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Understanding 9/11tv Rep. Elijah Cummings Remarks at the National Press Club CSPAN August 8, 2019 10:03am-11:07am EDT
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administration. it's one hour and 15 minutes. [gavels] >> good afternoon, everybody. i'm sure the gavel look you up, right? welcome to the national press club. the world's leading professional organization for journalist. , news editorff lou with al jazeera media network , where my colleague has been unjustly imprisoned in egypt. we have call for his immediate release along with other detained journalists. i am grateful you all came today. i am particularly grateful to my
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fellow members who have been asked to come back and pinch-hit for our 100 and 12th president, allison kojak, who is getting well-deserved rest leading investigative unit having just -- unit at the associated press, having just left national public radio. thinking the members as always for putting their trust in me to has -- have served as the 110th president in 2017. we welcome our headliner, congressman elijah cummings, democrat from the state of maryland, chairman of the house committee of oversight and government reform. before i get into the formal introduction, we will introduce the head table. a couple of housekeeping rules. the latter first. if you do have a question for the chairman, those of you in the ballroom, you have your cards on the table. please write them down and pass them up front.
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we will try to ask as many of them as time permits and so forth. also if you have a mobile device and you have slipped in there in the past few minutes and didn't hear my earlier warnings, before we went live, please silence your cell phones. the use of twitter and other social media to follow along and even to host questions for today's headliner lunch at, but we would rather not have that accompanied by the usual -- s and r2-d2 sounds from beeps and r2-d2 sounds from "star wars." now i would like to introduce our head table. on my left, mike smith member of , a the national press club headliners team and volunteer
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at the new era academy in baltimore, where the congressman has a lot of involvement. applausesay, hold your until the entire ds -- diocese ias has been introduced. are -- there is approval or disapproval heard in the broadcast, it is a reminder that the general public is invited to our luncheons and not a symbol of journalistic i is one way or the other. lisa matthews, news assignment manager at the associated press and member of the national press board of governors. t, washingtonn
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correspondent at new jersey media and one of my predecessors who served as president of the national press club. al fahrouk, who likes to be called danny around the club, reporter at the tech and member of the press club board of governors. jeff barker, washington reporter ." "the baltimore sun cummings, chair of the maryland democratic party south of congressman cummings. russo,g over me, laurie cochair of the national press club headliners team. where's sam? sam not quite -- as always,
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is a member of the club and rushing over here from cnn. it's been a busy news day and we will introduce him when the time comes. alana train, white house reporter at actio's. bob weiner, president of weiner public news and the national press club member who organized today's luncheon. thank you, bob, for you, laurie, and the team. jennifer cummings, daughter of the congressman. nikki schwab, my fellow southwest pennsylvanian and reporter at "the new york post." jennifer jacobs, white house reporter at bloomberg news. [applause] >> [inaudible]
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>> everybody got introduced. [laughter] said today, we welcome our headliner, congressman elijah cummings, demo at from the state of maryland, chairman of house oversight and government reform. his remarks come in the wake of president's comments about his district in which he called baltimore "a disgusting rat in rodent infested mess and the worst in america." mr. cummings will also investigate and the trump administration, the prescription drug industries price practices. -- practices, and other topics before his committee. now serving his 13th in the house, representative cummings has been an advocate for health care leader in the fight against , a drug abuse, and assistance to lower income americans. headliners, committee
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members again, cochairs, past s, club member lasky, jean, and the national press the headliners liaison, executive director, laura from the office for club president and many of the other staff members of the national press club who i thank for helping to put together today's lunch. usually lunch in august is a bit sleepy. not so much today. about 230 of you in here. thank you. so with that, i am going to introduce congressman cummings. we will get some remarks, have some q&a and some fun this afternoon. congressman cummings? [applause]
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rep. cummings: thank you very much. god has called me to this moment. i did not ask for it. as a son of former sharecroppers from manning, south carolina, who plowed the fields, picked picked the strawberries, i am indeed humbled by this invitation. i want you to fully understand that this invitation and the a long time ago. two months ago, as a matter of fact. it just so happened that destiny
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has brought us to this moment. i would like to thank the national press club. your president, npr pass -- jeff,allison kojak, bob, i want to thank all of them for inviting me to join you today for this conversation. it is my hope there will be a conversation among citizens about the state of our government and the future of our precious country and our democracy, by the way. begin, i want to take a moment to address the recent mass shootings that took the lives of people this past weekend. i got to tell you, first of all, let me express my sympathy and condolences to the families.
