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Stories tagged with “Nancy Pelosi”

Economy

Pelosi’s ‘Middle Class’ Tax Cut Extension Would Largely Benefit Millionaires, Cost Billions In Revenue

By Travis Waldron on May 24, 2012 at 12:55 pm

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) issued a statement Wednesday calling for a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts for the middle class, demanding House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) schedule a vote on the plan as soon as possible. But her proposal differs from others offered by Democrats, including President Obama, that call for an extension of the rates for incomes below $250,000. Instead, Pelosi wants a permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts for incomes up to $1 million, the statement said.

“Democrats believe that tax cuts for those earning over a million dollars a year should expire and that we should use the resulting revenues to pay down the deficit,” Pelosi said. Her plan, however, would cost the government billions in revenue compared to Obama’s plan, and though she has billed it as a tax cut for the middle class, half of its benefits would go to millionaires, according to analysis from Citizens for Tax Justice:

CTJ’s preliminary estimates show that Obama’s proposal to extend the Bush tax cuts for the first $250,000 or $200,000 of income a taxpayer makes would save between $60 billion and $70 billion in 2013 compared to the GOP proposal to extend all the tax cuts, depending on economic conditions. Leader Pelosi’s proposal to extend the Bush tax cuts for the first $1 million of income would save 43 percent less revenue than Obama’s proposal.

The additional tax cut that would result from Pelosi’s plan compared to Obama’s plan (the additional tax cut resulting from extending the Bush tax provisions for taxpayers’ first $1 million of income instead of “just” their first $250,000 or $200,000 of income) would not be targeted towards the “middle class.” In fact, 50 percent of this additional tax cut would go to taxpayers with adjusted gross income (AGI) in excess of $1 million.

Millionaires would continue to benefit under Pelosi’s plan because the tax cut applies to the first $1 million of their incomes, meaning their tax cut would still be substantially larger than it would be for actual middle class workers. And as a result, a large portion of the Bush tax cuts for the rich, which blew up the national debt and failed to deliver on promises of job creation and economic growth, would exist in perpetuity.

NEWS FLASH

Nancy Pelosi Predicts Obamacare Will Be Upheld 6-3 | Speaking to the Paley Center for Media, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi predicted that the health care law would be upheld by the Supreme Court. After claiming that over 80 million people have benefitted from the law, including younger Americans staying on their parents’ insurance until age 26 and people who can no longer be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, Pelosi said of the impending court decision, “Me, I’m predicting 6-3 in favor.” While criticizing Republicans for shifting their position on the idea of judicial review, Pelosi said that Democrats have “always respected judicial review and the Constitution, and we wrote the bill in an ironclad way in terms of its constitutionality.” Watch:

-Zachary Bernstein

By Guest Blogger on Apr 4, 2012 at 2:25 pm

LGBT

Democrats Ask Boehner To Back Off His ‘Direct Assault’ On Gay Veterans

By Igor Volsky on Apr 2, 2012 at 9:04 am

Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) and Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) are urging House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to abandon his efforts to defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act in a case involving a disabled Iraq war veteran. That veteran, Tracey Cooper-Harris — is on disability and receiving treatment for PTSD and multiple sclerosis — alleges that by failing to provide spousal benefits to her wife, the Veterans Affairs administration is infringing on her constitutional right to equal protection under the law. DOMA prevents federal agencies from recognizing same-sex relationships and Title 38 of the United States Code defines spouses as a person of the opposite sex.

House Republicans convened the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) to defend the constitutionality of DOMA since the Obama administration announced that it is unconstitutional in February of 2010, but this is the first case in which Beohner is also defending Title 38.

