Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi completely shredded John Boehner and Eric Cantor after they tried to blame her for the their own failure to pass the Farm Bill.
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Transcript:
Q: Ms. Pelosi, the GOP whip team just put out a statement saying that you guys had promised them 40 votes, and that you, yourself, are the reason why the farm bill went down today. Did you promise them those 40 votes and pull it back?
Leader Pelosi. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. First of all, they lost 62 of their own Members. Let me just say I use the word results. That’s what the American people expect. And when I talk to volunteers in my days as chair of the party, or in the course of my career in the Congress, I always say to people: “You should be professional.” You have to do what you say you’re going to do to the best of your ability and you have to take responsibility.
What is happening on the floor today was a demonstration of major amateur hour. They didn’t get results and they put the blame on somebody else. Just interesting because you know I love numbers and I love counting votes, 62 Republicans voted no on the bill today. Sixty-two Republicans. There is almost no way to offset that.
But it’s also important to note, what is it, [61] Republicans voted for a killer amendment, which was the Southerland amendment, which made further cuts in nutrition and food stamps. [Sixty-one] Republicans voted for that who voted no on the bill.
In other words, why would you put an amendment there that’s going to lose Democratic votes, that is going to make the bill worse, when the people, you’ve lost 62 votes on final passage, [61] of them needed the Southerland bill to cut further and they didn’t stick with the leadership on final passage. Isn’t that remarkable? Isn’t that remarkable? So, what was the purpose of the Southerland bill? To throw the weight around of those who wanted to take more food out of the mouths of babies?
And they had another poison pill of their own making, the Speaker’s dedication to the dairy processors over the dairy farmers, and they lost votes when they prevailed on that. So, they put two seeds of their own destruction in the bill, the Southerland bill, which evidently did not get them any votes – they lost [61] votes that voted for the Southerland bill and the dairy piece.
So, you know, but it’s always interesting to me when people blame other people for their own failures. If we ever came to you when we had the majority and said: “We didn’t pass a bill because we didn’t get enough Republican votes.” Well, you know, that’s really – it’s silly, it’s sad, it’s juvenile, it’s unprofessional. It’s amateur hour.
That was a bit of contempt for the mess that Boehner and Cantor have made out of the House coming from a woman who was one of the most productive Speakers in history. Rep. Pelosi was demonized by Republicans during the 2010 election, but most Americans should have a new appreciation for what she was able to accomplish as Speaker when compared to the bumbling mess that the GOP leadership team has turned the House into.
Pelosi was completely correct. Boehner and Cantor can’t blame Democrats for the Farm Bill’s failure to pass, because they control the House. If Boehner and Cantor have to depend on Pelosi to deliver the votes, they really are the worst leadership in House history. Their job is simple. All Boehner and Cantor have to do is get members of their own party to support their legislation. That’s it.
Since majority rules in the House, they shouldn’t need Democratic votes for anything. Boehner and Cantor are not only unprofessional. They are also completely inept, incompetent, and intolerably bad at their jobs. Rep. Pelosi was right to call them out, because what they tried to pull today was some low grade BS. John Boehner and Eric Cantor have no excuse for their repeated failures.
The Republican leadership has made the House a completely irrelevant black hole where the legislative process goes to die.
John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and the circus on the Republican side of the House are the one and only reason why our government continues to let us down. The Republican children need to be sent to their rooms, because the House is in desperate need of adult leadership.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
