Pelosi Counters GOP Accusations

By Philip Bunnell

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) held a briefing Friday and countered many of the claims made by House Republicans in another briefing held earlier in the day.

“It’s been day 185 of the Republican majority in the Congress and we have still not seen one jobs bill come to the floor,” said Pelosi.  “This is obviously reflected in jobs number this morning.”  The Democrats, on the other hand, “have put probably twenty job initiatives on the floor and the Republicans have rejected every one of them,” declared Pelosi.

The former Speaker of the House also pointed to the number of bills signed into law during the Democratic majority versus the Republican majority as an explanation for the dismal unemployment numbers.

House Republicans had held a briefing a few hours earlier where they claimed to have passed nine job creating initiatives, all of which were ignored or stalled in the Democrat controlled Senate.

Pelosi described the cuts proposed by the GOP as “austerity measures” several times, and cautioned that things would only get worse if “we continue down a path that is cost shifting to the states in order to reduce the federal budget.”

The California Democrat was very critical of the catch 22 that GOP cuts would allegedly produce.  Pelosi said that CEOs told her that “they will create jobs when they have customers.”  However, Pelosi warned, “when you fire a policeman, a firefighter, and a teacher, and a public worker because of austerity programs, you are not only hurting the safety of your neighborhoods, the education of your children … you are reducing the number of consumers.”

Pelosi did say that she was “optimistic that we can come together.”  Striving for a tone of conciliation, the Minority Leader said that “I don’t like to have a situation where we’re saying, well, you need our votes so you better have this in the bill.”  An issue like the deficit, “a big deal,” should rise above partisan bickering, said Pelosi.

House GOP Leaders Stand Firm On Taxes

House Republicans, on their way to meet with President Obama at the White House to negotiate a raise to the debt ceiling, offered no change in the demands they have been making throughout the negotiations, remaining absolute in the party’s ‘no tax hike’ stance. 

“We are not going to raise taxes on the American people, we are not going to raise taxes on the very people we expect to reinvest in our economy and to help grow jobs,” Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters.

When Boehner was pressed over how he would reach a deal with the Democrats, who have insisted that revenue increases be included, the Speaker simply said that “there’s a lot of conversation that is underway,” and that spending should be the focus.

Cantor Defends GOP Position In Debt Negotiations

By Philip Bunnell

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) accused President Barack Obama of attacking Republicans “work ethic” one day before he and other GOP leaders are scheduled to meet with President Obama and Congressional leaders at the White House to negotiate raising the debt ceiling.

“We’ve been working,” Cantor responded during a briefing Wednesday, citing the six weeks of negotiations the GOP had with Vice President Biden.  “And for the president to suggest that we’ve not been hard at work,” Cantor continued, “I’m going to tell him tomorrow, come on!”

Cantor also refuted the President’s claim that Republicans had walked out of negotiations over corporate jet entitlements and tax loopholes. The House Leader dismissed the jet issue as “not serious,” and that he would “talk tax loopholes,” but that tax hikes on businesses were the reason the GOP walked.

The Virginia Republican addressed questions over the proposed cuts, saying that they “will demonstrate that we will actually begin to get the fiscal house in order, and that we’re going to change the way this town does business and stop spending money we don’t have.”  Cantor described the cuts as “historic” and necessary.

Responding to a recent report by the Washington Post that showed a sharp increase in income inequality, Cantor defended high-earners.  “Certainly there’s a concern when it comes to these kinds of salaries, but the concern lies with the shareholders of those companies,” said Cantor.  The Majority Leader concluded that it is “important to protect those individuals who are job creators,” and again cautioned against raising taxes in a “sputtering economy.”