ms. pelosi: let's see. in other words, we have to make a judgment about what we would upport when we see what it is. it is my understanding that senator -- leader mitchell, mitch mcconnell will proceed with the budget process or not. that's probably what will happen in the house as well. in terms of what has happened in the past, in terms of deeming we'll see the context of what it is. it is my understanding and, again, we talk about deeming -- assuming there isn't a republican budget, we don't know that. it came out of committee. couple members -- republican for it.did not vote none of the democrats did. it's even been mentioned that one other budget committee members would only vote to get it out of committee but not on the floor. so we'll see what that is. but a budget is in many countries, if you can't pass a budget, this is a vote of confidence. i think it's really important for all of their chatter about how important the budget is the pride that the speaker takes in the ryan budget that it does not e

ms. pelosi: all right. reporter: what do you know either directly or indirectly about the republican dealing p's intent for with the president's zika request or your desires to give money, to provide money for -- [inaudible] ms. pelosi: there was a very important meeting yesterday. we were having our celebration of women in the military. unfortunately they scheduled it at the same time -- not enough hours in the day -- at the same time. but mr. hoyer led up our side with mr. mccarthy and our appropriators and all were there. as i understand the meeting, there was some interest in using ebola money for zika. that would be very wrong. that would be very wrong. we have to recognize that zika is its own threat and that we have to address it with research, with all of the arrows in our quiver to stop the spread of zika. i also -- but i do associate zika with flint in that there are two public health issues that are very major, that we have to allocate resources, and they have to be fresh. they cannot be at the e

ms. pelosi: we always like to associate ourselves with greatness one way or another. dr. biden must be -- leave early in time to help welcome captain kelly home on behalf of all americans. please send him our congratulations. we thank you for making time for this gathering and it is my privilege to welcome dr. jill biden. [applause] good afternoon, everyone. thank you so much, leader pelosi for hosting today's event and for your injuring commitment to and sacrificed so much for our country. let me start by apologizing as the leader said for leaving a little early and as leader pelosi said i have the honor of traveling to houston to welcome home after not scott kelly. from the year in space. we are so proud of scott kelly and it is going to be a really special celebration. will be joined by scott's twin brother and members of his family. as part of our joining forces education initiative, i have invited three military connected students from aberdeen high school in maryland to travel with me to two or the johnson space center and welcome home retired navy captain scott kel

ms. pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady, leader pelosi, virginia tech. ms. pelosi: thank you, mr. speaker. happy st. patrick's day to you. what a way house republicans have chosen to celebrate st. patrick's day. today we pay tribute to the contributions of generations of irish immigrants to the fabric of america. today we are reminded that ours is truly a nation of immigrants. that immigrants have truly made america more american. with their optimism, their hope, their courage to come to america, to make the future better for their families. that's what america is all about. and that's what immigrants have strengthened. we have spent this entire week with our irish friends celebrating the heritage of immigrants in america. the prime minister of ireland was here in the capitol earlier in the week. he spoke about immigration. last night at the dinner and the letter that was read by the irish ambassador, he talked about immigration. and here on the floor of the house we are talking about immigration in a totally negative way. why would house republicans want to

in fact, i was asked by my colleagues, nancy pelosi, and my sdratic democratic colleagues at the time, including ms. edwards, to protect social security. that's what i was doing in the budget committee as recently as two weeks ago once again leading the charge. so this is another example of the difference of being on the sidelines and talking about something and actually leading the fight. and the head of the committee that preserves social security and medicare, i mean, it's a big word, he said i was a savior for being at the table. now, i don't claim to be a savior but i was at the table and i was protecting social security. kai: ms. edwards, how do you respond? mr. van hollen is saying you have levied an unfair charge against him. ms. edwards: well, i will say to our viewers and listeners they need to go to the record. if they go to "the wall street journal" in 2014, in 2012, what mr. van hollen actually said was that the simpson-bowles agreement that he was trying to negotiate was a general framework that included, as he approach to revenue and to cuts that would have cut social security, raise