Speaker Emerita Pelosi (00:00):
… small business owners and community leaders during this cost of living week in America. All over the country house Democrats are having events with the community about bringing down the cost of living. That was something the former president promised in the campaign, but the exact opposite is happening now.
(00:22)
So it's cost of living week as part of a drumbeat of the national opposition to Trump's reckless economic policies. Now I've always said, because the Democratic Party for a long time has been so enthusiastic about small business, we see it as the ultimate job creator, wealth creator for our country. And those who engage in small business are the most optimistic. What is more optimistic than starting a small business? Maybe getting married, but maybe you have some more confidence there about what might happen. So thank you for your courage, your optimism because that, again, is the lifeblood of our economy. We look forward to hearing all your stories.
(01:10)
The Trump administration's ineptitude is tanking our economy, a self-inflicted disaster that leaves hard-working Americans bearing the brunt of the pain. Make no mistake, President Trump's senseless tariffs are driving prices higher, draining retirement savings, look at 401ks, and pushing us to bring a recession.
(01:34)
Here in San Francisco, Trump's economic policies are hurting small business owners and their employees by instilling fear and uncertainty. The business has enough uncertainty as it is when you go forth. You don't need civic uncertainty of this magnitude. And across the country, working families could see their costs go up as much as $4,600 a year, the largest tax hike on American families in history.
(02:04)
I'm fond of certain quotes from Ronald Reagan. He made the best speech of anyone on immigration. I recommend you see that. It was the last speech he made as President of the United States and it's on… He says, "I want to communicate a message to a country I love," and he talks about the Statue of Liberty and immigration. When I quote that to the Republicans, they don't applaud.
(02:28)
But nonetheless, now I quote this to them. In 1988, President Reagan said, "America's most recent experiment with protectionism was a disaster for working men and women of this country. When Congress passed the Smoot Harley," he goes back then to when Congress passed the Smoot Harley tariff in 1930, "we were told that it would protect America from foreign competition and save jobs in this country. The actual result was the Great Depression." He continued, "We should be aware of the demagogues," this is Reagan talking in 1988, "We should be aware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends, weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world while cynically waving the American flag." Ronald Reagan.
(03:29)
He then goes back to the 1930s when there was Smoot Harley. He said when he made his first vote for President of the United States as a young person, he voted for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who overturned this Smoot Harley. I just thought I'd throw that part in. Ronald Reagan's words were true then, in 1988, and they were true now.
(03:54)
With the Trump tariffs fully in effect, and again, all the uncertain; now you see it, now you don't, maybe so, maybe not, San Franciscans will pay more for grocery, shoes and clothing, household necessities, auto parts, recreational items, you name it.
(04:11)
While Trump doesn't care about the pain of the American people, he should have recognized the fear that he is causing and that House Democrats are gathering across the country to stand united against his reckless economic policy.
(04:27)
So again, really that's what we're doing across the country this week. This is a week deep. Some of you were with us when we had the hands off our Medicaid, hands off our social security, and now we're talking about our economy writ large.
(04:47)
The best way to talk about that though is to hear from our small business voters. It's now my pleasure to introduce Lauren Crabbe, founder and owner of an incredible small business in San Francisco, Andytown Coffee Roasters. Thank you Lauren for being with us and I yield the floor to you.
Lauren Crabbe (05:16):
Thank you. It's an honor to be here, and I'm going to move this mic up a tiny bit. Thank you so much for that introduction, and thank you, Madam Speaker, for inviting me to share my story today.
(05:29)
My name is Lauren Crabbe and I'm the co-owner of Andytown Coffee Roasters in the Outer Sunset of San Francisco. My husband Michael, who is here making you all coffee this morning, also an immigrant; there's no [inaudible 00:05:42] on there, because immigrants build small businesses here.
(05:45)
My husband and I met working as baristas, dreaming of one day opening a shop in the neighborhood that we love. In 2014, we made that dream a reality with Andytown.