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and i also want to thank our first responders. those who go into dangerous situations to save lives. i thank god for you. [applause] trulyummings: i'm heartbroken for these families and communities or suffering at the hands of gun violence. i'm sorry that once again, we are mourning the lives of those who were stolen from us before they reached their potential or destiny. gun violence seems to know no bounds, none. none. a school, a shopping mall, a movie theater, a park, a church.
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sadly the only thing that has changed is the location. the only thing. i'm a man of deep faith. and i believe that prayer works. but the american people are begging us for more than thoughts and prayers. they want action. and guess what? they want it now. because they know that this is a critical moment in our history. that is why i cosponsored a bipartisan background check act, which will require background checks and five on -- for firearm transfers between private parties. this will pass the house and i call on the senate and mitch mcconnell to take it up and consider the measure. and then i want the president to sign it. we want action. [applause]
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stopcummings: we must also the hateful, incendiary comments. we got to do it. those in the highest levels of government must stop invoking fear, using racist language and encouraging reprehensible behavior. it only creates more distance -- division among us and severely limits our ability to work together for the common good. as a country, we finally must say that enough is enough. that we are done with the hateful rhetoric, that we are done with the mass shootings, that we are done with the white supremacist domestic terrorists terrorizing our country and fighting against everything
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america stands for and everything our phenomenal military has fought for. and when i am speaking of that, i'm just reminded of -- [applause] rep. cummings: i'm just reminded of a conversation that i had with my 10-year-old niece this weekend. she said "uncle elijah, are they going to put us in cages? are they going to put us in cages?" that is coming from a 10-year-old. we are better than that. we must stand together with those who we do not look like, ,ith those who we disagree with and recognize that we have more in common than we have that separates us. [applause] rep. cummings: we all are sick of this.
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we all want decency and respect. decency and respect. we want our communities to be protected. we want all to live in a country where our children are safe when they go to the mall or to wal-mart or to the local school. we must stand united and demand change. you know, one of the things i have always thought about -- and i think about it a lot, it's one governmentyou have a where the people are afraid of the government. where people are afraid -- did you hear what i said? afraid of the government. we need to switch that around where the government is afraid of the people. [applause]
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and i have some hope. i have hope because i know so many people at home and every city in this country are watching the communities of el paso and dayton in pain. we are grieving with them. we feel your pain. we really do. we feel it. as you prepare to bury your own, who were simply trying to live a life of peace, doing what americans normally do. they are in pain and we are in pain. and from that pain, though come .ust come passion and from that passion, we must do our purpose and shift our pain into action. and demand our government take
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serious action to prevent people intent on killing from obtaining to this put an end senseless violence. now let me turn to our discussion for the day. i will touch upon the great work -- and i do mean it -- the great work my committee is doing and trying to do. to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse of this administration and our efforts to address critical issues, like prescription drug prices. i will briefly address blatant attempts to attack my community in baltimore and in so doing, to divide us as a country. and to distract us. i want to emphasize that there -- that. distract us. from all that unites us and combats the dangers our country faces.
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i was born, along with my father and my six brothers and sisters, in baltimore. educated and still live in baltimore. and i want my neighbors to know and how, god, i am so proud that they have trusted me to represent them in the congress of the united states of america. thank you, baltimore. thank you. [applause] rep. cummings: my neighbors by large are the most determined, hard-working and deserving people i know. people, anyone, and especially our national leaders, should he ast be proud to commend their countrymen and women. they are no different than the people of texas or ohio, or anywhere else in our great nation.
