Pelosi: GOP On Their Own In Omnibus Vote

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned GOP leaders in the House that if they plan to vote on a $1 trillion omnibus bill this week, they can do it without the support of House Democrats.

“I hope they have the votes for it, because if they don’t’, they won’t be getting any cooperation from us,” Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press briefing. 

House Republican leaders are expected to bring the omnibus to the floor without Democratic support. This could be an uphill battle for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) who has had trouble winning the votes of some rank-and-file Republicans on a number of occasions throughout the year. 

With the end of the week fast approaching, the threat of yet another government shutdown looms over Congress. One option that would essentially serve as Plan B for Congress is the potential for passing a short-term continuing resolution that would keep the government funded into next week, giving the legislative body more time to work out their differences with the current payroll package.

Pelosi said that a shutdown was, in fact, possible but that there were many avenues available that would work to avoid it. 

“It’s only a decision that Republicans have to make that they want to avoid a shutdown by coming to the table and coming to their sense about what is fair to get the job done, to get results for the American people, instead of creating a crisis,” Pelosi said. 

Pelosi stood by the White House’s threat to veto the bill, saying “our caucus supports the president if he wants to veto the bill because of some of the provisions that are in there. We won’t be voting for a bill that has them.”

“It’s like someone saying to her fiancé, ‘Yes, I’ll finally marry you, but I can only do that on Feb. 30,’” Pelosi said. “That day is never coming, nor is the day coming when the president will sign the that Republicans passed.” 

Pelosi Shuns Keystone Pipeline Inclusion For Job Bills

By Janie Amaya

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Thursday that including the Keystone XL Pipeline in a jobs bill is not a responsible way to create jobs and has no place in the bill, during her weekly news briefing.

After meeting with President Obama and the House Democratic leadership earlier in the day, Pelosi said it is necessary for something to be done before year’s end.

“The president pressed upon us, and we all agreed, that we can’t go home for the holidays until we pass a payroll tax cut for working families in our country and extend unemployment insurance,” Pelosi said.

She argued that Republicans continue to resist a federal tax cut that could help million Americans and said it is just not right.

“The Congressional Republicans are holding up a payroll tax cut that will help 160 million Americans. They are holding that up because they want to protect tax cuts for the wealthiest 300,000,” Pelosi said.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he is in agreement with President Obama that the American people can not  wait on jobs any longer.

“We agree whole-heartedly with the president. The Keystone Pipeline project will create tens and thousands of jobs immediately. It has bipartisan support in the House and the Senate,” Boehner said.
   
However, Pelosi said, “Republicans are trying to associate themselves with the tax cuts, but not without injecting… ‘poison pills’ into the legislation they know will not possibly pass the Senate.”

It's Christmas Tree Time

By Tim Young

A crowd of a few hundred gathered on Capitol Hill Tuesday night to attend the ceremony to light the Capitol’s Christmas Tree. 

Speaking at the ceremony were Architect of the Capitol Stephen Ayers, Thomas Coleman, chairman of the U.S. Capitol Historical Society’s Board of Trustees and Tom Tidwell, chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Reps. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) and Jeff Denham, (R-Calif.) were also present representing the state that donated the tree.

U.S. Army Band and Jazz@8 — an a cappella choir from Summerville High School in Tuolumne, Calif. — performed holiday songs at the event. 

The Speaker of the House ceremoniously lights the tree every year. This year, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was joined by Johnny Crawford, a 7-year-old home-schooled student from Sonora, Calif.

“Christmas is not some distant historical event,” said Boehner. “It is a spirit, always bringing us closer to each other and closer to the peace of which the angels sang.”

The tree will be on display until Jan. 1 and will be lit from dusk until 11 p.m. each day.

Boehner Says No War Savings For Democrats' Jobs Plan

By Lisa Kellman

A week before the supercommittee is due to present a plan cutting $1.2 trillion from the national deficit, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio.) declared that the money saved from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should not be spent on the Democrat’s $300 billion jobs plan proposed last week.

According to Boehner, the savings “should be banked, should not be used to offset other spending.”

The speaker addressed these concerns during a press conference to present the “American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Plan.” The plan is aimed at spurring job growth by increasing energy production and using the revenue to improve the nation’s infrastructure.

However, the most pressing concern now, Boehner said, is getting a plan to lower the deficit.

“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink” said Boehner when explaining why, a week before its Thanksgiving deadline, there is still no final plan on how to cut the nation’s deficit by $1.2 trillion. 

“Our debt crossed the $15 trillion number yesterday. That’d be a giant wakeup call to the congress that its time to rip the band-aid off and do what needs to be done,” declared Boehner.

Unless the Democrats and the Republicans in the congressional supercommittee charged with lowering the deficit by November 23 can agree on a plan, $1.2 trillion across the board will be automatically cut.

The House Speaker would not comment on whether or not he and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) would work together before next week to manufacture an agreement. Although, he stated he would continue to work on solving the problem.

GOP Makes Unified Push In Search Of Senate Action On Jobs Bills

By Andrea Salazar and Janie Amaya

House Republican Leaders Friday argued that their “Forgotten 15” jobs bills are piling up in the Senate as unemployment remains high.

“There is no reason for Senate Democrats to delay action on the bills any longer,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said at a news conference with fellow Republican leaders. “The House has been working all year on our plan for Americans job creators. It’s time for the Senate to do their work.”

The “Forgotten 15” are Republican-sponsored jobs bills that have already passed through the lower chamber. They include bills that prohibit regulation of the Internet and green house gas emissions to reduce costs to businesses.

Supercommittee member Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) argued that the bills prohibiting additional regulation is urgent, claiming that “the federal government is regulating small business out of business.”

Earlier this week the House passed four bills allowing access to financing for small businesses, something House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said is an important step in showing Americans that Washington is working for their interest.

“What small businesses want in this is less red tape in Washington so they can go about continuing to invest and create jobs,” Cantor said.

The movement pushing for action in the upper chamber continued on Capitol Hill with Republican Policy Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) and a handful of Republican freshmen.

“We are distressed with what we see coming out of the White House and out of the Senate,” Price told reporters. 

The group criticized the Democratic-controlled Senate for holding up a number of bills they believe will combat the nation’s jobless rate. 

The newest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that the unemployment rate fell to an even 9 percent, a slim improvement from the 9.1 percent recorded for September. The small group of House Republicans were harmonious in their message to President Obama, “We can’t wait either.”

“We can’t wait for you to get back to town to work with us and call on Harry Reid to pass the job creation bills already passed through House,” Price said. “The American people are sick and tired of this kind of craziness that doesn’t allow for the process to work.”

Benny Martinez contributed to this story…