(05:57)
From the start, our goal was simple: build the kind of business we always wished we could work for. One that pays a living wage, offers healthcare and paid time off and creates a welcoming, inclusive work environment.
(06:09)
Over the last 11 years, we've grown Andytown from a tiny cafe to nine locations with a bakery and roastery. And we've kept our headquarters where we all started; the Outer Sunset. We faced a lot in those 11 years. We've bootstrapped our business, survived Covid and weathered supply chain and breakdowns.
(06:29)
Coffee is an international product and the industry is constantly shaped by global forces, climate change, labor shortages, and now tariffs. The tariffs imposed by the Trump administration will significantly raise the cost of coffee because you simply cannot grow coffee in the continental United States.
(06:48)
Our beans come from partners around the world: Guatemala, Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, the Philippines, and Indonesia, just to name a few. We prioritize sourcing from women- owned coffee farms and farms committed to environmental sustainability and uplifting their communities. We pride ourselves in sourcing the same coffee year-over-year from our partners, and we have seen in person how our relationships have positively impact our suppliers from around the world.
(07:18)
Back home, we don't want to raise prices, especially on our customers who are already stretched thin. In the past, I've had to raise prices for good things; offering health insurance to our employees, raising wages. Those were good reasons, but the tariffs, but raising prices due to arbitrary federal policy? That's unfair to us and to our community.
(07:42)
Small businesses like ours don't have lobbyists. We don't get to sit at the table like billionaires and big tech, but we deserve to be heard. We serve our neighbors every day. We build communities. We keep going even when things get tough.
(07:58)
So I'm asking, don't tax our coffee. Don't put this burden on small businesses and working people. I'd like to remind everyone that a few hundred years ago, American Patriots dumped tea into Boston Harbor to protest unfair taxation. So the message still rings true: Do not tax our caffeinated beverages, or there will be trouble. Thank you very much for your time.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (08:30):
Thank you so much, Lauren. You are reminding me, and again, I refer you, yes we want to hear from our guests, to a speech by Martin Luther King when he talked about trade. He said, "Just remember that every morning when you go to have breakfast, you have coffee from overseas, you have marmalade over toast from other places." It goes on the list of all the things at your table at breakfast. Lauren gave that presentation very well.
(08:58)
Next, again, there's a lot I could say about each of them, but I want you to hear from them directly. So Jeanne Taggart Boes, CEO, general manager of the San Francisco Flower Market. Thank you very much, Jeanne.
Jeanne Taggart Boes (09:19):
Thank you, Speaker Emerita Pelosi and your team for spotlighting how cost-of-living is squeezing small businesses that give San Francisco its heartbeat. I'm Jeanne Taggart Boes, executive director of the San Francisco Flower Market, now proudly operating as a sister organization to the produce market, and we've helped this city bloom for 113 years.
(09:43)
We're home to 22 small businesses, supporting 350 blue-collar jobs and have 4,000 registered buyers in our market who represent small businesses from florists, interior designers, restaurants, hotels, churches, and everything in between.
(10:02)
The Flower Market is more than a place of commerce. It's an anchor institution in a creative and service-based economy that defines San Francisco's identity.
(10:12)
In 1970, San Francisco was home to more flower shops and flower stands than any US city. Today, many florists have been priced out of retail spaces and now work in garages or shared warehouses just to survive.
(10:27)
However, when the pandemic shut down this city, flowers filled a void. Brightening home offices, decorating quiet spaces and helping people express feelings they could not.
(10:40)
When retail reopened. We responded by bringing large-scale floral installations to Union Square, the Castro, West Portal, the Sunset, North Beach and Union Street; helping revive corridors that were struggling. We helped launch Union Square in Bloom now going on in Union Square,
Jeanne Taggart Boes (11:00):
… and work to revive American Tulip Day, where 80,000 tulips are dispensed to San Franciscans in Union Square, transforming public plazas into joyful, flower-filled destinations.
