mothers, saying either -- the fact that they hear two women speaking in that format, how it has really affected them, all throughout history women have typically been the woman behind the man and what we get to do here is we get to talk about the men behind the women, a focus on her life and tell the story from her perspective. the fact that we get to do that. we hope people to inspired to do the same. >> the history checks, sunday on 8:00 eastern. you can listen to q&a as a podcast. >> this is c-span's new online store at c-span shop.org.

with the congress in session, we are taking preorders from the congressional directory. c-span's nonprofit operations. shop today at c-span shops.org. >> house speaker nancy pelosi brings eight $1.9 trillion economic aid plan. she offered support to the asian american and pacific islander community that event targets of recent violent attacks. this is 40 minutes. nancy pelosi: good morning.

good morning everyone. as we deliver the benefits of the american rescue plan and hard at work to lower health care costs, expand access to care, which we have seen a great need for. on tuesday, we will celebrate the 11th anniversary of the affordable care act. that was a great pillar of economic and health security for the american people. on part with social security, medicaid and america -- and medicare. we have some initiatives to expand the affordable care act and that is why i'm so pleased to be joined by three of our colleagues of representatives. talk about provisions in the

bill and she will talk about them and i will salute her for her first success for getting provisions in the bill that expand the affordable care act. representative craig has been at work on initiatives to improve the affordable care act and will have her own words to say about rescue and where we are. representative fernandez, is a freshman -- she is a freshman member and she will have her presentation on the subject. she will try to make the future better for american families. you will hear from them momentarily but before that, i want to say how exciting it is for us that 11 years have gone by and there has been a broad acceptance of the affordable care act, it was a transformational law that lowered cost, secured lifesaving protections for americans, no matter how they get there i'll

care. our goal is to have universal coverage, reversal access to quality, affordable health care and a giant step forward to that was the affordable care act. provides for more than 130 million americans with a pre-existing medical condition. the affordable care act took care of that. and mother of five i was told, that was an obstacle to my getting insurance because of five children and i thought that was one of our strengths. limits on health care guaranteeing essential health benefits and free preventative services, ensuring that young people could stay on their families policy until 26, extending health coverage. people make a big fuss as do i

that the fact that 20 million more people in the country had access to health care. 20 million people but the fact also is that over 150 million families had access to better health care at lower costs and again with benefits like no pre-existing condition barrier to access to health care, but that is one of the further benefits and we are proud to celebrate this anniversary, look forward to making it even stronger. the american rescue plan takes bold steps forward and making health care more affordable and accessible, including those for people who have lost coverage through no fault of their own. when we had our companion -- when we had our campaign, lower health care costs and lower the

cost of prescription drugs and preserving pre-existing conditions among others. democrats will take further action to make this more affordable. we chose that name very carefully. affordable care act. patient, protection and affordable care act. a leader from the start and the congress to make the affordable care act more affordable. they served in the obama administration as well as being a health care provider herself, making a big difference right here from the start. congressmen under woman -- of eleanor. >> i'm thrilled to be here today to celebrate this historic expansion of the affordable care act -- i represent the 14th district of illinois i spent a

lot of time listening to my community. but i found over and over and over again when i took office, over two years ago now, was whether i am at a farm or a restaurant or at a town hall, people are being crushed by their health care costs. it has been devastated for families. while republicans have worked restlessly for two years, to take away health care, house democrats, senate democrats and the biden harris administration have all been loud and clear, no family should be without affordable care, especially in a once in a century health crisis. i'm here to tell you today we have delivered for the american people. the american rescue plan included by legislation, the health care affordability act, which lowers out-of-pocket insurance costs and caps premiums for everyone. it requires that americans pay no more than 8.5% of their

income on health care premiums and provide a larger tax credit to 9 million people who receive financial assistance. helping them afford coverage through the marketplace. those earnings to our 400% at the federal poverty line, just slightly more than $51,000 per year per individual, will be able to receive aid to purchase affordable health care coverage. the cost of health care has been keeping millions of families from driving but that is about to change. help is on the way. the biden administration estimates that four out of five people will be able to find a planet for $10 a month. people with the lowest income and people who receive unemployment compensation may not have to plate -- pay a monthly premium.

