electorate and create a permanent liberal majority in Washington. Not only is this kind of rhetoric false, but it's beneath the dignity of our offices and it'll result in getting people killed. But this broken ideology is animating today's Republican Party. What once would have been disqualifying is now a mainstream point of view. In fact, it's a prerequisite in many ways to hold Republican leadership. After a pandemic that laid bare the stark inequities of this country, and after four years of a president embodying our worst instincts and degrading our institutions, our country, in many ways, is a tinderbox. And House Republicans are holding a match. House Democrats, as I said, are united in our grief, and we're resolute in our commitment to make this country stronger and more inclusive, where we all have a chance to succeed at the American dream. A nation where we respect the rule of law, where we recognize the diversity is our strength, and where truth matters. With that, I'll yield to Assistant Speaker Catherine Clark. Thank you, Vice Chair. And thank you, Chairman Jeffries, for having me here today. I thought a lot about what I was going to say to you about where we are as a caucus, as a country. And there are so many competing feelings, rage, despair, terror, as we watched the horrifying events play out in Buffalo this weekend. Just one of the mass shootings that we had in the last few days. But this one distinguished because it was hate-driven. It was driven by a young man who was radicalized online by replacement theory, the idea that white Americans are being replaced. It is anti-Semitic. It is racist. And it is very destructive. And it is a pillar of the current GOP. They won't call it out. They won't apologize. They won't back off. Their agenda right now is fueled by these very forces of white supremacy, of white nationalism. And they are not changing course. I agree with the chairman. I hope that they will. But the agenda they're putting forth is very clear. And let's look at the other crisis that we are having in this country that is so interrelated. At this time where American families are struggling with high costs, are struggling to see their place in our economy, the answer from the GOP is a ban on abortions. Not only overturning Roe, but looking and encouraging states, and if they were to win the majority, a federal ban on all abortions. I just came from a hearing with the Secretary of Labor. And we were talking about women in this economy and all the factors that hold back women, the pay gap, the fact that we do not support child care as a public good in this country, that we are the only wealthy nation to not have a national paid leave policy, that we continue to cut health care opportunities for communities of color and rural communities across this country, and that we lead the way in maternal deaths and we are well below our peers in infant mortality. All of these issues impact all women, but dramatically and disproportionately impact Black, Brown, Indigenous, and rural women. These are the exact women who seek abortion care, low-income moms. That is who seeks most care in this country. And we cannot disentangle this quest for government-mandated pregnancies from the economic outcomes for our country and for families. So while Democrats will continue to pursue economic equality for everyone in this country, what we are seeing from the GOP is that just as the Vice Chair put it, it has become a prerequisite that you follow the tenets of white supremacy, mix it in with the lies around election security, mix it in with painting immigrants as evil and taking your jobs and increasing crime in your streets. Where we are headed under a GOP vision is a country in grave trouble, a country where a democracy cannot survive, where people cannot see themselves in our economy. And we as a caucus are committed every day to fighting a different fight, making sure those kitchen table issues are the priority issues, that people have the chance to move up, to be recognized, to have a fighting chance, and that includes making investments in them from making sure that we're doing everything we can to reduce the high costs for families, to making sure that we are working with equality, and making sure that we are driving back white supremacy and political violence in this country. The contrast couldn't be greater, and the commitment is redoubled from our caucus so that we can make sure that everyone in this country takes those ideals of liberty and justice for all, and that they become a reality. I will now turn it over to someone who's working every day to ensure that we keep the majority, our DCCC Chair, Sean Maloney. Well, I really want to thank the Assistant Speaker for those really powerful words. It's hard to improve on that, or my other colleagues, and I agree with everything they've said. Let me just, therefore, summarize it for you. What you're seeing is a real choice for me. The priority of Republicans is to ban abortion in all 50 states. Democrats are going to protect Roe v. Wade. The priority of Republicans is to exploit racial tension, to use replacement theory, not to win power. The priority of Republicans is to slow down aid to Ukrainians fighting the Russians. So many Republicans in the House and in the Senate have been standing in the way, while Democrats will stand firmly with the Ukrainians. These are their priorities, because the Republican priority is to win power, and the Democratic priority is to give you a better country, and that's the difference. Thank you, Sean. Questions? I want to talk about the new maps in New York. Congressman had some strong words about what the redrawing looks like and the impact that it has on candidates who either represent minorities or are part of minority groups. I wanted you to elaborate on that, and then DCCC Chair Maloney, you know, wanted to hear about how you're going to be facing off against Congressman Mondale-Jones, you know, if you had told him about that, you know, before these maps came out, and what your conversations have been since. The New York State Court of Appeals stuck us with a deeply flawed process, and that has resulted in a deeply flawed outcome in terms of the draft maps. In Brooklyn and Queens, you've got four districts with significant pluralities of either African Americans or Latinos. The district currently represented by Nydia Velazquez, the district currently represented by Yvette Clark, the district currently represented by Greg Meeks, and the district that I