(11:13)
San Francisco is a flower-consuming city. Conventions, events, restaurants, weddings, hospitality, flowers are part of an economic and cultural fabric, but our small businesses are being pushed to the brink. Rising labor and fuel costs, soaring rents, unfair competition from abroad where flower farms often operate with fewer labor protections and environmental standards. They're making it hard for our businesses to survive, and many aren't. Last year, California's largest tulip grower closed its doors. This week, another major flower grower listed their greenhouses for sale and stopped production in our state. There are no carnation growers left in the United States. Of what was once a thriving rose industry, only three rose growers are left in the US and one of them is currently for sale.
(12:10)
While we haven't yet felt the full impact of new tariffs, importers are preparing to pass those costs on, which will hit our small businesses. But what's really affecting us right now is our current weakening dollar, the unstable exchange rate, driving up the cost of imported flowers and supplies, making it hard for our vendors to plan, price, and stay competitive.
(12:34)
At the flower market, much like the produce market, we move perishable products on tight timelines. When a flower fills a ballroom, it sets off a chain of reaction of work, of pastry, chefs, musicians, bartenders, baristas, linen services, and more. This is what makes San Francisco special. It's not just innovation, it's interconnection. That's why we fight, not just for flora culture, but for every small business trying to hold on to its place in San Francisco. And thank you for listening to our story.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (13:11):
Thank you. I mentioned Laurie Poston at the beginning. I'm going to yield to her now. Again, Laurie is the board member of the San Francisco Market. Thank you, Laurie. You may begin.
Laurie Poston (13:32):
On behalf of the board of directors, merchants, farmers, and our community partners, we thank you for joining us here today. My name is Lauri Poston and I'm the treasurer of our volunteer board of directors. Thank you, Speaker Emerita, for joining us today, and thanks to all of the businesses that appear for this important discussion. An important thank you to Arcadio's for welcoming us to this perfect space for this conversation. Thank you.
(13:57)
The SF market is San Francisco's only wholesale produce market and a vital hub for our city's food system. We're home to nearly 18 independent merchants, and together with Arcadio's they work overnight to provide fresh produce, a million pounds, to various restaurants, grocers, caterers, schools, and other food-related businesses.
(14:20)
We also play a vital role in the Bay Area's food infrastructure. We connect 350 growers over 38 counties to the vital food community of San Francisco. And our award-winning food recovery system, which accounts for the most amount of recovered food in San Francisco, is delivering or redirecting 9 million pounds of quality produce to food insecure Bay Area residents through our partners. So, we're very pleased to have you all here today. And again, thank you for joining us.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (14:52):
Thank you, Laurie, for leadership and for your hospitality today. And now it's appropriate for having heard from Laurie about the San Francisco Market, I wanted to hear more specifically and share with you some of what we saw on our tour. Juana Posadas and Manny Orozco. Juana is the general manager of Arcadio's Produce. Manny is the co-owner of Arcadio's Produce. Let's hear from both of you. Manny.
Manuel Orozco (15:32):
Hello, everyone. My name is Manuel Orozco. I'm a co-owner with my brother, Luis. We started this company as a dream in 2010 with only a few customers. Right now, we have more than 300 customers, and we are working basically with restaurants, hotels, caterers, nonprofits, senior centers in schools.
(15:56)
Because the amount of customers we have, we have very diversified customers. So, our product is sourced from the US the most, but at the same time, we need to search for those items out of some other countries to supply what customers needs. And we've been having a lot of questions from customers and calls, and Juana is going to talk a little bit more about that.
Juana Posadas (16:23):
Hi. Good morning. My name is Juana. I'm the general manager of Arcadio's Produce. As Manuel Orozco already mentioned, we receive calls from our clients asking about the impact that small businesses are going to have about the tariffs. So, they're a little concerned because they're asking as if the prices are going to increase so much, they need to figure out what are they going to put in their menus, if they need to increase their prices, because they are worried that the food costs is going to go super high.
