House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at her Friday afternoon press conference:
We must work together to create jobs. Job creation and American growth must be top priority.
Instead, in recent days, we’ve heard talk of a government shutdown. Let’s remove all doubt. We all have a responsibility to make sure that there is no government shutdown. The last thing the American people need is for congressional Republicans — or Democrats — to draw a line in the sand that hinders keeping the government open.
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The Republican platform of "so be it" cannot be how we proceed. It has to be let’s see how we can make it happen for the American people and it’s up to the leadership of their party to bring them together around a set of priorities to take to the negotiating table and make sure that government does not shut down.
Pelosi was responding to Thursday's threat by John Boehner to shut down the federal government if the Senate and the White House don't accept the House's spending plan. Boehner said that if the House plan is not adopted by March 4, he wouldn't be willing to support a temporary measure to keep government open while a compromise is worked out.
Boehner might think he's bluffing, but unless he sits down with Democrats to reach a compromise, he's never going to be able to get a spending bill passed out of the House, through the Senate, and to the President's desk. The teahadists on the GOP's right flank might be outraged at the prospect of compromise, but they should keep in mind that if they refuse to support a compromise, that will ultimately mean Boehner will need to look to Democrats to get enough votes to pass a workable bill.
As Pelosi pointed out during the press conference, there's ample precedent for bipartisan action to prevent things like government shutdown. For example, Boehner and Pelosi worked together to get the TARP bailouts through Congress in bipartisan fashion. The sooner Boehner realizes that's what he's going to need to do on this spending bill, the better off everybody will be. It's long past time for Republicans to sit down at the table and get a deal done.