“[W]e strongly object to spending taxpayer money to intervene in this case against a decorated veteran, Tracey Cooper-Harris, and her spouse, Maggie Cooper-Harris,” Pelosi and Hoyer write in their letter. “This decision clearly exceeds the scope of the original BLAG authorization, with which we initially disagreed”:

This intervention once again puts the House of Representatives on the wrong side of the future – supporting discrimination, unfairness, and the denial of basic equality to all Americans. We have objected to prior decisions by the House Republican BLAG members to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to defend discrimination. This latest decision not only ignores the civil rights of LGBT Americans but opens a new, direct assault on veterans. The men and women of our Armed Forces serve with courage and dignity on behalf of our safety and security. They risk their lives for the country they love – and they should not face prejudice at home because of whom they love. These brave soldiers deserve nothing less than our gratitude, our respect, and the benefits they have earned in battle.

Pelosi and Hoyer are calling for “a formal vote of the BLAG on extending your defense of discrimination to veterans and their families” and a full examination by the Committee on House Administration and the House Ethics Committee of any “extension of the existing legal contract, any new contract, and any additional expenditure of public funds on behalf of outside counsel.” Democratic lawmakers have long raised questions about the GOP’s efforts to spend taxpayer dollars on DOMA and have asked Boehner to divert the resources to investigate the Trayvon Martin shooting.

NEWS FLASH

Pelosi: GOP Favors Government Intrusion On Individual Liberty Only When It Comes to Matters of Sex | Given the GOP’s recent efforts to limit women’s access to contraception, social issues have become priority number one for the Republican party. Yet, Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says Democrats are up for the challenge. In an interview with the Washington Post this morning, Pelosi went after the Republicans’ tendency to “favor government intrusion on individual liberty only when it comes to matters of sex.” “They don’t believe in a government role except when it comes to women exercising her conscience on an issue like that,” she said. “People who choose to marry and find comfort with each other — they decide that government should step in there. But clean air, clean water, food safety, public safety, public education, public health, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security — they want to end the government role.” Pelosi has vocally opposed House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) decision to defend the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), noting that the legal team hired to uphold the statute in court has spent $1.5 million on the effort. — Fatima Najiy

By Guest Blogger on Mar 2, 2012 at 2:52 pm

Health

Pelosi To GOP: ‘Duh!,’ Women Should Be Included In A Hearing About Contraception

By Igor Volsky on Feb 16, 2012 at 12:27 pm

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) echoed Democrats’ concerns about Republicans excluding female witnesses from a hearing focusing on President Obama’s new regulation requiring insurers and employers to provide birth control in their health insurance plans. “This is an issue about women’s health and I believe that women’s health should be covered in all fo the insurance plans,” Pelosi insisted at her press briefing this morning, refuting the GOP’s claim that the debate should focus on “religious liberties.”

“Where are the women? And that’s a good question for the whole debate. Where are the women?” she asked. “Imagine, having a panel on women’s health and then not having any women on the panel, duh!”:

PELOSI: What is it that men don’t understand about women’s health and how central the issue of family planning is to that? Not just if you’re having families but if you need those kinds of prescription drugs for your general health, which was the testimony they would include this morning if they had allowed a woman on the panel. I think the fact that they did not allow a woman on the panel is symbolic of the whole debate as to who is making these decisions about women’s health and who should be covered.

Watch it:

Last Friday, the Obama administration addressed the GOP’s concerns that Catholic-affiliated colleges and hospitals would have to provide contraception coverage that is inconsistent with their religious beliefs by issuing a revised regulation that will allow these nonprofit institutions to stop offering birth control. The change pleased several moderate Catholic organizations, but most Republicans — and some conservative Catholic organizations — continue to insist that women in their employment should not have access to these medications.

Update

Earlier this week, Sen. Frank Lautenberg called out the Republican “men’s club” in the Senate, saying they want women “barefoot and pregnant.” “It’s time to tell the Republicans to mind their own business,” Lautenberg said on Tuesday. Watch his comments here:

LGBT

Pelosi: Democratic Party Should Come Out For Full Marriage Equality

By Igor Volsky on Feb 15, 2012 at 9:05 am

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) — a long time supporter of the LGBT community and proponent of marriage equality — is calling on the Democratic party to include marriage rights for gays and lesbians in its 2012 party platform, Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner reports. Pelosi’s backing comes in response to Freedom to Marry’s new ‘Say I Do‘ campaign, which is pushing Democrats to become the first major political party to adopt the policy:

The proposed plank states: “We support the full inclusion of all families in the life of our nation, with equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law, including the freedom to marry. Government has no business putting barriers in the path of people seeking to care for their family members, particularly in challenging economic times. We support the Respect for Marriage Act and the overturning of the federal so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and oppose discriminatory constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny the freedom to marry to loving and committed same-sex couples.”

