During a discussion on CNN this weekend with host Jake Tapper, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who remains in Congress despite exiting her leadership role, maligned the agenda put forward by the House Republicans who’ve been upending the recent process of securing government funding.
This weekend, the House and Senate finally passed a short-term deal to keep the government funded for the following month and a half amid continuing demands from some Republicans, particularly in the House, for spending cuts. House GOP leadership had been seeking some kind of unified approach with the Republican members holding out for the most before folding with just hours to go and putting a much less burdened continuing resolution up for a vote, meaning a measure that extended past approvals for funding with much less added in policy terms.
“It’s such a fraud when they say the basis of this is about spending,” Pelosi remarked. “These are people who gave a tax cut to the richest people in America to the cost of $2 trillion to our national debt when what’s-his-name was president of the United States.”
Pelosi then recapped some of the other potential threats from the Republican agenda in areas like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and nutritional assistance for women and children. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) has pushed for making some of those benefit programs subject to these same yearly stand-offs in Congress over funding, and an agenda from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) was feared by some to threaten those programs if implemented through demanding consistent re-votes on legislation in many areas. Though they’re in the Senate, these Republicans are in much the same ideological area as key Republicans in the House.
“It’s not about the budget. It’s about a values debate,” Pelosi continued. “And you’re wasting your time on that guy because he has no sway in the House of Representatives — except to get on TV and to raise money on the internet.” She was referring to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who’d appeared on CNN earlier Sunday morning.
Pelosi on Gaetz: “It’s such a fraud when they say the basis of this is about spending. These are people who gave a tax cut to the richest people in America … you’re wasting your time on that guy because he has no sway in the House.” pic.twitter.com/i6KvitXB4Q
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 1, 2023
