Pelosi Admits She Wasted Months Playing Politics On COVID Relief

Americans Have Waited Months For More COVID Relief While Speaker Pelosi Refused To Compromise, Yet Now She Says ‘Don’t Characterize What We Did Before As A Mistake’ Because It ‘Was Not A Mistake’

Q: “Was the mistake not to accept half a loaf months ago, when you said, ‘I’m not going to accept half a loaf,’ but now—”
HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): “I’m going tell you something. Don’t characterize what we did before as a mistake... That was not a mistake.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 12/04/2020)

FLASHBACK: Pelosi Insisted For Weeks That Nothing Was Better Than Something

MSNBC’s ANDREA MITCHELL: “Well, is it better to go forward with some...”
SPEAKER PELOSI: “No, it isn’t. Now, let me -- thank you so much for that question, because I hear it a lot. And, clearly, it springs from all the good intentions we all have to help people as soon as we can. … So, don’t be misled by thinking, oh, well, a little bit is better than nothing. No, it isn’t.” (MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” 9/09/2020)

BLOOMBERG’s DAVID WESTIN: “Isn’t something better than nothing?”
SPEAKER PELOSI: “No.” (Bloomberg, 9/18/2020)

SPEAKER PELOSI: “And so, when people say, as some of you do, ‘Isn’t something better than nothing?’ No.” (Bloomberg, 10/01/2020)

SPEAKER PELOSI: “And some of you have asked, isn’t something better than nothing? No.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 10/01/2020)

SPEAKER PELOSI: “But again, we’re not just taking the path of least resistance because everybody says, ‘Just take something, something is better than nothing.’ No…” (MSNBC, 10/02/2020)

Even After Democrats Lost House Seats In The Election, Pelosi Declared, ‘We Are At The Same Place Even More So’

Q: “Is it fair to say your position on the coronavirus has not changed since where it was before the election? Is that a fair characterization? …”
HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): “It has been our position all along … So yeah, no we are at the same place even more so, even more so with pandemic because look at these numbers. Look at these numbers.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 11/12/2020)

Q: “On the stimulus question, does the election change your strategy at all? Republicans are out today saying, ‘There’s a good jobs numbers; let’s do a smaller package now.’ Does that appeal to you at all with the fact that Biden will be here next year?”
SPEAKER PELOSI: “No, no, it doesn’t appeal to me at all … So, no, that is – that isn’t anything that they – that we should even be looking at. It wasn’t the right thing to do before.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 11/06/2020)

Even More Incredibly, Speaker Pelosi Now Says Of A Relief Package That Americans ‘Do Not Need A Whole Cacophony Of Other Things That Are On The Agenda That Have Nothing To Do With Meeting Their Needs’

SPEAKER PELOSI: “It is about how we address the needs of the American people. And we have to do it in a scientific way. And we have to do it in a way that recognizes people need food on the table. They need to get the rent paid. They need money in their pockets. They need their unemployment insurance to be there. They do not need a whole cacophony of other things that are on the agenda that have nothing to do with meeting their needs.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 12/04/2020)

FLASHBACK: Pelosi’s HEROES Act Was Stuffed Full Of Left-Wing Wishlist Items That ‘Have Nothing To Do With Meeting [People's] Needs’

Speaker Pelosi’s partisan bill included …

A repeal of the cap on state and local tax deductions for two years …

PAGE 228: “SEC. 20161. ELIMINATION FOR 2020 AND 2021 OF LIMITATION ON DEDUCTION OF STATE AND LOCAL TAXES.” (H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

• “House Democrats released the text Tuesday for its latest proposed Covid-19 relief measures. … Tucked away in the bill is a measure that will reinstate the so-called SALT itemized deduction for 2020 and 2021. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which went into effect in 2018, limited the amount of state and local tax deductions filers could claim on their tax returns to $10,000. … The new proposal doesn’t specify what’s supposed to happen after 2021.” (“House Democrats’ Stimulus Bill Rolls Back $10,000 SALT Cap For 2 Years,” CNBC, 5/12/2020)

Provisions permanently undermining state voter ID requirements …

PAGE 1482: “(2) ADMINISTRATION OF VOTING BY MAIL.—’’(A) PROHIBITING IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENT AS CONDITION OF OBTAINING BALLOT.—A State may not require an individual to provide any form of identification as a condition of obtaining an absentee ballot, except that nothing in this paragraph may be construed to prevent a State from requiring a signature of the individual or similar affirmation as a condition of obtaining an absentee ballot.” (H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

