CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Is Interviewed About The Coronavirus Stimulus Deal

Interview

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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Nineteen is for the future. But I mean, it's not changing policy, except as it applies here.

So again, many of the provisions in there have been greatly improved because of negation.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me ask you about that because I'm sure you heard the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor today, he's talked about it before saying that what you and the House have been asking for, and maybe even some Democrats in the Senate are, you know, things on your wish list. For example, they say that you asked for imposing new emission standards and carbon offsets on airlines, which is something that is in the Democratic wheelhouse --

PELOSI: Yes.

BASH: -- that something that you would want in a perfect world, but not appropriate today. What's your response?

PELOSI: Well, I do think that there's a whole concern in our country that if we're giving tens of billions of dollars to the airlines that we could at least have a shared value about what happens to the environment.

But that is a, you know, that is an excuse not a reason for Senator McConnell go forward. Some of the other issues like not fully extending family medically not funding food stamps, I hope that will all change in the next few hours.

But there are issues that are central to the well-being of America's families of children being, the school close, and some kids get their food at school. So we need to beef up what we're doing in food stamps. So far, they have not agreed to that.

But again, let us negotiate this, not on T.V., but in weighing of that for ECS (ph). I say to my colleagues, remember, we are not -- we don't have the White House and we don't have the Senate. But we've made tremendous progress in this legislation much of what we have in our bill is reflected in this supposedly group what we've seen so far. We have more we'd like to do, some of it we can save for another day.

BASH: OK. So it sounds like you're -- I'm you're signaling compromise here on some of those things that you put out there in the list.

PELOSI: Well, no, we're not giving up on them. But one of the most important issues to the American people is the safety of our workers and our first responders and emergency responder that they go into a dangerous situation, an infected situation without the proper personal protective equipment.

We also -- so we have good amount of money in the bill, and all the bills we've done to make sure that that is possible. However, we also want rules, a rule to govern what is expected of a business in this highly content -- whatever you want to call it, infectious atmosphere.

So again, there's not anything that'll go away. But I do think it is reflection that American people's concern that our heroes, our nobility, or our healthcare providers and first responders who are responding to this, really in some cases to the detriment of their own personal safety.

BASH: Madam Speaker, I just want to translate something that you said earlier, you said you want to do this by unanimous consent.

Pelosi: Yes.

BASH: And in a non-congressional terms, am I reading your right to say that what you are hoping is that there is an agreement to the point where you do not have to bring House members back that you can just approve this by voice vote, is that your goal is?

PELOSI: Well, what I'm saying is that we want to do it as soon as possible. The best way to do that as soon as possible is to have agreement on the legislation. We're not just doing you see, to get anything done. We're doing you see, to make the biggest possible difference in the shortest period of time and the most scientifically based way to meet the --

BASH: What your goal is to get to the point where you reach everything you just said. And then the Senate passes the bill in the House, because you all are not -- I mean, you're there in the Capitol, but members are back in their districts, they're not there.

PELOSI: That's right.

BASH: Your goal is given the situation where we are is to avoid members of Congress getting on planes to fly back if that is possible.

PELOSI: Well, if they -- that's not -- the point is getting the job done. If you can't reach unanimous consent, then I would hope we could come to a place where we would have a voice -- a vote that is a voice vote where there's not a recorded vote. If we can't get to that, there are other options that our chairman of the Rules Committee put forth, whether it's pairing, which has some precedent in the House and proxy voting which has precedent only in committees. But to get into -- and then of course, remote voting, which we're not prepared for, but we should use the best advances of technology to see how we can address it. It still has a constitutional challenge because the Constitution says we have to be present in voting in the Capitol.

[12:35:01]

But again, right now, what we're trying to do is work on the substance of this legislation so that we can quickly come to agreement where we can have unanimous consent. It's a $2 trillion bill. That's a big piece of legislation. And we, again, we want to handle it in recognition of the urgency. But with the care that is required to make sure that it delivers as quickly as possible, whether it's the checks or the benefits to the workers.