can save $1000 per month on their monthly premiums. and family of four making $90,000 will see previous decrease by $200 per month. that is real significant saving for hard-working families so thank you madam speaker, so including by legislation in this historic package and making me much money back in the pockets of my constituents. everyone had a gradually hard year and i'm so thankful for your leadership that we were able to build on the affordable care act and deliver on our promise to lower cost for the american people. >> thank you so much. they for having me here, especially during these challenging times we are reminded every single day that americans deserve access to

high-quality affordable health care. this is especially -- as a portion of my own childhood without that reality without having access and i still remember that box of bills that piled up for my mom who was raising three kids mostly on her own on the kitchen table. i know firsthand if health care is not affordable, it is not accessible. four years in this country -- have struggled with the rising cost of health care. i ran for congress in 2016, i lost and that in 2018, i came back and i ran in a cycle and served in a session where we were here to find real commonsense solutions to the station. in 2018, the election cycle that first brought me to congress,

democratic candidates all across the country were sent to washington after making that simple pledge. if elected, we will work tirelessly to stabilize and enhance the affordable care act. lower the cost of prescription drugs in the station and the out-of-pocket health care costs for families. i held past hr 1425. it became the base of our broader verbal care enhancement act. legislation that included provisions to significantly increase subsidies for middle and low income families, making health care more affordable and accessible for millions of americans, congratulations. finally allow medicare to -- drug prices expand many of those cost savings through hr three two private planes as well,

expand coverage to millions of americans by encouraging them pulled out state to take advantage of the federal government and crackdown on job plans that endangered -- while strengthening protection or pre-existing conditions. . we came together to pass legislation to protect and strengthen their health care. my constituents are fed up with the years of sabotage of the aca and the politics of division. they just want to strengthen and make health care more affordable and today, with the anniversary of the ac next week, we have the opportunity to continue these efforts with the biden-harris administration so with that, i will hand things off to representative fernandez. >> thank you so much congresswoman and thank you so much madame speaker.

we know that this pandemic tentacles have traded every thing last back of our communities lives. it put a spotlight on the work that we still need to do to make health care affordable and accessible for everyone, everywhere, and every community, urban and rural. in new mexico, one of the things that i did was help build world health clinics, help build clinics in indian country. in fact, the second gentleman visited one of those health clinics on wednesday to look at their marvelous vaccination plants in new mexico. a big shout out to that. because of my work, helping build health clinics, this issue came up over and over again. they wanted congress to address

the cost of health care to make sure it came down and do make sure it was accessible. the brilliance of the american rescue plan is that not only provides us with the resources to be the pandemic, it has allowed us access to health insurance, lower the cost and get a step closer to ensuring that health care is a right, not a privilege, for all americans. we call this plan a lifeline. that is exactly what it is and we want everyone to know that they can take advantage of the special enrollment. that is running now through may 15. they are more than 14.9 million americans still do not have health insurance. many current and released -- many current people -- thank you for getting that done. all of the democrats, we need to thank them.

as a freshman, it is marvelous to be able to come to congress and get stuff done with the democrats so i want to urge all americans who are currently uninsured or underinsured to please visit healthcare.gov and take advantage of potentially lower premiums and lower out-of-pocket costs. in new mexico, our hearts broke over the devastating and deadly impact that this pandemic had on our native american communities. many of the tribal leaders and elders we have lost and the impact on the latino communities. having access to health care should not depend -- it should not depend on your employment, it should not depend on your income and it should not depend on your -- the american rescue plan takes us one step closer to

