-House Minority Leader Pelosi Sees Need For ‘Two Stage’ Process
-‘Big Down Payment’ This Year; Tax & Entitle Reform Next Year
-Rep. Pelosi: ‘The Time Is Growing Short’ For Deal
By John Shaw
WASHINGTON (MNI) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Thursday said
Congress and the White House need to reach an agreement by early next week to
avert the fiscal cliff and put in place a major deficit reduction plan.
She chided House Republican leaders for scheduling another truncated work
week in Washington.
“The time is growing short,” she said, adding that it was now time to
“engineer a political solution” to end the impasse.
“It will be two stages,” Pelosi said, urging Congress to pass a “big down
payment” this year and committing to serious entitlement and tax reforms next
year.
Pelosi cited Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments Wednesday
that fiscal cliff fears are already hurting the American economy.
She said that financial markets appear to still believe that Congress and
the White House will “not be so stupid” as to take the nation over the fiscal
cliff.
Pelosi offered no new flexibility regarding the fiscal talks.
“The president has been very specific,” about his proposals, she said,
adding that the House Republican plan was just a brief letter “with one number”
regarding revenues.
Pelosi repeated her opposition to including Social Security reform in the
fiscal cliff talks, saying it should be deal with separately.
She also strongly opposed any plan to increase the eligibility age for
Medicare.
And she made it clear that negotiators should pay attention to House
Democrats since “the Speaker may need” their votes to pass any agreement.
–MNI Washington Bureau; tel: +1 202-371-2121; email: jshaw@mni-news.com
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