Thursday
Jan082009
Speaker Pelosi comments on the economic recovery package, Israel
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) discussed the economic recovery package and described the advantageous situation Congressional Democrats have found themselves in.
"We have to think differently about this. We've been so used to an uphill fight, but now we have arrived. We have a strong 80 vote majority in the House, we have a Democratic President in the White House," said Pelosi during her first weekly press conference of the 111th Congress.
"His economic recovery package, almost sight unseen, is supported by 79% of the American people, so we have the opportunity to move...not hastily, but quickly. "
The Speaker promised that the details will be dealt with by the appropriate committees in the following weeks and promised that a bill will be drafted before Congress goes into recess.
Pelosi blamed the Bush tax cuts for upper class Americans as the largest contributor to the deficit and stated,
"Put me down, as clearly as you possibly can, as one who wants to have those tax cuts for the wealthiest in America repealed."
The Speaker also touched on the recent situation in Gaza.
"We will have on the floor, hopefully tomorrow, a resolution about what is happening on the Middle East middle east. I spoke with Prime Minister Olmert Saturday... and expressed to him concerns that we have over collateral damage that is happening in the Gaza Strip.
Pelosi went on to say that she still defends Israel's, and the right of any country, to defend itself.
"We have to think differently about this. We've been so used to an uphill fight, but now we have arrived. We have a strong 80 vote majority in the House, we have a Democratic President in the White House," said Pelosi during her first weekly press conference of the 111th Congress.
"His economic recovery package, almost sight unseen, is supported by 79% of the American people, so we have the opportunity to move...not hastily, but quickly. "
The Speaker promised that the details will be dealt with by the appropriate committees in the following weeks and promised that a bill will be drafted before Congress goes into recess.
Pelosi blamed the Bush tax cuts for upper class Americans as the largest contributor to the deficit and stated,
"Put me down, as clearly as you possibly can, as one who wants to have those tax cuts for the wealthiest in America repealed."
The Speaker also touched on the recent situation in Gaza.
"We will have on the floor, hopefully tomorrow, a resolution about what is happening on the Middle East middle east. I spoke with Prime Minister Olmert Saturday... and expressed to him concerns that we have over collateral damage that is happening in the Gaza Strip.
Pelosi went on to say that she still defends Israel's, and the right of any country, to defend itself.
tagged 
Gaza, Israel, Olmet, economic stimulus package, pelosi in Congress, News/Commentary
Gaza, Israel, Olmet, economic stimulus package, pelosi in Congress, News/Commentary
Reader Comments (1)
Did it ever occur to our political elites that many Americans are increasingly sick of paying more taxes and having an larger target painted on their backs because of US support of Israel?
Also, being a conservative myself, I cannot see how Israel deserves billions of dollars in aid from the tax payers, though of course private citizens should be able to do as they wish with their money. What do we get out of it, why do they deserve unconditional blind support?
Israel is not a liberal democracy, but rather a religious apartheid. There is democracy for Jews, but what about the indigenous Palestinians whom Israel controls militarily and economically? A number of whom are Christian too. It would be great if everyone had a political voice, but then it would no longer be a Jewish state, it might be a mixed Jewish, Muslim, and Christian state.
Also the other countries in the Middle East are not Nazis and their anger towards Israel has nothing to do with them being Jewish or their right to practice their religion. It is rather simply a territorial dispute, and the reaction would be the same if the Chinese decided to cleanse and occupy the land between the Mediterranean and river Jordan in the late 1940s. As for the Orwellian titled "moderate" Arab countries (namely Egypt and Jordan, though Saudi gets lumped in there too, don't ask me why anyone would label Saudi Moderate) they are a dictatorship and monarchy that are purely dependent upon US financial and military aid. Mubarak and Abdullah must fear the day the US will be too broke to finance their tyrannies, which is probably not far off.
Thomas,
New York, NY