Moments after telling reporters that the country owes “so much” to the troops who have wallowed for most of the decade in Afghanistan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) today squarely distanced herself from a proposed tax— sponsored by Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) — to cover the costs of that conflict. “I am not in support of the proposal of Mr. Obey,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi went on to imply that the there might be more support for a funding mechanism that originates in the White House. “When the President makes a request, we will make a judgment about what support it has,” she said, “and some of that will relate to how it affects the deficit.”
She then attacked Republicans for failing to cover the costs of war since 2001. “The Bush Administration has run up trillions of dollars in war costs,” Pelosi said. “Not many people ever ask how it is going to be paid for on the Republican side.”
That may be true, but the Republican side also doesn’t control both chambers of Congress and the White House at the moment. After all, wasn’t it the Democrats who were swept into power in 2006 and 2008 on a platform of running the government more responsibly than the Republicans?