House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the Health Care Bill

March 22, 2010— -- Following is a transcript of Diane Sawyer's interview this afternoon with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. The interview took place following Sunday night's passage of the health care reform bill.

DIANE SAWYER: Have you been asleep tonight? Last night?

NANCY PELOSI: (LAUGH) A little bit. Not enough -- on top of all of the -- excitement, I had the joy of having my little grandchildren with me at the -- apartment. And so -- I didn't want to miss any time with them early this morning.

DIANE SAWYER: So, this was (unintelligible) President Obama called you, the two of you talked in here last night. What did you say to each other? What was the -- what were the words you used?

NANCY PELOSI: I have to think back on that. But -- it was pretty exciting for both of us. Many presidents since Teddy Roosevelt have tried to pass health care reform for Americans. And many Speakers of the House have tried to do it, as well. And -- last night, we had that level of success. I told him -- that I was certain that it would not have happened without his vision, without his commitment, his unwavering commitment -- to making comprehensive health care -- health insurance reform the law of the land. Not only by his eloquence, but also by his -- speaking to Members to convince them that we were here to get this done. And not just have the House a bill and see what happens after that.

DIANE SAWYER: What was the moment in the last 48 hours you were most worried?

NANCY PELOSI: I've always believed that we would pass the legislation.

DIANE SAWYER: Never a waver? Never a doubt? Never a second?

NANCY PELOSI: No. I always believed in my -- my Members, in my colleagues. They know -- they've come here as public servants. And they know that this was an historic opportunity. And some of them had to take more time to -- see what -- what it meant for their districts and the rest. We have a very diverse caucus. And -- that's the beauty of it. And -- and --

DIANE SAWYER: The mo --

NANCY PELOSI: --and its strength.

DIANE SAWYER: And the moment you knew you had it, the moment you knew for certain you had it?

NANCY PELOSI: Well, I always believed we would. But -- I knew by the time we went to the floor -- that we were ready. And that we would make history. And we would make progress for the American People. And we would hold insurance companies accountable.

DIANE SAWYER: Did you allow yourself a moment of --

NANCY PELOSI: Yes.

DIANE SAWYER: A moment to commemorate it? Anything personal you did?

NANCY PELOSI: Well, I prayed over it at church on Sunday morning. And thought about how fortunate I was to be in this position. And actually how fortunate each of my colleagues was -- each of them were to be in this position. So, it was -- we feel very blessed. Our colleague John Lewis said it better than anyone. He said, "We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us." And we are here now to be -- along with the Congresses that -- enacted Social Security, Medicare, Civil Rights Act, health care for all Americans. All of that on a par.

DIANE SAWYER: But as you know, the Republicans have been saying -- you had 65 Republicans votes weigh in on Medicare. You had 77 Republican votes on Social Security. Those were bipartisan bills. And the Republicans were out in force already this morning, Senator McCain said, "Here it comes. We're going to waste no time. We're going to fight this every step of the way, including in the Senate."

NANCY PELOSI: Just a little -- I've been doing some research on Medicare. And people who were involved in that legislation had sent me some of the records, some of the voting sheets and the rest, at the time. The fact is, is that this is more inside baseball. But the fact is the crucial vote on Medicare was a vote -- a motion to recommit. That is the vote right before the final vote. And that was the vote that would have gutted the essence of Medicare from the bill. And maybe a dozen or just a few more Republicans voted against the motion. So, this idea of what happened on final passage is not quite the story. What happened on the critical moment, the motion to recommit for us is where the Republicans can put forth their proposal. They did -- at -- at Medicare and most of them voted against Medicare on that vote. Similar last night -- on their motion to recommit, which is our biggest dread. Is what would the motion to recommit be and how can it take down this bill? We were successful in defeating it. But let the history books show that -- all that bipartisanship around Medicare -- it -- it emerged after the really decisive vote.