"When Nancy Pelosi voted against the budget measure Thursday, she did little to hide her anger with the White House over the fact that Obama, for the first time, had left her out of the negotiations on a major deal. Instead, he chose to work directly with Boehner and Reid to hammer out the compromise that each could take back to their caucuses for approval."
What nonsense.
Nancy Pelosi is busy countering Republicans.
Pelosi Suggests Dems Won't Let Government Shutdown If Republicans Abandon BoehnerPelosi Statement on President Obama’s Speech on the Federal BudgetTranscript of Pelosi, Van Hollen Press Conference Today Leader Pelosi. Good morning. Good morning, again. I'm pleased to be here with our distinguished ranking Democrat on the Budget Committee. That is the subject of the day, week, hour, year. It is a valid statement of our national values, and we are very proud of the work of our House Democrats on the Budget Committee.
Yesterday, President Obama promoted a strong vision for America's future, a clear statement of our principles, and a vision and a plan. He made it clear that we have a responsibility to create jobs, to educate our children, to protect the health of our seniors, to strengthen or middle class as we focus on reducing the deficit. His plan is one about shared responsibility and shared sacrifice, with each of us contributing to the future prosperity of our great country.
Today marks the 100th anniversary, the 100th day, of the Republicans having the majority in the House of Representatives. In the past 100 days, the Republicans have created no jobs and do not have a jobs agenda. They are voting to end Medicare as we know it, and while they give big subsidies to Big Oil they have voted to deny patient's bill of rights. They have voted to deny women's health issues. That is the record of the first 100 days.
Democrats will move forward to create jobs, to strengthen the middle class, grow the economy, and to do this in a way that reduces the deficit.
The GOP budget, as you know, it ends Medicare while giving tax subsidies to Big Oil. It block grants Medicaid, throwing many seniors out of nursing homes, while it gives tax breaks to companies sending jobs overseas. It cuts education and increases the cost of college for many young adults, while it continues to give tax cuts to the rich. It is unfair.
We will judge every measure that comes before us as to whether it creates jobs, reduces the deficit, strengthens the middle class, or grows the economy. That is exactly what our Democratic budget does.
And I'm pleased to yield the floor to the distinguished ranking member of the Budget Committee Mr. Van Hollen.
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Q: Madam Leader, before you turn to the budget, there is the question of where you are, wrapping up this year's spending. How are you going to vote? And if you are going to oppose it, why are you going against a deal that President Obama and the Democratic leaders of the Senate worked out?
Leader Pelosi. Well, I haven't made any statement as to how I would vote, but it was pretty evident that the House Democrats were not any part of that agreement. I would rather call it an agreement rather than a deal. It was self evident that the Republicans in the House and the Democrats in the Senate were the two majorities. They were the ones who had the vote, so they had the strength to negotiate, and the President presided over that. I feel no ownership of that or any responsibility to it, except that we don't want to shut down government.
Q: So how are you going to vote?
Leader Pelosi. I will be consulting with my Ranking Members to see what impact it has on our homeland security, consumer protections…Every domestic initiative in the bill has had a cut from 2010. The defense has had an increase, and tax cuts for the rich are still thriving and well in all of the stuff that is going on here. There is no change in that. So I will have to make an evaluation.
Q: Some of the liberal members of your caucus think the President gave away too much in this deal. Do you share that sentiment?
Leader Pelosi. I'm studying it, and I will make an evaluation as I vote in consultation with my Members. You have to remember that we didn't see this until Monday night or Tuesday morning. It was—some of the particulars within subcommittee jurisdiction were not determined until the beginning of this week. So we are making evaluation about it. But it was very important to keep government open. We all support that.
Q: Madam Leader, do you get a sense that there is a very wide swath of your caucus that will vote against this?
Leader Pelosi. I don't have any idea.
Q: And do you think that part of that, do you think, how many, a third?
Leader Pelosi. We have not whipped it. We have not encouraged one way or another. People are just making their own judgments about it, because you are talking about subjects that people know a great deal about, but they all do want to keep government open. So that will be part of the equities that will be weighed as we make a determination.
Q: And to follow up, do you think some who do vote no, have they told you that are doing so because of their displeasure with the President; they felt they were sold down the river in the tax deal in the fall?
Leader Pelosi. No, I haven't heard that at all. It is about the particulars of the bill that is before them. They will make a judgment about what they believe, and that is how they will vote.
Q: When were you Speaker and you brought bills to the floor, typically you had 218 of your Members to bring it across the finish line. Speaker Boehner has relied on the Democrats in the PATRIOT Act, on previous CRs. Could you reflect on that a little bit? What does that mean about his leadership and his caucus, having been in that position before?
Leader Pelosi. Every caucus is different. He has many new members, and as you indicated, we had to keep government open with, 84 Democrats, I think, voted for that first continuing resolution, while 54 Republicans voted against it. But you're just going to have to talk to him about the dynamic within his caucus.
What we did—I can speak to what we did—we came to the floor when we had consensus. There was a lot of collaborative working together, whether it was regional disparities, whether it was philosophical differences, whether it was generational, ethnic, you name it, every difference, because we have a very diverse caucus. I call it the giant kaleidoscope.
You have to make sure that the design has 218. That affects certain people one time and other people another time. But we always put the bill together together, and that's what we did. You'd have to talk to him about his dynamics.
Q: Madam Leader, if the Speaker loses support because of these recent CBO numbers, and it appears that the bill might not have enough votes to make it over the threshold, will you assure that there are enough Democrats to make it pass?
Leader Pelosi. Well, you know, again, we have our own collaboration in our caucus and respect each other's thinking that will take us to a place when the vote comes to the floor. And so we will see, but it was as is clearly evident, the Speaker spoke for the House of Representatives in those negotiations for his majority. I have—I have always thought that if he didn't have enough votes, if he didn't get 218 on his own, that there would be Democrats who could help put it over the top. It's just a question of how big that disparity is.
But I think that the fact that many of us have our unease with what is in there should signal to the Republicans that they should probably feel pretty be comfortable with the bill.
Q: Madam Leader, if there are a certain number of Democrats that are needed to push it over the top, is there a price for that, or is it free?
Leader Pelosi. Oh, this is about keeping government open, this is about our responsibility to the public.
Q: Yes, but you have leverage in that case.
Leader Pelosi. When you say "a price to pay," what do you mean?
Q: A price to pay for your support. You're in a discussion with the Speaker, and he needs your help on something very important like this.
Leader Pelosi. Well, I think that kind of negotiation is something that could have gone on before so that we could have weighed in on the bill. It's a little late for that because the bill is what it is. But, you know, I assume they have the votes. They seem pretty confident. I think you sound less confident than they do. They seem pretty confident about what they have, and, you know, since it's their product in terms of the House Republicans, they seem pretty confident that they are going to be able to deliver. And so we will see.
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