Pelosi Defends Democrats' Rejection Of CR Bill

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended Democrats’ decision to reject the lower chamber’s CR bill during her weekly press briefing Thursday.

“We should not go down a different path now than we have done on natural disaster assistance,” Pelosi remarked. “That’s why we fought so hard about what the Republicans put forth. On top of that, we didn’t like the offset because it was a jobs killer.”

The House Republicans’ continuing resolution (CR) included $3.65 billion in funding  for disaster relief and was partially offset by a $1.5 billion cut to a Department of Energy advanced manufacturing loan program.

The bill was rejected by a House vote of 195-230 with only six Democrats choosing to support it. 48 conservative Republicans ultimately voted against it based on the belief that it did not cut enough spending.

“Assistance in the time of a natural disaster should not be a controversial issue,” Pelosi continued. “It hasn’t been before.”

While the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a mere $215 million left in its disaster relief fund. Pelosi argued that the bill was not about paying for disaster.

“It was clear to us that this wasn’t about paying for the disaster but destroying an initiative that is jobs creating,” Pelosi charged.

Republican leaders are busy working towards a new resolution to fund FEMA and prevent a government shut down at the end of the fiscal year on September 30.

Click here to see photos from today’s briefing