Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi accused Republicans of failing to negotiate in good faith on Thursday, telling reporters that the GOP used debt negotiations as a Trojan Horse to attack the middle class.
“I believe that the reason that the agreement wasn’t reached is because of the two different reasons to come to the table,” Pelosi said at a press conference at the Capitol. While she said that Democrats legitimately wanted to reduce the deficit, “the real reason they didn’t connect is because Republicans all along have used deficit reduction as an excuse for the unraveling of progress made for the middle class over the past fifty years.”
She added: “this isn’t about reducing the deficit, we can come to an agreement on that. But we cannot come to agreement on that hardship that they want to place on the middle class by reducing what government does.”
One reporter noted, however, that the Democrats’ proposal in the Senate was in many ways similar to the bill put forward by Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) which Pelosi said was “destructive of the middle class and the aspirations of those who strive to make America great.”
Pelosi responded that while neither plan raised revenue and that Reid’s cuts were largely in line with past Republican proposals, “the cuts are more drastic” under Boehner’s legislation. She also said that Boehner’s proposal, by requiring a second debt ceiling fight in six months, would do little to end fears that the US could reach a self-imposed default.
“The idea of short term or a long term is not about a calendar,” she said. “It’s about holding up the process by saying we’re going to wait six months and then we’re going to do it all over again, and, by the way, in order to get this done in six months we’re going to start today. So it’s just an unending hardship for the American people, the uncertainty that they have.”
Pelosi declined to predict whether any Democrats would defect and vote for Boehner’s proposal, but said that she was “very confident” they won’t provide the margin of victory if Boehner can’t secure a majority on his own.