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill tells Metro Weekly, “Leader Pelosi supports this language.”

The Democrats’ 2008 platform opposed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which the Obama administration is no longer defending in court, but took no position on marriage equality. Obama has said that he is still “evolving” on the issue, even as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers now support marriage. At least 91 Democrats in the House, including Democratic National Committee chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and 23 senators back same-sex marriage. Twelve Democratic governors (and one Independent, Gov. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island) also favor full marriage rights.

Alyssa

15 Women GQ Could Have Named To Its Powerful People In Washington List

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Jan 19, 2012 at 11:06 am

GQ’s 50 Most Powerful People in Washington list came out yesterday. And it turns out that there are just 11 women on the list, two of whom (Heather Podesta and Lissa Muscatine) appear in the rankings with their husbands; three of whom (Svetlana Legetic, Jayne Sandeman and Barbara Martin*) appear as a single item on the city’s social scene; and one of whom, Buffy Wicks, appears at the end of a long list of men who will play key roles in the 2012 elections. Just five of them, Hillary Clinton, Kathy Ruemmler, Nancy Hogan, Patty Murray, and Liz Cheney get to stand on their own. There are some deeply bizarre exclusions here, ignoring women who wield power in the administration, the media, and think tanks and academia. Here are 15 we think could — and should — have made the cut.

1. Valerie Jarrett. Or Nancy-Ann DeParle. Or Samantha Power. Three of President Obama’s closest advisors are women, who have guided his thinking on everything from Libya strategy to health care reform. If that doesn’t count as power, I’m not sure what does.

2. Nancy Pelosi. The former speaker of the House may have lost her fanciest job title getting President Obama’s health care bill passed, but all that means is that she did exactly what elected officials are supposed to do: value policy results over the outcome of the next election cycle. And having your party down doesn’t mean you’re out. Pelosi is still a force in the House, even in the minority.

3. Katharine Weymouth. The Washington Post may not be the paper it once was, but that hardly means it doesn’t matter. As the Post’s publisher, Weymouth runs the biggest paper in town. She’s important, especially as the Post competes with upstarts like Politico and builds new initiatives like Ezra Klein’s publication-within-a-publication, Wonkbook.

4. Jane Mayer. The New Yorker’s resident giant slayer isn’t afraid to take on anyone, from the Koch brothers, to Art Pope, to the architects of the worst of the war on terror. Another rising Washington reporter, Annie Lowrey, who is part of the New York Times’ economic team, could also be on this list.

5. Neera Tanden. No, it’s not just because she’s my boss. It’s inexplicable that GQ would pick Liz Cheney, who runs the strawman think tank Keep America Safe and contributes to Fox News while ignoring the woman who runs one of the most powerful think tanks in Washington, and who was a key adviser to Hillary Clinton to boot. There’s real power, and there’s the ability to fling rhetorical bombs. Any power list worth its salt should distinguish between the two.

6. Maureen Dowd. She may go waspish more than she goes sincere. But even if you think she’s light, there’s no question that Dowd can skewer her subjects, or define them, whether with uncomfortable nicknames or facts.

7. Kathleen Sebilius. Or Janet Napolitano. Or Michèle Flournoy. Or Mary Schapiro. President Obama has women overseeing everything from implementation of his health care law, to homeland security, to the country’s securities oversight, a critical issue in this economic crisis. And Flournoy could be Secretary of Defense some day, too.