(17:14)
So, at that moment, we don't have the answers for that because we don't know when is this going to take place. Like Manuel Orozco mentioned before, in order to supply their needs, we need to get produce from different countries to sell them. So, they're a little worried. I think everybody's worried because the tariffs are going to impact everyone, not only the small businesses. They're going to impact everyone here and whatever [inaudible 00:17:45] too. That's it.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (17:54):
Thank you. Juana and Manny tell us the interconnection of it all. Their customers are largely, well, nonprofits, but also restaurants and the rest. And as the economy is impacted by these reckless trade policies, it has an impact across the board. But the restaurants cannot thrive. Flowers and food and all the rest are affected by this.
(18:20)
So, now we're going to hear from Kevin Teng. He has a very interesting small business. You have to hear it directly from him, I'm another generation, to understand exactly what it is, but I do appreciate it. Thank you, Kevin.
Kevin Teng (18:41):
Hello, and good morning to everyone. My name is Kevin. I am a co-owner of a small business called SarangHello. We are a K-pop store based in San Francisco. We're on Taraval Street. And if you don't know what K-pop is, you've probably heard BTS and BLACKPINK.
(18:56)
So, we are a 100% import business. And thank you, Madame Speaker, for having us today and giving us the opportunity to share our story for the small business. Me and my co-owners, Pip and Ches, we started this business back in 2020 right before the pandemic hit. And we had no choice but to push through with a plan, so starting our business. We are the first K-pop store based here in Northern California. We're also one of the largest, and I'm pretty sure we've also pioneered a lot of other small businesses to open up their own K-pop store. We decided to start our business with one goal in mind. We wanted to create a safe space for the younger generations to come in, express themselves, feel safe, and just share their love and experience for music. It could be anything, South Korean music, pop music, anything, but we specialize in K-pop. And we're about to hit our fifth year next month, which is great. I think for a small business, achieving that fifth year is a very big goal. Thank you. And we personally have been through a lot already having to start a business during a pandemic, but we also took that as an opportunity to be creative, to put ourselves out there and to basically fill in a lot of shoes that we couldn't at that time.
(20:25)
With the whole tariff discussion, even just a mention of tariff, we ourselves have been already affected 100% and right away, because we offer a service where we allow people to pre-order items, pre-order albums, and those things are already prepaid, but with the whole tariff situation, it changes the whole pricing model. And not only does it affect us as a small business, but it also affects our community as well.
(20:54)
Our community, as you already know, everyone's stuck in social media, everyone has their phone in their hands, they're on TikTok, Instagram, whatever, consuming all these media. They have also expressed to us about how afraid they are, all the uncertainty, of all the confusion, of just not knowing what to do with their future. And it's difficult for us as business owners, who is that positive force, to continue to be positive, because we ourselves are feeling that fear.
(21:28)
And so, I know as a small business, it's part of our job to tackle all these challenges, but it is getting a little more difficult as the days go by, and we're taking it a day at a time. But we're not a 9:00-to-5:00 business, we're a 24/7 business. And it's not like we can put in our two-weeks notice and close our business down. It takes months, as we all know. And so, I think with all of the uncertainty that's happening right now, we're trying to stay hopeful.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
We're trying to be creative, and we are hoping for a resolution and an answer, and hopefully seeing that light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (22:15):
Wonderful. Now we understand what young people are sensitive to, what is happening in the economy. Sara Razavi, we talked about products. We've talked about music. We've talked about trade and the rest. But essential to small business is financing, and that's what Sarah's going to talk to us about. Working Solutions Community Development, Financial Institution. Thank you, Sara, for making small businesses possible. [inaudible 00:22:52].