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we have honest and candid conversations. we do not hesitate to protest -- critique and protest what we are -- what is lacking and is wrong with our city. these criticisms are necessary , for they are the birthing of construction change -- constructive change. at the same time, however, unbalanced criticism can be self reinforcing, causing us to doubt our ability to improve. and we are improving every day. when i hear a criticism from anyone about the city, what bothers me the most is we have ofple stepping on the hopes our children and the hopes of our people. when i have my niece asking if they will put us in cages, there is just something wrong with that. our children must know we are
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doing everything we can right now to ensure they will have a better future. i will do my part until i die to make sure that happens. time is precious. i will not waste it on anything that is attempting to distract me from my purpose in my mission. -- and my mission. when i became the chairman, i said i wanted to conduct rigorous and responsible issuesht and go over the that matter most to the american people. that is what my and my committee are trying to do. we are addressing issues like prescription drug pricing, voting rights, criminal justice reform, opioid abuse, and each one of these issues are dear to my heart.
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them have been addressing for a long time. my first committee hearing was on the rising cost of prescription drug prices. we heard from a mother, her name m. worship listen to this, she was the first to appear before my committee as chairman. she told us about her 22-year-old daughter who was rationing her insulin because she could not afford it. it was $333 a month. she died. she died. do you hear me? 22 years old. she will never reach her destiny. she is gone. $333 a month. i convene another hearing before the august recess where we heard directly from patients who
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described the devastating impact of not being able to afford their lives -- lifesaving medications. they represent the millions of patients all over this country who need our help and needed desperately. that is why i launched an investigation into these high drug prices. the american people simply want to know why drug companies are increasing the prices so drastically. ?hat happened to the proceeds and the steps that congress can take to make drugs much more affordable? we need to address the problems. oversight starts with gathering facts. you all should know a lot about that.
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if we are being blocked and not getting the information that we need to hold the administration accountable, then we've got a problem. and that's exactly what's been happening. gathering. the committee has collected tens of thousands of pages of documents in response to our request from these drug companies. our staff is analyzing the materials that we have and we have received quite a bit of it so far and we are expecting to collect even more. but it is interesting that the republicans want my committee -- -- they wrote the drug companies and told them not to cooperate with us. you've hear me? they told them not to. that's unheard of. by the way, let me put a footnote right here.
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to the -- don't let the congress off lightly. everybody keeps running around talking about the presidential race, which is very important. talk about the congressional seat, that's important. the senate go. do not. zero win on the senate. every single last one of them. we act like we don't have the power to change the senate. we do. and we need to act now, right now. [applause] so, we also are investigating reports of voter suppression. let me tell you why that is so near and dear to me. my mother, on her dying bed, 91 , uttered some words to me that i shall never forget, that are part of my dna. she is lying unheard deathbed.
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she didn't say -- eliza, i love you. she didn't say "eliza, i'm proud of you." the last words that she spoke before she died were "do not let anyone take our votes away." those were her last words. we have been investigating these reports of voter suppression. let me say this, i get tired of people, and you in the press again should appreciate this, they want us to be blinded by what we see. see.ed by what we and i submit to you that we are so much better than that. so, i hope that we can learn
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from the events of the past while also making strides to improve the criminal justice system. bill, thepassed my fair chance act, which would prevent the federal government from requesting criminal history information from applicant until they reached the initial offer stage. very, very important in helping folks get jobs. we are also addressing the opioid epidemic. i introduced the care act with my colleague, senator elizabeth warren. because it is time for our nation to take a comprehensive approach to providing the resources needed to treat those who suffer from addiction. than 200 groups have endorsed the bill. more than 100 members of congress have cosponsored the legislation. i say -- let's get it done.
