This past week House Democrats were at an issues conference in Leesburg VA where they were celebrating 100 days of progress For The People.
(Members of the House Democratic Caucus, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), spoke to reporters following the conclusion of a group retreat in Leesburg, Virginia. They talked about their performance during the first 100 days of the party’s majority in the U.S. House and about their legislative agenda for the months ahead.)
From an op-ed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer:
In November, the American people elected Democrats to take back the reins of power in the House of Representatives and put it back to work on their behalf. In our first 100 days in the majority, we have begun to deliver on that promise. With a dynamic, diverse and energized freshman class of 63 new members, Democrats are moving ahead with our agenda for the people: Lower health care costs and the price of prescription drugs, increase paychecks by rebuilding the infrastructure of America in a green, modern and job-creating way, and clean up corruption in Washington so that the government works for the public interest, not the special interests.
One of the first acts of our new majority was to enable the House to defend the Affordable Care Act in court against efforts by Republican-led states and the Trump administration to dismantle it. This was soon followed by the introduction of a comprehensive bill to stabilize our health care system and lower health care costs for consumers. Already, committees are holding hearings and marking up legislation to keep Democrats’ promises to take action to make health care and prescription drugs cheaper. […]
The American people entrusted Democrats with the House majority because we promised to focus on the issues that matter and the challenges too great to be ignored. This is the positive change that the American people voted for in November, and many of our initiatives passed with bipartisan support. It’s time for Senate Republicans to join us or pay a price with the public for their obstruction. House Democrats have taken action for the people. This is what we’ve done in our first 100 days. It is what we will continue to do in the weeks and months ahead.
Transcript: Pelosi Remarks at Press Conference at Democratic Issues Conference Celebrating First 100 Days
Washington D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined House Democrats for a press conference to celebrate the historic achievements made in their first 100 days and outline their #ForThePeople blueprint for the next 100 days. Below are the Speaker’s remarks:
Speaker Pelosi. I was so enjoying being inspired by our speakers I didn’t realize I was next.
[Laughter]
In any event, I want to join all of our colleagues who are in the conference room and have saluted the leadership of our Chairman, Hakeem Jeffries, and our Vice-Chair, Katherine Clark, for bringing us together in a very substantive, unifying way this conference. Really a series of workshops where we engaged with each other, and again, For The People.
It is nice to be in the Majority because of what it means for the electorate. What it means For The People. The Majority, Majority, Majority. For The People means lower health care costs by reducing the cost of prescription drugs and saving the pre-existing condition benefit. For The People means building the infrastructure of America in a green way to make bigger paychecks. Lower health costs, bigger paychecks, lower health costs.
The Majority For The People means cleaner government and we have to talk about those issues, and how we can be more specific in terms of legislation, more effective in terms of connecting with the American people on all of those scores, because the outside mobilization is what gives us hope. Ten thousand events to save the Affordable Care Act in the last term of office when those assaults were made to the Affordable Care Act. As you know, we’re going to fight it in the courts, we’re going to fight it the Congress, we’ll fight in the court of public opinion as well.
Hallelujah! It’s a cause for celebration. Celebration for what it means in the lives of the American people.
You know, we’re all fond of using temporal markers. We all reference them, whether it’s Lincoln, ‘Four score and seven years ago.’ Whether it was our Founders, ‘Now are the times that try men’s souls.’ And the Founders also said, ‘The times have found us.’ And the times have found us, now. Not to put us in the category of the greatness of our Founders, or Lincoln with his temporal markers but the times have found us because of the urgency of the challenge that we have.
Our meeting was closed by comment of our distinguished inspiration, that is an honor for each of us to call colleague, some of us to call friend, this is John Lewis.
‘We must, we must, save our values and save our democracy,’ was how he closed our session. We see that as our responsibility. So, again, I thanked our distinguished Chair and Vice-Chair, we had a great conference. I also want to acknowledge Tom Malinowski, one of our Freshman Members from New Jersey. Ted Lieu was already acknowledged as DPCC. Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas. And Hank Johnson from Georgia. Very distinguished Member of Congress.
All of the Members are going for the bus now, but we left again, saying what we always say: our diversity is strength, our unity is our power. As our Founders directed, ‘From many, one.’ With that I yield back to the distinguished Chairman, Mr. Jeffries.
Chairman Jeffries. Thank you Madam Speaker. Any questions?
Press questioning followed (see transcript)
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The House is in recess. The Speaker’s office issued several press releases marking 100 Days of Democratic Party control of the House of Representatives.