Jeanne Taggart Boes (22:57):
Good morning, and thank you so much for this opportunity. Speaker Pelosi. My name is Sara Razavi, CEO of Working Solutions CDFI, a community lender specializing in small businesses, specifically microloans. We were founded and are headquartered in San Francisco, but serve the entire state. In our work, we witness the daily resilience of entrepreneurs like Kevin and Lauren, Antwana and Manuel who choose to locate their businesses here in San Francisco because they care deeply about the city. San Francisco is a beautiful place with intentions to love and respect all, but it has also always been an expensive place to do business. While we appreciate California and specifically San Francisco's leadership on many employment and small business issues, including base hourly wages. The reality is that the cost of labor and healthcare significantly narrow margins for small businesses operating here. As a lender, we have always seen the hard decisions business owners have had to make.
(24:09)
But under the current federal administration, we are witnessing how the volatility from incoherent trade policies is making it even more difficult for businesses, especially the smallest businesses, the startups, the mom and pops that we serve to make the careful calculations they need to make to survive and to do right by their employees and their customers. Because of the increase in cost of goods and the general cost of living, we see a cascade of hard choices being made by both business owners and consumers. People are forgoing one essential for another. Do they pay the electric bill or the supplier or the staff? People are nervous about their and their loved one's jobs, creating an environment of uncertainty that makes it difficult to sustain both business and livelihoods. The telling indicators of economic hardships are becoming increasingly visible. For example, like many lenders, we're seeing delinquencies tick upwards. When people start missing payments on their cars and lower-cost, smaller credit obligations, these are the early warning signs that the economy is not all right.
(25:32)
So first, we thank these wonderful entrepreneurs for the dedication to their hometowns across the state and our country, and especially here in San Francisco, and we thank Speaker Pelosi and her colleagues for fighting for the economic policies and the support that our local businesses desperately need and richly deserve. Thank you so much.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (26:00):
Thank you very much, Sara. This uncertainty enables us to just take advantage of the situation and plant a flag for small business. Everyone recognizes that it is, again, the white blood of our economy, job creation, wealth creating, and the rest of that and is the courage, the optimism, the enthusiasm, the entrepreneurship of the risk-taking that our guests have spoken to, have addressed, is something that is so remarkable for a community. So we want the administration to hear the voices of those who are affected, not to tell them about it, but to have the people directly affected tell them about what the uncertainty is doing to small business and to families who depend on that. With that, we'd be happy to take some questions on this subject. Right? They'll take the hard ones. I'll take [inaudible 00:27:03]. Any questions for the press? Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Speaker Emerita Pelosi, thank you for being here. My name is Colby, and I'm from San Francisco Chronicle. President Trump's administration has less than 90 days to negotiate deals to 75 countries that supply these products that the small businesses are relying on keeping costs low. Is there anything that you and House Democrats can actually do to facilitate those deals, because it sounds like that's what these small businesses want is for the tariffs to not take [inaudible 00:27:33].
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (27:33):
Well. That's what we're doing this week across the country, to have that drumbeat across America so that the administration hears the voices of those, not in a partisan way, but in a practical way as to what they mean. Now, the Secretary of Treasury, was it this morning, he said something like they have a three-step thing. First, escalation. We're going to raise the tariffs all over, and that's frightening. Then negotiation. Okay, now negotiation. When is that happening? And then at the end, we may not have an agreement, but we will just move on and have some solution, but it's not an agreement. Without an agreement, we're just fooling ourselves as to what he has done. No matter what happens in these negotiations, he still has that 10% out there, which is a big increase in the tariffs. So this is a really stupid approach that this administration is taking, and they're saying, well, we're close with this country or that country, but we may not have an agreement.
(28:48)
We'll just have friendship or something. But that's not the certainty that our small businesses need. Whether you're flowers from… I talked to the former president of Columbia recently about flowers coming from Columbia. We've been in the Caribbean where flowers come here from the Caribbean to make sure that again, that we have fair trade, that we have fair trade, that what they're sending here is not undermining our workforce. So you have understandings, but that isn't what escalation created in terms of the uncertainty. So again, what we could do is just keep saying, understand this. When he did the pause, he didn't know what he had done in the first place. When the business community, big business community said, look what's happening to the bond market because of what you're doing to the stock market, he then put the pause on, and then he always said, this is how I planned to do it all along.
