Pelosi: Boehner's Plan 'B' for 'Befuddled,’ Does Nothing to Prevent Going Over Cliff

Contact: Nadeam Elshami/Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi appeared on Andrea Mitchell Reports today. Below is a link to a video of her appearance and selected excerpts:

VIDEO:

On Speaker Boehner’s “Plan B:”

Leader Pelosi. I congratulate – I believe that the President has demonstrated great leadership in what he put forth, he has responded to the need that we must have to inspire confidence with consumers, with the markets, that we need to prevent going over the cliff, that we need to eliminate any thought that we would be downgraded in terms of our credit rating, we need to reduce the deficit, we need to create jobs. Speaker Boehner’s Plan B does none of the above. Plan B – I would call it “Plan Befuddled.” It’s really hard to imagine why they even came up with it, unless they just wanted to prove to their Members that unless 218 of them were ready to raise rates, it’s not going to pass. The Democrats are not going to give them that success. You can be sure of that.

On Speaker Boehner’s Assertion that his Plan is in Keeping with Previous Pelosi Proposal to Smoke Out Republicans:

Leader Pelosi. Yeah, well, I’m glad he’s taking up some of my suggestions. My next suggestion would be to put something on the table, as we were suggesting then, to smoke out the Republicans. At what level would you raise the rates on the wealthiest people in our country? Now, would you raise them at a million dollars? That was the point of that exercise – but all as a part of a proposal that had deficit reduction with revenues coming in, with cuts being made, with investments in jobs to grow the economy, to inject demand into the economy, and to bring us to the deficit reduction we need, again, give confidence to the markets, to the consumers, avoid the cliff, and the rest.

But they take a piece of it in isolation, but they have proven one thing, and it’s a victory for the President: they’re willing to raise rates. Now, the question is are 218 Republicans – that’s what it takes to pass a bill in the House – are 218 Republicans ready to raise rates? We’ll find out soon.

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