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you can clap. [applause] can clap whenever you get ready to. very soon i'm going to be traveling to west virginia to talk with advocates and medical professionals about the challenges that they face every day when addressing this epidemic. these are just some of the ways tocommittee is working hard improve the lives of all, and i emphasize all, i underline all americans. at the same time, we have launched investigations to abuse waste, fraud, and -- which is our job, by the way, under the constitution of the united states of america. that's our job. [applause] example, wes: for are investigating the
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administration's child separation policies and decision to add the citizenship question to the census. and you all need to really ,valuate -- you in the press what happened here. let me give you the rest of the story. the problem is the administration refuses to give us the documents that we requested and have instituted a delay and stonewall approach. this administration dictated this approach the day after the democrats took control of the house, when he threatened "a posture against democrats. this is frustrating and it takes up a lot of time and a lot of effort. we need to be sure that we don't let the administration's attempt
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to delay and obstruct us go unchallenged. the american people voted us into the majority with the expectation that we will uncover, expose, and ultimately face these abuses. the oversight committee is the primary investigative body of the congress. our job is to ensure that the same are waterman, the same requirements, same requirements of transparency and accountability that have applied to every other administration apply to this one. question we must ask "what do we hope to leave for the next generation"? that the question we have to
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ask. -- that's a question we have to ask. it's a major question. i say to the american people that if you want your government to do more on the issues that matter most to you, you need to vote and you have got to vote like you have never voted before. [applause] if you want your elected officials to work for you and not for their own self interests, then you need to vote. if you want more from the highest levels of government, if you want more, only if you want more, you need to vote. you need to get up and vote. it is time for america to wake up. pay attention to what this administration is trying to do.
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listen to this carefully. despite warnings from internal experts, within the commerce department that adding a citizenship question would be costly and harm the accuracy of the enumeration, this administration used the voting rights act of all things as a pretext to try to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. revealed this spring suggest that the administration wanted to add the in order toquestion gerrymander legislative just >> to help republican. that's not fair. that's not right to any of us. that means the billions and billions of dollars that are allocated through formulas, through redistricting, to make sure that we have fair representation would not be accurate.
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we would not get what we paid into. i want to remind the readers of america -- by the way, you pay taxes and you deserve the very, very, very best from our guy in the government. we must have high expectations of our government. [applause] transparency about these ultimately led to the president dropping the citizenship russian at the very last minute. imagine what would have happened if activists, congress, and the media had turned a blind eye to their efforts. i urge everyone to take a long at the actions and policies of this administration to determine how they will vote in the next election. i want to leave you with this in aht, we are engaged
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fight for the soul of our democracy. i said that before a present administration one. as a matter of fact, i said it to the democratic caucus. i said to them that this is not about trump, this is not about thanry, it's much bigger that. this is a fight for the soul of our democracy. and we have to understand that. [applause] so, we in the congress and you in the media must confront and overcome the continuing attacks on our constitutionally created and protected institutions from sources both foreign and domestic. who raise up to citizenship in the
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time of dr. martin luther king, we are not afraid. above all, we will not be defeated. we have endured and overcome such threats before. we understand our duty to restore and perfect the evolving story of our american history. the good, the bad, the ugly. us king so often reminded that our nation's darkest hours have often been just before the dawn. come on, now. you can clap. and let me remind you that he also said something that i think about everyday. he said so often our silence becomes our betrayal.
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betrayal of future generations. betrayal of people like my niece. betrayal of people -- of those who have worked all of their lives to be the very best they can be, giving it everything they have got. the promise still rings true. stand together, we march together, we vote together, we can restore the light of democracy. let me just -- i want to refer you to one thing. that brother ballew said don't user or cell phones, but , and into to google saying this to every creature, every event jellico, every speechwriter, everybody, i want you to read this article. because it sets in place where we are now.