making health care as a right available for every american. thank you madame speaker. nancy pelosi: as we observe the 11th anniversary, you can see the pride we have not only in that legislation but in the of congress who have taken up because and made their marks on this because they listened to their constituents and prioritized this health issue which is a health issue and an economic issue or families because of affordability so thank you so much to congresswoman underwood for the specific language in this legislation. you talked about it is your motivation for running and we were all moved by that and even you acted upon it at every step

of the way so thank you so much for your effectiveness, affected from the start. angie craig for her important legislation for what we did last year which will be part -- you did not even talk about your four sons. >> they are all under 26. [laughter] >> thank you to congresswoman fernandez to talk about those in the indian country. i want to join and acknowledge the biden harris administration because one of the sticking points that we have previous to their taking office was addressing the inequality of access to health care, inequality to testing, tracing, vaccine etc. and president biden

has made this a high priority at his at the vice president -- the second gentleman visiting the location. now, $20 billion for tribal government as well and another $6 billion for health benefits so thank you for making sure that those priorities were addressed in the substantial weight that they were so you can see why we think that the celebration of the affordable care act is greatly enhanced by the passage of the rescue package. on this subject, are there any questions? on health care and how to go forward? i want to thank the president and vice president as well as all of our colleagues for those who were here for the affordable care act, those who have fought for us then and since, even if

they were not here at the time and those who are enhancing it and making it stronger. again, a pillar of american family security, social security, medicare, affordable care act good nora -- martin luther king said the one inequality of access to health care is the most inhuman. use that word, and human, because people could die and that quality has been one of the highest priority. i think our colleagues for their leadership. you are welcome to stay. i know they will join me in acknowledging the seven as with our country that is experienced with the assault on the aap i community. i want to have a moment of silence, the flights are half-staff as an acknowledgment

and a comfort, but it is not a comfort unless we can and -- and the fear and injustice of it all . i'm so proud that the president of the vice president are visiting georgia as we speak. maybe they are narrowed -- maybe they are there now. i want to recognize that the president early on, when he made his speech to the nation about covid, he talked about the aapi and anti aapi violence. department of justice to address this issue long before atlanta, we had known that this is been a challenge, really exacerbated by some of the language of a previous administration and unfortunately, last year the total was something like 3700

acts of violence against the aapi community, that would be more than 10 day. san francisco takes great pride in representing aapi communities and we see firsthand the risks that are there and that is something we are all very proud of. we are very pleased this week that we were able to pass legislation, much of it coming from the judiciary committee, deserve some credit. some of the women -- first we had the ar -- first we had the passing of the e.r.a.. the barrier is not in the constitution, it was put in by the congress, congress can take

it out. we had the violence against women act, this reauthorization anyway that is stronger, listening to some of our friends in indian country have suffered so much from the injustice -- and no recourse, that was the other day, yesterday, we had two bills that i'm so excited about, the dreamers act. you may recall that an hour less congress, i spoke for eight hours and six minutes in support of the dream act. i will not do that now. i did not do that yesterday but i did use my time to take pride in the driver -- in the dreamers and what they mean to our country. the promise part of that under leadership -- we are very

excited about that legislation. right now, we are taking up the medicare bill that was necessary because of the rescue package, similarly as was this is very as the republican tax scam. we will see if they vote for it to protect medicare even though we disagree. when we come back, we are having committee meetings next week to prepare for our agenda when we come back, we will be taking the conversation today -- the repeal of the muslim ban legislation, we had legislation for access counsel. the access to cathode -- so

women are just coming to roost here. we will have other legislation as well so if you have any questions about that, yes. >> i have question. i have an unrelated question. >> you are welcome to stay. but we do have votes on the floor so i do not know how long i can stay. >> roughly a third of your caucus is cosponsoring a resolution, to expel congresswoman marjorie taylor greene from the house. i'm wondering where do most democratic leadership stand on that resolution and you think that congressman grain -- green should be punished anyway?

