Pelosi doesn't regret pushing cap-and-trade through House

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday she had no regrets over forcing a vote on a cap-and-trade climate bill a year ago.

Pelosi rejected the idea that it was a mistake to bring up the Waxman-Markey climate change bill for a vote in June of 2009, a tough vote for many of her party's centrists on legislation that has effectively died in the Senate.

"No it wasn't," the speaker said at her weekly press conference when asked if she was mistaken in pushing the climate bill. "This is one of our proudest boasts we could say."

The House-passed bill floundered in the Senate without the support of even many centrist Democrats, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) energy bill is expected to lack any cap on carbon.

Pelosi stood by her climate bill, though, which was a top priority for her speakership, but appears to have been a needlessly tough vote for many House Democrats.

"We're very proud of it and excited to take it to conference," she said.