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it's by president george w. .ush's for speechwriter it's from the august 2 edition ." "the washington post he detailed the racist history of our country and those victimized by it, making the point that racist comments real than the scars of so many past wounds. he also made the critical point that the president's racist comments spanned the divide in our nation and that those who allow the comments to go unchecked are enabling them. wife, dr.thank my cummings. [applause] and my daughter, jennifer
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cummings, for being with me today. make sure the you read that article. everybody, make sure that you read it. every preacher, you need to preach from it. and i think what we need to do is be about the business of uniting our great country. we are truly, truly, truly a great country. but we have to keep it. we have to keep it. and with that, i thank you. [applause] >> where we going? it's all right. >> we're going to move. the way, igs: by
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understand that this is a sold-out crowd and i really appreciate that. you have people up in the gallery up in here. all right. [laughter] >> and the questions have been flowing, mr. chairman. they indeed have. well, we are going to -- curtis, with your permission we are going to have a little fireside chat. with your help. many of you have sent many napkins. just a couple of housekeeping reminders for those of you who you are tuned in late, watching the remarks of chairman of elijah cummings, chairman of the house government oversight and reform committee of the united states congress, 13 term
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congressman from baltimore, maryland. both here in the ballroom and those who are listening and watching, if you applause and other signifiers, they are signals and we do invite members of the public to our luncheons. therefore it is not necessarily coming from those of us in the audience were members of the press. we must maintain our neutrality. you had a lot to say, mr. chairman. rep. cummings: yeah, i did. [laughter] >> on the president's visit to a paso and dayton -- just for the sake of trying to move things along, since you very much want something done, should congress cancel recess and come back to
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address -- x yes, yes. when you have people dying? come on, now. people are dying, you hear what afraid.people are they are afraid to even go to the movies. they are afraid to go shopping. they are afraid to go about their daily lives. i have so many of my constituents -- and by the way, i represent a very diverse district. i have the richest of the rich .nd the poorest of the poor and i literally have all people coming up to me with literally tears running down their face -- toase, please, i do not want turn on the news anymore, please help us save our country. they are very serious about that. i think that we have a responsibility to do whatever is necessary to save lives.
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i'm prepared to go. >> you talk about your bill that and is waitinge for senate action. have you actually spoken to anybody in the senate to move this background check legislation? i'm constantly trying to talk to my counterparts, the folks over in the senate. but i have not talked to mr. mcconnell. and i am asking him to allow the many phenomenal pieces of legislation that we have passed in the house to help the american people move forward. that he opens the door. right now, right now he is blocking and doing everything in his power to do that. , to movek him, humbly away from the door. >> do you think the president
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could move that along? before he got on the helicopter, he very much said -- whether you believe him or not is a different discussion, but he very much said that he thinks there is a lot of momentum emerging around background check legislation actually making it to his desk. i'm so glad you asked that question. i think we really need to be careful when listening to politicians talking about what they going to do. [laughter] let me be clear, you have a lot of talk. talk, talk.talk, but in the end, in the end, nothing happens. iremember after sandy hook joined with congressman riegle of virginia, a republican, to
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try to get some meaningful legislation passed. after sandy hook. you remember that? nothing happened. i think the question has to always be -- the bottom line. either you do it or you don't. you know, i think we play a , you know, here of when i was a kid they would play the little game where you would shuffle things and put them under stuff. i think what's happening is the republicans -- listen very carefully -- they going to make all these glorious statements. make a lot of them. oh, we love gun safety, we love it. but i guarantee you, the people want action. the people simply want action. so what they will do, i think, is they will make these glorious
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statements and then they will know that they can make these statements without any repercussions. they figure the president has the rack. and even if the president says some nice things, i believe it's a situation where mcconnell has his back. do isin, what we have to demand results. i would say to every editorial board in the world, in the world, you must ask for action. resulted in? what has come out of this? as i said to michael:, do not ask the question in these difficult times of why did something happen to you. ask the question why did it happen for you. i do believe that this is a moment in our history that
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journalists, journalists will be the ones who open the doors of government and bring us to a new sense of normal. [applause] let me just -- >> let me just now that down, has speaker pelosi -- rep. cummings: i haven't talked to her about it. but i would support her she did. by the way, i think that speaker pelosi is a phenomenal woman. i really do. is -- cummings: she [applause] rep. cummings: she is, she is courageous and she is one of the few people that i know of that can galvanize the congress to address the issues of the american people. sync withence is in her conduct every single day.