>> i'm not going to get into that. what he did is his own view. >> what do you think the problem on the border if you have any updated views on that --? >> i think the administration is pulling this thing under control and it is important to note that. the difference between the attitude towards the people and the children is so different, and just these two months versus what happened in the past four years. in the spring, more people to come so there will be more -- but they have to know as the president has said, how we can address the challenges in their

country so they stay home but since they are coming, they fall in different categories in the administration has plans in place to take care of the children in a much more humane way than before and that means that we have more facilities, more beds and the rest until we transition these children to nearly half -- 40% of them have a parent in the country, our country, that we can transition to close to three quarters of them have a family member if not necessarily a parent in a country that we can transition that too. but we go to the border patrol in the lego to the refugee relief transition -- female at the border and the rest, the

administration is addressing the immediate concerns and has to be the recognition that covid is playing a role in that people need to be separated so this adds to the challenge when more people, and we had like 13,000 beds. when you need more space, we need more locations. i would like to quote the angelica's. they been so excellent on immigration for such a long time . we are not in a hundred percent agreement of all aspects to it but by and large, they have been a very positive force for good. four years ago, when we were having a hearing on overturning

the ban that the president at what the muslim ban, whether we had the military coming in saying this is bad for national security, whether we had the diplomats,. by the where the business community saying -- the message i want to focus on is many evangelicals focus on, their representative said that the united states program is the crown jewel of american humanitarianism and this is part of what is at the border is our refugees applying for asylum in our countries -- country. we hope we can be an subdued some things that were taken down by the trump administration do have some of that adjudication

to happen in country so that the case and be resolved there but there is no question and i've taken delegations to central america, that corruption, violence, crime, even climate causing the drive, causing the farmers to have no way to farm the land contributed to some people, coming north so to the extent that we can help solve some of the problems at home and instead of canceling that investment which the trump administration cancel the investment that we had to do just that. i wish you could see the impact does to help children in those countries so to back up again and say, that the biting administration -- that the biden

administration has this under control and it will take some time, but it is values-based, humanitarian in its aspect, pragmatic and how to get things done, not just a diversionary tactic on part of the republicans who are corrupt on ideas on how to improve the american people. >> you anticipate any role for congress whether it be more money -- is there a specific role for congress? >> we had $250 million for the northern triangle. northern triangle is salvador, guatemala, and honduras. one we went there -- when we went there,, they canceled that money but that was problematic

and to keep people home we have to address the root causes of the migration and that is not a big price to pay to have the impact that it will have. i wish you could see the impact of usaid -- but they were helping -- to her to attract other support and other institutions were devoted to justice, the justice system in those countries so yes it will take some resources, a small price to pay for people to stay home, but there are cases of well-founded persecution in terms of the personal security of people. this is an issue i've worked on for my whole time in congress and that is harder, it is so sad

to describe the situation that the families found themselves in, moms taking their daughters north, how we can deal with that and in some cases, these children were in places that were safe havens for them. we help fund so there is a role for that and as i said, it falls under the jurisdiction -- it is in labor hhs and they are paying -- and the chair of the homeland security subcommittee, the author of the dream act, has been working on this issue for a decade in congress and shares the values, understands the fiscal soundness that we have to execute but also strikes a balance in all of it, so i think

to the extent that congress will be involved, we have experienced hands at it. >> about 10 months ago, [indiscernible] there were concerns about doing that. what do you see going forward about congressional operations to return to normal and -- will continue when the pandemic is done? >> one of the most substantial steps that can be taken is that everyone should be vaccinated, what do -- but i solidly republican leaders say is that 75% of the members are vaccinated. we need 100% of the members vaccinated because it just takes one to endanger others. much of what is happening here,

some of it relates to january 6, that is for sure in terms of security but most of the isolation and separation that we have, most of the reason that we cannot have official visits, most of the reasons why we cannot open up as much as we would like to for visits, tourism, etc. and we hope that will be soon, is because of covid, not because of january 6. we have plans, the general honore has made suggestions, as you know today -- start to come down so that part of it is being addressed but covid is the villain good covid is the villain to our economy unless we crush the virus, we will never get the economy back. covid is the villain unless everyone is vaccinated, we will still be at the mercy of that.