8. Jessica P. Einhorn, Dean of Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. SAIS is a highly respected institution, and Einhorn is part of an important generation of women in foreign policy, and this summer, will wrap up 10 years of creating the next one.

9. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The senior woman on the Supreme Court has hung on through health issues to continue her life-long fight for women’s rights.

10. Chan Heng Chee. Washington isn’t just a town where American policy gets made. It’s also the home of a vibrant diplomatic community. The deputy dean of the diplomatic corps, Ambassador Chan is the leader of Washington’s women ambassadors, a fixture in the city’s social scene, and has a long-game perspective on the American relationship with Asia.

*Full disclosure: I worked with Jayne and Barbara while I was at Washingtonian, and like and respect them both. If you’re going to put the curators of the social scene on the list, they undeniably belong there.

NEWS FLASH

Pelosi Lashes Out At Gay Republicans: ‘They’ve Chosen A Party That Supports Their Income,’ But ‘Denigrates Them’ | Nancy Pelosi lashed out against gay Republicans during an interview in the February issue of the Advocate. “They’ve chosen a party that supports their income — a party that denigrates them and treats them with disrespect,” Pelosi told reporter Andrew Harmon. The former House speaker is “pushing the DNC to help fund the fight against anti-marriage equality ballot measures in Minnesota and North Carolina as well as a campaign in Maine that aims to overturn a 2009 ballot measure that rescinded marriage rights for same-sex couples in the state.” “There are more ways to get your voice heard than just speaking…. But I hope the president would just say he supports equality in marriage,” Pelosi said.

Economy

House Democrats Rush Floor Demanding Republicans Come Back To Work, GOP Cuts Off C-SPAN

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jan 6, 2012 at 2:47 pm

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and a group of Democratic lawmakers took to an empty House floor today to demonstrate that they were willing to work while Republicans lawmakers are at home. “Where are the Republicans?” demanded Assistant to the Minority Leader James Clyburn (R-SC). Joining Pelosi and Clyburn were five other House Democrats who are assigned to the payroll-tax extension conference committee.

Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), representing House Republicans, quickly banged his gavel over the Democrats’ voices, and instructed the clerk to stop taking notes of the proceedings. Moments later, the microphones were silenced and C-SPAN’s video feed was cut. (The House leadership controls the cameras and has previously cut video of Democrats on the floor.) Watch it:

The theatrical stunt also serves to underscore Provident Obama’s claim this week that Congress is effectively in recess, thus allowing him to make recess appointments, even though the Senate has been holding 30-second long pro-forma sessions.

LGBT

Nancy Pelosi Intervenes To Stop Deportation, Keep Gay Couple Together

By Marie Diamond on Jan 5, 2012 at 10:25 am

As ThinkProgress has often reported, many binational gay couples live in constant fear of being separated by deportation because the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prevents the federal government from recognizing their relationships. But for one San Francisco couple at least, the story has a happy ending, thanks to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

Pelosi personally intervened on behalf of two of her constituents, Bradford Wells and Anthony John Makk, a couple who have lived in San Francisco’s Castro District for the better part of 19 years and were married in Massachusetts in 2004:

Makk is an Australian citizen who was facing deportation after the couple was denied spousal immigration benefits under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which blocks federal benefits to same-sex couples.

Wednesday the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent the couple a letter that they have been granted a two year deferred action on deportation. Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, personally intervened on behalf of the couple to ensure that Makk could stay in the country.

“The positive resolution of Anthony’s immigration petition is a personal victory for Bradford and Anthony, and keeps this loving couple together,” Pelosi said in a statement. Pelosi told the couple about the ruling herself Wednesday.

According to Metro Weekly, Pelosi also noted the broader implications of the case: “Anthony would have faced deportation because of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, even though he has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, has no criminal history, has never lived here illegally and is the primary caregiver to his husband.”

She applauded the recent efforts of the Obama administration to close many low-priority immigration deportation proceedings, including those against same-sex couples. Pelosi also pledged to fight for the full repeal of DOMA, which continues to keep many other binational gay couples in legal limbo.

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