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so, i believe in her, i trust her, and i think if you are looking for signals as to where we should be going, look to speaker pelosi. [applause] spend too want to much time on gun violence, but there are a couple of things that have been popping up in the questions. as you know, the president is making his visits to take in and of paso. before he got on the helicopter he said that his rhetoric "brought people together." how would you size up the president's remarks, either this morning or his former remarks in chief?s consoler rep. cummings: let me be clear -- [laughter] rep. cummings: i want the president, as these many families begin to vary their , to be aury their dead
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consoler in chief. it is so important. that's what i want from him. that's what people expect from leadership. you know, i remember when president obama was president. we had a big meeting of the democratic caucus. somebody was complaining about him not speaking up on certain things and president obama said something i will never forget. he said -- i didn't speak about it as i realized that every syllable that comes out of my mouth affects the world. and he said something very careful about what i'm saying. and i would hope that the president would consider that. he willuld hope that embrace these families. i was watching the news this
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morning -- thanks to you all -- -- i know that many of them there were protests and what have you. and so again, that's all i wanted right now. and to sign the bill. a gun problem, an anger problem, a race problem, or a mental health problem when we have these sorts of -- rep. cummings: you have all of it. you have got people to have mental treatment, mental illness treatment. bentave got people who are on doing harm. haveou have got people who a niche. sometimes i think these comments push them a little further. it's rare that i go through a week without getting a death threat. rare. and i'm just trying to do my
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job. i'm just trying to do my job. i'm doing what the people paid me to do. i'm doing what i swore to do. i'm doing what the constitution says i must do. you know, some people get it confused. i remember when i first was being interviewed by "the new york times," this was before i , and they said -- you know, they say you are the president's worst nightmare. i said "that hurts my feelings. i'm not about the business of being the president worst nightmare. -- nightmare." i said "you know, i'm doing my job." i have these duties. i said "guess what?
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the president is probably a nice guy. but i love my democracy. i love my country. countrymen more." in other words, i love what has brought me to this moment. let me tell you something, from sharecropping parents to the congress of the united states of america to a sold-out press club along way.'s coming but only in america and only because of the democracy. i get that. [applause] >> as you indicated during your remarks, between the time when you agree to come here and today, the president made your appearance of it more newsy from his remarks targeting your district.
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but your own governor has recently said -- larry hogan, that you can't put all the blame on theimore city president. rep. cummings: remind him he's a republican. >> yes, and he prides himself on being the son of a member of congress who helped to advance the impeachment proceedings of president nixon. but he did say that you can do more to help. and that everything we have been trying to do at the state level, they would love to have more help from the white house and the congress to help the state help the city. what more do you think can be done? done.ummings: lots can be on the cutbacks, with regard to what would affect cities? that would be significant. and you know what?
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i want president trump to come to my district. bad.i want him to come so >> heavies spoken to him? have you asked him? rep. cummings: i can get to him. you all do a good job of that, put that in your editorials. i want him to come, i want them andome, i want him to come look at my entire city. i will drive with him for hours if we have to. then we will go to baltimore county, where the richest of the rich are. and i want him to see all the wonderful things that are happening. you know, when you beat up on difficultiesve had and challenges in their lives, it doesn't help. nobody in this room would do that. we can -- again, there are many things i will talk to him about when he comes. we are talking about results, we are talking about results.
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you will need to see when he comes. speaking of, by the way, i want all you all to be there. >> a we will be there. rep. cummings: let me tell you something. baltimore is a beautiful city. our former mayor, stephanie rawlings lake, it's your with us . i've got to tell you, we work hard everyday. she knows, we work hard every day. but when you have the force against you -- i'm not going to kid you, it's difficult. at the same time we have done some wonderful things. of some wonderful things, our good colleagues at " the washington post," did a good piece about all the efforts underway, including yours. one of the things that jumped out at the peace is that they said michael cryer, who is baltimore and to
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these wonderful things going in so many different directions that not a lot is getting done, how do you get all of the orders rs to get things done. not just in baltimore, but take it up a few thousand feet, urban challenges nationwide. rep. cummings: you are right. we all have to be rowing together. one of the things i have challenged all of our organizations -- and by the way, michael bloomberg has been phenomenal for baltimore. the weinberg foundation, i could go down the list. what i have encouraged them to do, all the philanthropists and people that want to help us is not act in silos but to bring so that the resources they are made readily available to people. i have often said that there is nothing like an opportunity you
