Transcript of Pelosi, House Democratic Leaders, and Economists’ Press Conference Following Economic Forum
Q: Can you give us an update on the health care … [inaudible] … how close were …
Speaker Pelosi. Here’s where we are. I have been in a meeting for four hours, but when I talk to the Members again today I will be talking to them about that issue of fiscal soundness, which is what we heard over and over again from our experts. They talked about how we needed to be fiscally sound, but we needed to invest in jobs. But they said in the health care bill we really have to do the job of taking down cost. We said that that was a universal message.
And that is what our purpose is, is to improve quality, lower cost, expand coverage, and retain choice for those who like what they have. And in doing so, as the President has said: “Health care reform is entitlement reform and entitlement reform is essential to lowering the deficit.”
And what I will show Members today is how what we are about to receive from the CBO shows how we are fiscally sound as we accomplish the purposes that I just mentioned and we will continue to work for the rest of the day on that. We are moving forward in a very positive way.
Pelosi’s one of those stupid voters Jonathan Gruber was talking about.