Pelosi: ‘It’s Impossible For Democrats To Negotiate With House Republicans’
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) slammed her Republican colleagues on Friday, lamenting that “I don’t know that they even know what they’re doing.”
Speaking to reporters at her weekly briefing, Leader Pelosi accused Republicans of “sowing the seeds of this dangerous, partisan path that we’re on today” by refusing to hold a budget conference between the House and the Senate. She then took aim at the dysfunction that seems to constantly plague congressional Republicans.
“It’s impossible for Democrats to negotiate with House Republicans when they can’t negotiate with themselves,” Pelosi said. “Instead of legislating responsibly, they want to live dangerously.”
“We don’t know what we’re going to vote on from one minute to the next because I don’t think they know what they’re going to vote on,” Pelosi added, in a reference to Speaker John Boehner’s repeated inability to whip votes within his own caucus.
Pelosi also offered a sharp rebuke of the House Republicans’ plan to force the White House to adopt most of their platform in exchange for raising the nation’s debt limit.
“The House Republicans’ astonishing disregard for the stability of our economy goes well beyond their threats to shut down government’s basic services for the American people,” Pelosi said. “They’re holding the entire economy hostage, and their Tea Party ransom demands come at a significant cost to our economic security.”
The Senate is expected to pass a spending bill that would strip the House’s language defunding the Affordable Care Act on Friday, and send it back to the lower chamber. The House would then have three days to decide whether to accept the Senate bill, amend it and send it back to the Senate, or force a government shutdown.
Full video of Leader Pelosi’s briefing can be seen here.
Photo: Talk Radio News Service/Flickr