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don't know about. so, again, i would encourage our true leaders to continue to urge folks to come together to work hard. you know, when you have people in your district who are drug addicted? it's hard. i would ask people, since you all are here, i want you to look at mulvaney's former district. look at the stats on that. take a look at it. take a look at it. and you will see, it's an interesting comparison. it really is. again, we have to take people to higher ground. one thing that i do agree with with regards to president trump, he said it's no time to be politically incorrect. he's right, this is no time. we are trying to save our nation. we need funds with regard to
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drug addiction. we need funds to build up our communities. there are, there are, listen to me, there are thousands of evil in baltimore who are working hard every day. some of them, they are not operating on a shoestring because they don't have a string. coaching the basketball team. they are tutoring children after school. they are doing everything in their power to allow our children to reach their destinies. i want to take them to the outreach center. some thing i worked on for 20 years. he will see little children in a very depressed community sitting there, learning code with regard to computers. i want to take them to all the .ifferent things that we need
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perhaps he will help us. but we need somebody at the top, at the top, making our cities -- by the way, rural areas, don't forget them. don't forget the rural areas. don't forget them. because they are very, very, very important. sometimes every time statements are made about the city, they forget that there are many suffering in appalachia, where i will be going in a week or so. a serious drug problem in west virginia. serious. guess what? i am just as concerned about them we have about four minutes left. since he talked about appalachian opioid, any prospects for further legislation on opioid abuse? >> again, all your editorial
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boards, all of them, i want them to look at the care act, which senator elizabeth warren and i cosponsored because it makes sense. it would give us 100 million. drug problem is serious everywhere. it would allow local organizations working on this issue to have access to those funds. we will work on making sure doctors are trained to be sensitive to drug addicted people. it will again bring a very important and life-saving drugs we want to make sure we get those two people needed. the
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problem is that the supplier of the lockdown went up on the price big-time. we are trying to get that in the hands of people who need it. >> on prescription drugs, offguard in returns of reducing prescription drug prices. that is some the you talked about before your committee and conservatives seem to be calling it socialism. how do you get the deal done if it is something the president says he wants done? hide and go seek. member but i said a few minutes ago? if the president wants to get it done, it will get done. hello?
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understand that. this hocus-pocus stuff does not work when people are dying. it does not work. and i have got to say this. i know we have got a minute. let me be clear. don't get it twisted. do not get it twisted. you must read the article i referred you to. i hope that in the next debate, it will depart of the discussion. it is so important that you go for higher ground. i must tell you that barack obama was a phenomenal president . a phenomenal president. [applause] i have 15 seconds. a lot of people -- when i was chairman, i
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cooperated. . i signed 700 letters with the republicans investigating the obama administration. >> two last questions, and before that i will present you with the national press club mug. >> just what i needed. >> to drink your tea. are your ravens going to be my steelers this year? and are we any closer to impart -- impeachment? >> week and a beat you, starting with the second. we cannot hurt you. -- we are going to hurt you. got so excited about that one. what was the other one question >> impeachment. [laughter] >> over and over again i have said that the time when impeachment may come, i take the guidance of this phenomenal
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woman, nancy pelosi. because i'm on the inside. the day that any administration disobeys a court order, that i am for impeachment. because -- then i am for impeachment. qc by that time we are in trouble, we are in big trouble. what it says is that the laws don't matter. i want you to understand, the guys on my block, you know, the regular everyday guys, they asked me the question over and over again, there are -- is there to forms of justice? and again, i'm a do everything in my power to lift up our nation to make at the very, very best that it can be. and may god bless you all. [applause] >> thank you, chairman cummings. thanks to the staff of the national press club, members of the headline committee, we are adjourned.
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thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] we willout 30 minutes, talk about the united kingdom's relations with the united states. that is live at 11:30 eastern. the iowa state fair opens this morning. residential candidates will be did you to voters this afternoon. we will take you to the fair live or speech are's i steve bullock and joe biden starting .t 1:45 eastern
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governor bullock at the iowa state fair this afternoon after being in washington dc, yesterday where he spoke to the press club. here is his 30 minute speech. last tuesday, 10 of the people seeking the democratic party's nomination for president took the stage on the first night of the forms. after both forums, one of the storylines is about the candidates working hard to assert their views against those who do not see themselves as moderates. steven bullock is one of the candidates who sees himself as a moderate. he is also pulling in the single digits.
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