(29:59)
Really? Really? To have that uncertainty. We don't even know who's calling the shot, whether it's the president, whether it's Navarro, whether it's Secretary of Treasury, but they seem to be saying different things. All we can do is recognize the importance of outside mobilization. Inside maneuver, and all of that is important, but the outside mobilization makes all the difference. So that's why I'm so grateful to all, for your unselfish, taking the time, but also the courage to come out and speak of your situations. And this is happening, as I say, around the country, and hopefully they will listen to small businesses as they listened to big business in that room when they first did the tariffs, and then they did a pause because of the [inaudible 00:30:49], which was important for them to do. But we shouldn't have been in that situation to begin with.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
Another question, Speaker Emerita, this is Tamar Amino from Revisión Spanish Station here in the Bay Area. Due to current immigration laws, there's a lot of fear in the undocumented community. People are scared of going out, and we're seeing a lot of businesses, small businesses hurting because people don't want to go. They don't want to go out because of Trump immigration policies. How concerning it is, it's not only happening here in San Francisco nor the Bay Area, but nationwide?
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (31:19):
Well, you very rightly put the connection between securities, the immigration issue, as well as what we impact on small business. First of all, many of our small business people are from immigrant communities… That's [inaudible 00:31:37] later… from the immigrant community because so much of the vitality of the optimism of people come in that could get to Ronald Reagan's other quote on immigration because they're tied together. But the fight on immigration is one that has to be bipartisan, secure our border, but recognize, I mean, even our children are concerned if they think that officials are going to arrive at their school even to come to talk about food. You're quite correct that it has an impact. I don't know. I can't measure what that is, but it is a reality, and it isn't one that makes much difference to the President of the United States. Let me just go back to Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan said, "This is the last speech I will make as President of the United States." Imagine Ronald Reagan, the great communicator.
(32:41)
"This is the last speech I will make as president, and I want to communicate a message to a country that I love.A" He starts out, you'll Google it. I won't do the whole speech. You'll Google, but he talks about the Statue of Liberty, the beacon of hope that it is to the world and how America is preeminent
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (33:00):
… to the world, because we have been welcoming to people coming to our country with their enthusiasm, with their optimism, with their courage. And all of that immigration has made America preeminent, he says, in the world. Once we close that door, we will fail to be preeminent in the world.
(33:22)
Now, he and then George Herbert Walker Bush followed him, and George W. Bush were all very strong respecters of immigration. This is a switch in the Republican Party, not to be recognizing what that is, and trying to have a bipartisan solution to protect our borders, to have a path to citizenship. All of the things that are principles of immigration have been principles of immigration in our country.
(33:58)
But again, elections have ramifications. We're not here to talk about elections today, but they have ramifications. And sadly, if you take the trade, you take the immigration, you take other things, the list is a long one.
(34:13)
We have important work to do. And that's what we're doing today, is to make sure they understand that these tariffs… This is a president who ran on lowering the cost of living, and what has he done but raised it? And again, as you say, so their policies are connected and have an impact on small business. Thank you for making that connection.
(34:42)
Do we have time for another question? Does anybody else have a question? No.
Speaker 5 (34:45):
[inaudible 00:34:48].
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (34:49):
Well, wait a minute. I just want to say, see if any of our… I'll come back to you. Any of our guests have any observations about what the group [inaudible 00:35:08] this question?
Speaker 6 (35:08):
All of our businesses are interconnected. Everything in San Francisco is interconnected.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (35:08):
Well, the interconnection of businesses all connected is very important. And you've all made that choice very beautifully. Thank you.
(35:18)
I want to know, how did you name it Andytown?
Speaker 7 (35:24):
Andytown is a place in Belfast, in Ireland, where my husband's from. So it's over there. And he came to this country in the late '90s and followed his American dream. And it's all very interconnected.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (35:43):
And connection between immigration and entrepreneurship.