reporter: [indiscernible] do see that lasting of the pandemic ends? nancy pelosi: maybe it started last night, but today i was hoping that many more staff will be vaccinated. it is still not enough, we do not have enough vaccine, if they can be vaccinated and still want to work, from home, we are not insisting if your vaccinated to come in but they do not want to come in unless they are vaccinated and if others are vaccinated so do not underestimate the power of that. unless people are willing to get vaccinated in my view, the sooner the better.

reporter: are you giving your members instructions to get vaccinated? do they need to do on the republicans? nancy pelosi: you cannot tell anybody to do anything. the fact that there is no requirement, it is a suggestion by the cdc to get vaccinated so we are suggesting that if you want shorter time, like some other public and say to me, why can't we have reduced time on the boat echo the more people get vaccinated, the shorter time we have to stay separated on the floor so it is not something that we can require. it is only something we can suggest and make it readily available, which it is. reporter: we have been following the progress and we were wondering whether there is any loss of controlling their own

voting regulations, that they can tailor, if they can impose federal voting. nancy pelosi: voting rights act, that is part of hr one, yes requiring commission voting, we are very proud of hr one we think it is the constitution of the united states. we think it represents the democracy of our country by reducing, which is our responsibility to roll a dark -- by removing obstacles of participation to the first 300 pages of hr one are written by john lewis. the first 300 pages are to remove voter suppression and you can see how necessary it is when over 40 states have over 250 laws that they're striving to

pass to lower voter participation. i used to be chair of the party and our glory of it all was to engage people to vote, whether they were democrats, republicans, independence, it was that our charge to ask, it was only our responsibility to register people to vote and to see the opposite of that, republican party, which cannot prevail on strength of its issues, and type this, anti-that. only by suppressing the vote and they know that, that is why they are doing it, so no, i have no concern, respectful of where those responsibilities lie. i think john and the author of it all for. of time -- for her leadership,

so proud of all of our members. the american people know that this is the way to restore integrity by reducing the role of big dark money, which suffocates the airwaves with misinformation, rather than having a respectful execution of our process. thank you all. [indiscernible] >> the senate budget committee this week held a hearing on income inequality and the decline of union influence. former clinton administration labor secretary robert and other economic policy experts testify about addressing income inequality.

also testifying was a amazon employee from alabama was part of an effort to unionize workers at a fulfillment center there. what's the entire hearing tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. ♪ c-span washington's journal. every day we take your calls and we discussed policy issues that impact you, coming up saturday morning, pediatrician of the children's national hospital in washington, tdc, discussed covid on children. he will talk about the state of national parks in the pandemic. watch c-span washington journal saturday morning and be sure to join in discussing phone calls, facebook comments. ♪ cohost of the history chicks podcast, susan and becca graham

talk about the podcast origins and growing popularity over the year, discovered -- >> women are hungry for role models. we keep hearing representation is important and that really is so true. the about of emails and other messages that we get from very, very young girls and or their mothers, saying either the subject we cover or the very fact that they hear two women speaking in that format, how it has really affected them. >> women have typically been the women behind the man and what we get to do here is we get to talk about the men behind the women focus on her life and tell the story from her point of view so the fact that we get to do that like becca said, inspires you to

do the same and we know it does. >> the history chicks, sunday at 8:00 eastern. you can listen to q&a as a podcast. >> representative, the top republican on the homeland security committee, talks about the evolution of the panel and the role homeland security plays fighting threats in the u.s.. >> welcome to the wilson center, not the actual wilson center by the virtual wilson center. we the latin correct, jane harman, i am also a recovering politician, we will have that conversation with john in just a moment. in addition to all of that, i'm the grandmother to eight perfect grhi