Dear Colleague on 100 Days For The People
April 10, 2019
Dear Democratic Colleague:
Congratulations on 100 days of the Democratic House Majority!
Since day one of the 116th Congress, it’s been our job to deliver on the promises we made to the American people in November: to lower health care costs, increase pay by rebuilding America, and clean up corruption in Washington. We should all take great pride in the incredible progress we have made to advance our For The People agenda.
During the first 100 days of this Congress, we have introduced, held hearings, marked up or passed much of our For The People agenda, and we have plans to continue this momentum over the coming months.
Earlier this year, we passed H.R. 1, the For The People Act, the most sweeping anti-corruption bill in history. We took strong action to raise wages by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, landmark legislation to secure equal pay for equal work. We have marked up legislation to lower health costs, protect Americans with pre-existing conditions, and reverse Washington Republicans’ sabotage that has needlessly driven up premiums and uninsured rates.
As we move forward to pass key legislation to lower health care costs and prescription drug prices, and raise wages by rebuilding America, we must continue to highlight how House Democrats are united and committed to fighting for kitchen table issues. As we make progress on the legislative battles ahead, we must project the strength and the unity of the entire Democratic Caucus.
As we enter this April District Work Period, we cannot allow ourselves to become distracted by the chaos and crisis coming from the White House and Washington Republicans. Instead, we must cut through the noise and make ourselves heard on these issues that matter most to all Americans. To do this, we must focus on the legislation we have passed and the headway we are making on the For The People agenda.
During the District Work Period, we must capitalize on the momentum we’ve built over the last 100 days and we must show our constituents why it was important to elect a Democratic Majority. We encourage all Democratic Members to promote the For The People agenda through town halls, roundtables, panel discussions and across digital platforms.
Thank you for your leadership and your continued commitment to these efforts, we would not have been able to achieve these goals without every one of you. We look forward to continuing to work with you to communicate our ideas and show how Democrats are fighting For The People.
best regards,
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
David Cicilline, Chair, DPCC
Matt Cartwright, Co-Chair, DPCC
Debbie Dingell, Co-Chair, DPCC
Ted Lieu, Co-Chair, DPCC
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The First 100 Days By the Numbers
The new House Democratic Majority was elected to deliver progress For The People: fighting to lower health care costs, reduce prescription drug prices, increase paychecks by rebuilding America, and clean up corruption in Washington and more.
Here’s some key numbers for understanding the first 100 Days:
58: Hearings performing oversight of the Trump Administration
More than 25: Hearings focused on health care issues
More than 35: Hearings on infrastructure
35: Number of days before President Trump agreed to reopen the federal government
130 million: Number of nonelderly people in the US have preexisting conditions
20 million: Number of Americans who would lose health coverage if Republicans’ Texas v. U.S. is successful
75: Percent of 2018 voters in battleground districts that said cracking down on Washington corruption was their top priority.
130: Number of groups supporting H.R. 1
ZERO: Number of Republicans voting for H.R.1
6: Hearings on H.R. 1, the For The People Act
13 million: Number of Americans who would see lower health insurance premiums if House Democrats’ new health care bill, the Protecting Pre-Existing Conditions & Making Health Care More Affordable Act of 2019, becomes law
185: Republicans who voted against calling on the Department of Justice to end support for the dangerous Texas v. U.S. lawsuit that if successful would result in 20 million Americans losing health coverage
$3 billion: Amount of money the Trump Shutdown cost America’s economy
11: Number of votes that were taken to reopen government and let federal workers get back to work
$7 billion: Amount of money Trump is trying to illegally transfer to build his wall
9: Hearings on lowering prescription drug prices
202: Letters seeking information from the Trump Administration about government functions – a key part of Congress’s oversight responsibilities
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From the press conference following the Democratic Party retreat, a question was asked about what the purpose is of passing bills in the House that will go nowhere (edited):
Senate Republicans will have to answer for every bill they ignore and every vote they refuse to take. And we will run in 2020 on returning the Senate – and the presidency – To The People.
Thank you, Jan, it’s good to be reminded of what the House accomplished in the first 100 days.
I entered through my email notification of your post and—I got in!
Hope my “fierces” are sticking.
Push through as much progressive legislation as possible while she has the gavel is Nancy’s way, bless her. Only something like 10% got through the Senate last time and I’m not sure I’d bet on that much getting through this time – but she does her job. Others have to make the choice of doing theirs but they aren’t gonna be allowed to blame her for not sending legislation to them.