(35:47)
Question?
Speaker 4 (35:48):
Off-topic [inaudible 00:35:49] to Rome for the Pope's funeral? Or what are your hopes going forward as a new pope is selected?
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (36:02):
Oh, let me just say that the planning for the trip to Rome for his Holiness's funeral is something that will be put forth by the leadership in Washington, from a security standpoint and the rest of that. We're not really allowed to talk about that. But there's a plan.
(36:24)
Of course, as a devout Catholic, I've been taught, and I believe, and my family believes that I grew up in, that the Holy Ghost has an impact on the decision making of the Cardinals.
(36:39)
There are 136 Cardinals, 108 of them were named by Francis. So hopefully there will be people who respect the values that Francis has proposed. But Francis was chosen by Cardinals who were selected by Benedict and John Paul. So you just don't know how it will turn out. But we'll be prayerful that the inspiration of the Holy Spirit will dominate the decision making. And that will happen sometime after the burial, then they'll go into that.
(37:21)
So anyone who's seen Conclave or Two Popes or any of that, we feel like we're experts in all of it now. But obviously it's something we'll all be studying, because I had the privilege of meeting with this Holiness on a number of occasions, including the first day when he was inaugurated. That's what I think they call it, inaugurated Pope, around the feast of St. Joseph.
(37:51)
And as you know, the holy family is very important to him, and that's why he wants to be buried in the Church of St. Maria Maggiore in Rome. And he went there before every trip, he went there for the blessing. After every trip, he went there again. So that's what his plans are, what he wrote out that he wants to do. So it's a beautiful story.
(38:20)
I'll just close by saying every time I saw him, whether it was in a meeting, just in his office or whatever, he would always say, "Pray for me, pray for me." He had such humility. And [inaudible 00:38:35] public's a major thing, "Pray for me." And I'm like, "You pray for us. You got a channel there going." "Pray for me." But now that he has, this saintly man has gone to heaven, we pray. We pray to him.
(38:50)
One last thing is when I went to see him, I had the privilege, this was… I've seen him with my grandchildren, I've seen them with this, I've seen them in the Capitol, different places. But when I had the actual meeting as the Speaker of the House to go there, and this or that, it was something very serious.
(39:10)
And they told me as I was going in, "Now, you will be obeying rules that are 400 years old. So you have to do exactly as we say, as you go to see his Holiness. And so you will go to the door, he will open the door and you will then proceed." So I go to the door, he opens the door, and I burst into tears all down my face just seeing him. Just seeing him, it was just so overwhelming. His reaction, I would burst into tears, he burst into laughter.
(39:45)
He just laughed. He said, "Why are you crying?" I said, "Why are you laughing?" They were laughing at me crying. But this person, it was quite overwhelming just to be in his presence. So may he rest in peace.
(40:02)
Thank you all so much. Thank you. And thank you to our guests.
Speaker 8 (40:11):
Thank you everybody.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (40:11):
[inaudible 00:40:18].
Speaker 7 (40:59):
I have some coffee for you. Don't even [inaudible 00:41:03].
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (40:59):
[inaudible 00:41:05].
Speaker 7 (40:59):
It's a beautiful place.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (40:59):
[inaudible 00:41:22].
Speaker 7 (42:05):
Wow. That's so cool. Andytown's in west Belfast, so it's primarily Catholic and working class. And we still have all of his family there, so it's great. We love bringing the kids back there and showing them [inaudible 00:42:18]. It's just so wonderful.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (42:18):
[inaudible 00:42:19].
Speaker 7 (42:18):
Yeah. I know they want to get a group photo.
Speaker 8 (42:38):
[inaudible 00:42:47].
Speaker 7 (42:46):
Those are taped down.
Speaker Emerita Pelosi (42:46):
[inaudible 00:43:01].
Speaker 7 (42:46):
I'll be in the back, I'm the tall one.
Speaker 8 (42:46):
[inaudible 00:43:07].
