When asked how to grade her performance as House Speaker much as the President graded his own B+ performance this year, Pelosi responded with "an A for effort." In ABC's "This Week" interview, Speaker Pelosi said, "I think I get an A for effort. And in the House of Representatives, my mark is the mark of our members. We have passed every piece of legislation that is part of the Obama agenda." It's the mark of a good House Speaker to work hand in hand with a President to highlight and push his legislative agenda.
Transcript of this video:
VARGAS: Finally, President Obama, when asked to rate his year in office, gave himself a B plus. How would you rate yourself in the past year?
PELOSI: Well, I have a -- I think I get an A for effort. And in the House of Representatives, my mark is the mark of our members. We have passed every piece of legislation that is part of the Obama agenda. Whether it's the creation of jobs, expanding access to health care, creating new green jobs for the future, regulatory reform, we have passed the full agenda.
VARGAS: Are you frustrated so many bills have not have been stalled in the Senate? Almost 300 bills passed by the House that are sitting languishing in the Senate?
PELOSI: And most of those bills have bipartisan support. Strong bipartisan support in the House that have gone over there. But that you know what that's about? That's about -- and it's very important for you to know, that's about the Republican delay tactics. By requiring 60 votes on some simple legislation that Harry Reid always gets -- has the votes for, but he doesn't have the time to go through the procedural day after day where you have to wait days for the time to go by in order to get the 60 votes. That's how it works in the Senate.
So it's about time. Everything's about time. The most finite commodity that we have. We used our time very well in the House to get an agenda passed in time for it to be considered by the Senate. The delaying tactics of the Republicans in the Senate…
VARGAS: Dare I ask you to grade the Senate?
PELOSI: Well, let's grade this all on a curve. What really matters is, what we do and how it relates to the lives of the American people back to that kitchen table where they have to think about how they make ends meet and how they make the future better for their children and provide for their own retirement. That's really where the grade goes. And the grade is given on election day. We -- we're fully prepared to face the American people with the integrity of what we have put forth, the commitment to jobs and health care and education and a world at peace and safe for our children and with the political armed power to go with it to win those elections.
In an ABC "This Week" interview House Speaker Pelosi commenting about some of the views of the Tea Party movement among Republicans, "We share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interest in Washington, D.C. It just has to stop. And that's why I've fought the special interest, whether it's on energy, whether it's on health insurance, whether it's on pharmaceuticals and the rest."
Transcript of this video:
VARGAS: The Tea Party movement, do you think it will be a force to be reckoned with? You had said last summer that it was a faux grassroots movement. You called it the "Astroturf Movement."
PELOSI: In some respects it is.
VARGAS: Is the Tea Party movement a force?
PELOSI: No. What I said at the time is the Republican Party directs a lot of what the Tea Party does - but not everybody in the Tea Party takes direction from the Republican Party. And so there was a lot of, shall we say, Astroturf, as opposed to grassroots.
But, you know, we share some of the views of the Tea Partiers - in terms of the role of special interest in Washington, D.C. It just has to stop. And that's why I've fought the special interest, whether it's on energy, whether it's on health insurance, whether it's on pharmaceuticals and the rest.
VARGAS: So, some common ground with many people in the Tea Party movement.
PELOSI: There are some because, again, some of it is orchestrated from the Republican headquarters. Some of it is hijacking the good intentions of lots of people who share some of our concerns that we have about the role of special interests. Many Tea Partiers - not that I speak for them - share the view, whether it's Democrats, Republicans and Independents - that the recent Supreme Court decision, which greatly empowers the special interests, is something that they oppose.
*** THANKS for visiting, come back often, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers - and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
