Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Sofia Sanchez - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Thursday that Democratic lawmakers “will move on many fronts to pass health care" reform.

Pelosi expressed urgency in passing the legislation, claiming that it is vital to creating jobs and stabilizing the U.S. economy.

"The health care bill alone will provide the nation with 4 million jobs,” said Pelosi.

Although Pelosi did not specify how the House and Senate will work together to reconcile their two bills, she expressed confidence that Democratic lawmakers would work on passing health care regardless of the time.

“The President's administration and our work in Congress has always been about jobs, creating jobs through the Recovery package, getting jobs through the President's budget, which was a blueprint for prosperity for the future to stabilize our economy,” said Pelosi.

The Speaker said that she was pleased that President Barack Obama called for a repeal of the controversial “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell” policy in the military, as well as increased education funding and tackling the nation's severe debt.

Although Pelosi said she agreed with much of what Obama said during his State of the Union speech last night, she criticized his proposed discretionary spending freeze for not including the defense budget.

“I support taking care of our veterans,” said Pelosi, “but not entitlement programs for military contractors.”