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House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday vowed that there will be no earmarks in the upcoming
economic stimulus bill that Congress and the incoming Obama administration are
negotiating. “I can pledge to
you that no earmark or any of that, any description you want to make of it will
be in the bill that passes the House,” Pelosi said in an interview on
CNN’s “Late Edition.”
Despite a
significant Democratic majority in the House, Pelosi wants Republicans involved
in the deliberations over the economic recovery package.
On issues like
the massive stimulus, “you really want as much legitimacy as possible,” Pelosi said.
She also
indicated that the $775 billion economic stimulus package proposed by Obama’s
transition team might grow.
Democrats have
been objecting to the amount of tax cuts likely to be included in the Obama
plan. Pelosi hinted that Democrats will continue to voice their differences
with the president-elect on the recovery plan. She stressed that her caucus
wants to help Obama, but added that “it doesn’t mean we have erased any points
of view in our mind.”
The Speaker added
that she was concerned about the growing deficit, which is expected to swell to
a record of $1.2 trillion projection for next year. That figure does not include
the cost of the stimulus.
Because of the
exploding deficit, Pelosi said she wants to repeal the tax cuts for those
people making more than $250,000
a year. The tax cut for that income base implemented by the Bush administration
is set to expire in 2010.
“That is the
biggest contributor to the national debt,” she said, adding, “I don’t
think we can wait until they
expire.”
Pelosi noted that
the tax repeal should be passed in legislation that is separate from the
stimulus. She also pointed out that the economic recovery package would include
tax breaks for middle class Americans.
House Minority
Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) indicated that he will put up opposition to
anything that will raise taxes.
“I think in a
time of great economic uncertainty, the last thing we want to do is raise taxes
on anyone,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” The GOP leader ruled
out tax increases as part of the stimulus.
“We’re going to have enough difficulty trying to come to
some bipartisan agreement on what this package could look like,” Boehner said
Pelosi reiterated that she wants to pass the stimulus by
mid-February, a timeline that Boehner voiced skepticism about.
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