currently represent. In this proposed map, the Black or Latino population was degraded in all four districts. Are you kidding me? That doesn't happen by accident. When you do a map like this and you complete it, you take a look. What was the percentage of Black and Latino people in the current district, and what is the percentage now? And this out-of-town, unelected special master takes a look at that, sees the Black population degraded in the 5th Congressional District, the Black population degraded in the 8th Congressional District, the Black population degraded in the 9th Congressional District, and the Latino population degraded in the 7th Congressional District, and says, I'm okay. That's not okay. And that resulted from a broken process handed to us by the Court of Appeals. They need to fix the mess that was created. In the aftermath of the 2020 election, the New York State voters elected a historic number of Black members of Congress. We went from four to seven. The special master comes out with a map that puts four Black members of Congress in the same district, four, doing the bidding of the undermining of the Congressional Black Caucus, which has been an objective of right-wing conservative activists. And then the special master looks at that outcome and says, that's okay? Shirley Chisholm was first elected in 1968. The district was created as a result of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. At the heart of the district was the Bedford-Stuyvesant community. By the way, a Bedford-Stuyvesant community where Jackie Robinson lived when he was playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, that has given us iconic figures like Sean Carter and many others. The New York State Constitution says that the core of existing congressional districts should be protected. That's not the Hakeem Jeffries theory of redistricting. That's the New York State Constitution. The core of existing congressional districts should be protected. So this special master decides to take the Bedford-Stuyvesant community and shatter it into pieces. One of the most iconic Black communities in America, a district that Shirley Chisholm once represented with Bedford-Stuyvesant at the heart of it and tears up the Bedford-Stuyvesant community. So yes, we have a problem with these maps. It would make Jim Crow blush. Again, it's hard to improve on what the chairman has said. What I can tell you is that a broken process has produced a broken result and we're all going to work through that. I think you'll see the member issues work themselves out. I don't think that's unusual in a situation like this to have members trying to understand what it means. But I think it's important that we all remember that this is up to the voters, not to any of us. And ultimately the voters will make these choices. All we do is put our names on a ballot. There are a number of members who have been drawn in terms of their residences into the same district. I'm not one of them. So unless you know something I don't, that primary you're describing I don't think exists as we stand here. And in fact, I'm the only sitting member who lives in the district, which is now numbered New York 17, which remains a competitive district, by the way, that we have to win in the fall. It will not be easy. And I haven't had an easy district since I came to Congress. But it's my home in Putnam County. In fact, the entire county of Putnam, which voted for Trump by 20 points in 2016, is in this district. So from my point of view, I'm just running where they where I landed. If someone else is looking at the district as well. Obviously, we'll try to work through that as colleagues and friends. Ultimately, this is up to the voters. And that's that's where that's where it should be. And the way I watched the way that you handle this, I should also just jump in and not consult with my colleagues, because what it looks like right now from New York is like, a lot of dem on dem, you know, not considering not talking no, no, no pre conversations, no, nothing. Just I'm gonna run. The appearance of chaos that may exist is a result of a broken process handed to us by an out of control, runaway majority of the New York Court of Appeals. I'll say that again, the New York Court of Appeals, because you know what they did? Unlike every other legislative body in the country, which had an opportunity to fix a map that the court said was flawed. This particular Court of Appeals says the legislature will not get the chance to repair the map that it found to be problematic. The elected representatives of the state of New York who passed the map with super majorities and happen to be led by an African American woman in the New York State Senate and an African American man in the New York State Assembly for the first time. So it takes that situation doesn't give the legislature an opportunity to cure the map. Unlike every other court that found problematic maps across America and says, we're going to have a process sent to Steuben County, New York. I don't know where Steuben County is, had no idea it existed. Neither do the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers. It's in the village of Bath, closer to Cleveland, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Toronto, Canada. The judge who's an acting state Supreme Court judge, I think was on the traffic beat before the Republicans found him as part of a forum shopping endeavor and then appointed an out of town unelected special master. They had a process that said to the people of New York state, you get one day to show up in the village of Bath one day, no virtual testimony will be received. Why? Because the judge claimed that the court didn't have the capacity to manage both live streaming that one day of testimony and receiving information from voters across the state of New York. And so you have one day, no airport in Steuben County. Can't get there. It's unreasonable to expect that you would ask anyone to fly there anyway. Amtrak doesn't go to Steuben County. There's a single bus that leaves Port Authority at 1.30 AM in the morning that would have enabled people to get to Bath, New York late for the hearing. And it takes 10 hours. That's incredible. So a broken process leads to a broken result. And that's what we have right now. The court of appeals needs to fix this mess. There is the will to get one done. We're going to act decisively to address the problem of domestic terrorism and white supremacy in America. Let me yield to our vice chair and a distinguished member of the January 6th committee. This is important to address. We need to support the American public. We need to lead on this issue. We need to make sure that they know that we can and should stamp out domestic violent extremism at every turn and every opportunity. And that might mean voting on issues that are of importance to our colleagues in the country. So we're going to do that. I think what we plan to highlight is inaction on the other side of the chamber, if we can't get something done. