At her weekly press conference this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bucked the conservative spin that Tuesday’s election was a boon to the GOP by noting that the results actually make health care reform easier for her to pass.
“Tuesday night we won two more votes for health care,” Pelosi said. Both candidates won, she noted, amid a flurry of anti-reform ads in their districts and, despite the fact that one of the new members hails from a red-leaning district, both will vote for the plan.
“Bill Owens will be a great representative, independent voice, for his district,” Pelosi said this.
She also took aim at the Republican health care plan, denouncing it in no uncertain terms.
“Let me just say this: Anything you need to know about the difference between the Democratic bill and the Republican bill is that the Republicans do not end health insurance companies’ discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions,” Pelosi said. “They let that stand. That’s scandalous.”
Pelosi said afterward that there’s a good chance that Congress will have a bill on the President’s desk by Christmas. But asked by TPMDC whether she believed that, if given the choice, Obama would ultimately choose to endorse a bipartisan bill over a bill with a public option, Pelosi demurred.
“You’ll have to ask him,” she said, “but I’ll tell you what will pass the House: a bill with a public option.”
