“Frankly … two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined with the Bush tax cuts have driven us where we are today, ” she continued, referring to the nation’s $15 trillion deficit. 

Jackson Lee’s comments come in the wake of the congressional supercommittee’s failure on Monday to reach a deal to slash $1.2 trillion in spending over the decade. Several of the proposals put forth by Republicans in negotiations included an extension of the Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2012. Democrats, however, rejected those proposals. 

In the interview, Jackson Lee also harshly criticized Republicans for refusing to compromise in the supercommittee negotiations and slammed the “no tax pledge” many Republicans have made to conservative activist Grover Norquist, commenting that Democrats had no such outside commitments.

“None of us have signed a pledge, we simply looked at the numbers and decided the Bush tax cuts have to expire,” she said.