BASH: I understand that. I want to ask you about some signals that the President has been sending both yesterday at his briefing and today on Twitter, that he's hearing clearly from some Conservatives saying, that the cure cannot be worse than the problem, meaning, the signal is that he could start to open up the economy again because there is a lot of pressure on him to do that.

The flip side, I'm sure you've seen, Liz Cheney, a top Republican in the House, has tweeted effectively that that's not a good idea. Where do you stand? And more importantly, what is your message to the President about the timeframe here and what should lead here the economy or health care?

PELOSI: Well, there doesn't have to be a contradiction there. Our economy will thrive when our people are well and able to go back to work in groups and collaborate on the enthusiasms that they have in their entrepreneurial spirit or in the workplace that they thrive and our children can go back to school. But central to all of that is stopping the spread of the disease -- of the coronavirus.

It's central to that. So I don't have time to follow people's tweets, Twitter's whatever, tweets, so don't expect me to comment on them.

BASH: Well, even beyond Twitter, the President of the United States --

PELOSI: I don't care. I don't care. I don't care. You know what, I don't care.

BASH: What is your opinion on that?

PELOSI: My opinion is that it is not scientific base. And so his notion mongering as he does almost every day. So rather than waste any time or commenting on the President, I would rather spend our time focusing on the fact that any president or anybody with responsibility should be scientifically inclined evidence-based data, what is going to make the difference?

I think the cure is the biggest message of hope that is out there. We have the best minds in the country 24/7, all hands on deck trying to find a path here. And that is what will be the light at the end of the tunnel. But the President is suggesting is that light at the end of the tunnel could be a train coming at us if people are out and about in a way that spreads the disease further.

But I'm not here to pick a fight with a President. We're here to get a job done with this legislation. And don't want to waste any energy on his tweets. I mean, I think that if he listened to the scientists, if he listened in the beginning to the gravity of the problem instead of minimizing it, if he if he hadn't fired that people at national -- well, you know, there's so many what ifs.

Let's save that for later. Right now we have to focus on getting the job done for the American people. And with all due respect to the fact that he's the President of United States and I respect the office he holds. I just, I'm too busy to be bothered about his tweets. And that's just the way it is.

BASH: I understand. Madam Speaker, I know that you have worked with Dr. Anthony Fauci for many years. He has advised Congress. He's advised presidents of both parties for a long time. He wasn't at the press conference yesterday, and there is some concern among some that he -- although the President had been listening to him very intently that that might be changing for whatever reason. What is your view on that especially given how well you know, Dr. Fauci?

PELOSI: Well, Dr. Fauci, has been a tremendous scientific and intellectual resource to the country, to the Congress for sure. President George Herbert Walker Bush said, he was a hero. I agree with that. I've had him on a pedestal for a long time.

I was concerned at the beginning of this dilemma of that the President was either not hearing from the scientist or wasn't listening to the scientist. And now that Dr. Fauci is more vocal, I understand has been more vocal, I can't talk about the dynamic in the White House.

But I can say this, scientists and doctors around the country are saying there is a way to stop this and you cannot be communal. You'll have to stay in and for the President to make light of that is if it's like, well so what, some people will die, but the economy will grow. No, you hurt the economy if more people are sick.

[12:40:02]

And so again, we always advocated for -- and I don't want this to be in any way partisan, it shouldn't be. We offer -- we advocated for government wide, science-based, evidence-based approach to this. Again, it's about science and knowledge and evidence. It's not about notion mongering about a notion that doesn't even rise to the level of an idea.

So again, let's not -- we have plenty of time later to do an after action review about what should have happened when if only, if only, if only. My own granddaughter said to me, why do you keep talking about if only, let's just talk about what you're doing next. And she's 10 years old. So we want to talk about what we do next.

But what we do next cannot be complicated by some more, if only is coming out of the White House. But again, we are in Congress working in a bipartisan way to get this job done in a way that, again, has immediate relief, a relief to the workers and families in the rest of all affected, but also in a way that grows the economy, because that's in everyone's interest as well.

BASH: Madam Speaker, I know how busy you are. I really appreciate your time today, bringing us all up to speed. And we all wish you, your fellow Republicans, everybody they're locked and helping guide us through this. Thank you so much.

PELOSI: Thank you so much. Thank you.

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