Pelosi: GOP Out To Get Middle Class

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday blasted Republican efforts to offset an extension of payroll-tax cuts set to expire at the end of December, but said House Democrats remain open to “reasonable, pay-for” options.

Democrats sought to pay for the tax holiday with a 3.5 percent surtax on incomes exceeding $1 million. Republicans countered by proposing a freeze on federal employees’ salaries and downsizing the federal workforce by cutting 200,000 jobs as a means to pay for the tax break. 

The House’s top Democrat, however, shied away from endorsing Republicans’ proposal, arguing that the offsetting proposal would eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs. 

“It doesn’t make any sense, except it is consistent with the Republican principle that they are here for the one percent,” Pelosi said. “But yes, we would certainly be open to reasonable pay-fors for the tax cut.”

Pelosi continued her tirade against GOP efforts to offset the payroll-tax cut and said Republicans “are out to get the middle class.”  

“I don’t know what the middle class ever did to the Republicans that they’re so out to get them,” Pelosi said. “But whether it’s job creation, economic growth, the tax code and the rest — the deck is getting stacked against the middle class.”