April 12, 2019

HOUSE DEMOCRATS MARK 100 DAYS AT HISTORIC, PRODUCTIVE ISSUES CONFERENCE

House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark (D-MA) hosted a press conference to adjourn their successful 2019 Issues Conference: 100 Days In: Fighting For The People. Remarks were given by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DPCC Chairman David Cicilline, Rep. Dean Phillips, Rep. Lauren Underwood and Rep. Sylvia Garcia. Following are highlights.

CHAIRMAN JEFFRIES: We have just concluded the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference – 100 Days In: Fighting For The PeopleWe are unified. We are driven. We are committed to execute like a laser beam our For The People agenda on behalf of everyday Americans.

House Democrats wake up each and every day to fight for working families, middle class folks and senior citizens. House Democrats wake up each and every day to fight for the poor, the sick and the afflicted. House Democrats wake up each and every day to fight for the least, the lost and the left behind. House Democrats wake up each and every day to fight for veterans, for people in urban America, suburban America and rural America. 

House Democrats are committed to fight For The People and that's what we've discussed over the last few days. We've learned together, we've enjoyed each other's company, focused on the creativity and the energy, and the brilliance, and the drive to collectively get things done for the people.

We've had a successful 100 days. We're looking forward to an even more successful second 100 days as we continue our journey fighting for the people.

VICE CHAIR KATHERINE CLARK: I am proud to report that 100 days into this new majority, the Caucus is strong. We are focused. We are unified on getting things done for the American people and to putting those foundations of our For The People agenda ahead of us.

And to work to make sure that we are putting those issues that people talk about around their kitchen tables back on the front burner of Congress. Already what we have done with H.R. 1, protecting voting rights, getting corruption out of politics, commonsense measures to end gun violence in this country, ensuring that women are paid equally for equal work, protecting those with preexisting conditions. 

And that is just some of what we've already done in this Caucus in this majority For The People. We are excited and energized to go to our districts and be back at work on hearing from them to inform our work when we come back in the end of April. […]

DPCC CHAIR DAVID CICILLINE: …Thank you for your extraordinary Issues Conference. Thank you Madam Speaker for bringing us together for a really serious Issues Conference. I think I've been to every one of them within the last eight years.This was the best, the most exciting because we really had an opportunity to reflect on the work that we've done in the first 100 days – which I daresay is more than was done in the last eight years for the American people…

We are all leaving here re-energized, determined to continue to deliver on the issues that matter most to the American people. […]

REPRESENTATIVE UNDERWOOD: […] My freshman colleagues and I have been focused on our constituents, being responsive, being accessible, being accountable to them. And we've had over 100 town halls collectively, closed out casework, tackled correspondence. We are showing up for our communities and we are having their backs in Washington. When we say we're working for the people we're working every day to lower health care costs. […]

We're making great progress. And we're just getting started.

REPRESENTATIVE PHILLIPS: What a great couple of days. We did some reflecting, we dwelled in possibilities and most importantly, this Caucus became a family. A family of diversity from all around the country: different races, religions, professional backgrounds and even political perspectives. But we did the thing that I want to invite the entire country to start doing and that is spend time together. I invite one another conversation and reflection. We've got to start talking more and tweeting a little bit less. And that's what we did. […]

REPRESENTATIVE GARCIA: […] No matter whether it's my district, or Lauren Underwood's district or Dean Phillips’ district or any of the districts throughout the country, all of us together. Out of many, we are one. De muchos, somos uno.No matter what language, no matter what city, no matter what state across this country, working families will benefit from all this work. […]

SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI: […] In any event, I want to join all of our colleagues who are in the room, in the conference room and here who have saluted the leadership of our Chairman Hakeem Jeffries and Vice Chair Katherine Clark for bringing us together in a very substantive, unifying, energizing way at this conference. Really, a series of workshops where we engaged with each other and again For The People.

[…] Well it was our founders: now are the times that try men’s souls and our founders also said, the times have found us. And the times have found us now. Not to put ourselves 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 a comment from our distinguished inspiration, a person that is an honor for each of us to call colleague, some of us to call a friend, 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. […]

## 

Full video of the press conference can be viewed here.