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try. The stakes are too high. And based on what we have all lived through this weekend, I think that demonstrates the need to move forward with legislation. And on the domestic agenda, I mean, there's a bunch of bills up this week. The Democrats have been talking for a while about the gas price gap infant formula. Why is it so important to do all that now? Well, as challenges arise, we continue to address them decisively. And our North Star will continue to be make life better for everyday Americans, lower costs for everyday Americans across the board, particularly in this inflationary environment and elevate the American dream, which is that if you work hard, play by the rules, you should be able to provide a comfortable living for yourself, for your family, own a home, educate your children and retire with grace and dignity. That's the American dream that Democrats in the House stand behind. So as we move these bills, it's all centered on improving the quality of life for everyday Americans. It's our hope that our Republican colleagues who perhaps are too busy fanning the flames of hatred and xenophobia will decide to join us on behalf of this country. Why chain issues, inflation, some of these topics that they would say this Democratic majority under President Biden have caused. So they would say that they're not fanning the flames, that they're talking about some of these crises that they would blame you all for creating. How can you guys both run on this? It's not clear to me that Republicans are actually running on issues connected to the economy and supply chain challenges because they haven't offered a single solution. Where is the Republican plan to deal with inflation? Non-existent. Where's the Republican plan to deal with gas prices in a meaningful way? Non-existent. Where's the Republican plan to deal with the challenges that we are confronting with infant formula? It's non-existent. If they were serious about doing something about the challenges facing everyday Americans, they would actually have a vision, an idea, a plan. It's non-existent. No, I think we are going to continue to articulate a vision, get stuff done, make life better for everyday Americans, and then take our case to the American people in November. I'm confident in what the results will be. This morning Republicans as well, Elissa Fannick was asked about the ads and stuff that she said, this was an act of pure evil. The criminal should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It is not the time to politicize this tragedy. And I'm wondering what your response is to that. I mean, it's not a serious response from Elissa Fannick, but why would anyone expect a serious response? Because she's an unserious individual at this particular point in time, who has fanned the flames of hatred for her own political advantage. But history is going to condemn her behavior. I believe the voters of the state of New York will condemn her behavior and she's got to live with the consequences of her rhetoric and her action. What's going on with this bill? What are the challenges right now? And what do you think is going to be changing in the future? Well, I'm confident that we will ultimately find the common ground necessary to get legislation that deals with increasing gas prices and increasing food prices and the price gouging that is clearly occurring as a result of out of control greed by some of the wealthiest corporations amongst us. And they should start acting patriotic in a crisis moment and actually be there for the American consumer, for the American people, as opposed to simply for their shareholders and those who have taken the overwhelming majority of the productivity gains of the American people over the last four decades and kept it for themselves. So we are going to find common ground amongst the caucus as we always do. Time and time again, we've found a way to deliver legislation with a thin majority. Leadership is engaged with rules. Committee Chairman McGovern, the committees of jurisdiction that are involved, having conversations with members, finding that common ground and building that consensus is what we need. These are important issues of the day, from the formula shortage to gas price manipulation. Those are things that the American public cares about, and we're trying to deliver solutions. Governing is not easy. We're finding consensus. We're working within the caucus, and we can't count on the other side to deliver any votes, nor should we. They weren't there for the American public with the American Rescue Plan. They haven't been there time and time again on issues of voting rights or fixing DACA. These are things that the American public wants solved and have the broad support of the public. And so we're going to continue to work our caucus, have those conversations, and build the consensus that's necessary in order to deliver for the American people. Well, I don't want to get ahead of any of the conversations that are taking place within the caucus. We obviously had a caucus meeting today, but it was over under the umbrella of the chairman, Sean Patrick Maloney. Those conversations are taking place amongst all stakeholders within the caucus. We are going to find common ground, as Vice Chair Aguilar has indicated, because we always do for the people. Last question? We'll take the last two. Confident that we're going to move legislation this week to address price gouging in America and the inflationary pressures that everyday Americans are feeling. Prices, internet jams, satellites being jammed. We received videos of security forces shooting at peaceful protesters. And there's a concern in Iran that if the Iranian regime is not held accountable, they would kill more peaceful protesters. What is your response to protests in Iran? I'm confident that the Biden administration and the free world will continue to find ways to hold Iran accountable for its behavior. Thank you. Thanks, everyone.