PAGES 1499-1500: “SEC. 325. PERMITTING USE OF SWORN WRITTEN STATEMENT TO MEET IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS. (a) USE OF STATEMENT.— (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection (c), if a State has in effect a requirement that an individual present identification as a condition of casting a ballot in an election for Federal office, the State shall permit the individual to meet the requirement— (A) in the case of an individual who desires to vote in person, by presenting the appropriate State or local election official with a sworn written statement, signed by the individual under penalty of perjury, attesting to the individual’s identity and attesting that the individual is eligible to vote in the election; or (B) in the case of an individual who desires to vote by mail, by submitting with the  ballot the statement described in subparagraph (A).” (H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

Nationwide ballot harvesting …

PAGES 1492-1493: “(2) PERMITTING VOTERS TO DESIGNATE OTHER PERSON TO RETURN BALLOT.—The State— (A) shall permit a voter to designate any person to return a voted and sealed absentee ballot to the post office, a ballot drop-off location, tribally designated building, or election office so long as the person designated to return the ballot does not receive any form of compensation based on the number of ballots that the person has returned and no individual, group, or organization provides compensation on this basis; and (B) may not put any limit on how many voted and sealed absentee ballots any designated person can return to the post office, a ballot drop off location, tribally designated building, or election office.” (H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

(H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

Diversity reports on cannabis-related businesses …

PAGE 1100: “(h) ANNUAL DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION REPORT.— The Federal banking regulators shall issue an annual report to Congress containing— (1) information and data on the availability of access to financial services for minority-owned and women-owned cannabis-related legitimate businesses…”  (H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

PAGE 1100: “(i) GAO STUDY ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION.—(1) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United States shall carry out a study on the barriers to marketplace entry, including in the licensing process, and the access to financial services for potential and existing minority-owned and women-owned cannabis-related legitimate businesses.” (H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

Provisions ensuring cannabis businesses can work with federally backed banks and insurers …

PAGES 1088-1089: “SEC. 110606. SAFE BANKING. … The purpose of this section is to increase public safety by ensuring access to financial services to cannabis-related legitimate businesses and service providers…” (H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

A new ‘soil health’ pilot program at USDA which would pay farmers to NOT farm and to plant grass on 5 million acres of productive farmland …

PAGES 745-747: “SEC. 60501. EMERGENCY SOIL HEALTH AND INCOME PROTECTION PILOT PROGRAM. … The Secretary [of Agriculture] shall establish a voluntary emergency soil health and income protection pilot program under which eligible land is enrolled through the use of contracts to assist owners and operators of eligible land to conserve and improve the soil, water, and wildlife resources of the eligible land.” (H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

• “(a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE LAND.—In this section, the term “eligible land” means cropland that—(1) is selected by the owner or operator of the land for proposed enrollment in the pilot program under this section; and (2) as determined by the Secretary, had a cropping history or was considered to be planted during each of the 3 crop years preceding enrollment…. (1) REQUIREMENTS.—A contract described in subsection (b) shall— (A) be entered into by the  Secretary, the owner of the eligible land, and (if applicable) the operator of the eligible land; and (B)  provide that, during the term of the contract— (i) the lowest practicable cost perennial conserving use cover crop for the eligible land, as determined by the applicable State conservationist after considering the advice of the applicable State technical committee, shall be planted on the eligible land … PAYMENTS.— (A)  RENTAL  RATE.—Except as provided in paragraph (4)(B)(ii), the annual rental rate for a payment under a contract described in subsection (b) shall be $70 per acre…. (d) ACREAGE LIMITATION.—Not more than 5,000,000 total acres of eligible land may be enrolled under the pilot program under this section.” (H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

And a ‘facility’ within the Federal Reserve to make ‘long-term, low-cost loans to debt collectors’ to ‘temporarily compensate’ them until consumers’ payments resume.

PAGES 1064-1065: “(4) CREDIT FACILITY.—The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall— (A) establish a facility, using amounts made available under section 4003(b)(4) of the CARES Act (15 U.S.C. 9042(b)(4)), to make long-term, low-cost loans to debt collectors to temporarily compensate such debt collectors for documented financial losses caused by forbearance of debt payments under this subsection; and (B) defer debt collectors’ required payments on such loans until after consumers’ debt payments resume.” (H.R. 6800, 116^th Congress)

Speaker Pelosi And Sen. Schumer Even Defended These Extraneous Provisions, Huffing, ‘Don’t Be A Cheap Date’

SPEAKER PELOSI: “Don’t be a cheap date.” (“Democrats, Republicans Point Fingers Over Lack of Coronavirus Aid Bill,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/14/2020)

Q: “There’s some things in your bill not directly related to COVID. Like they’re talking about cannabis or the SALT reduction. Are those things you’re willing to offer to strip out of the bill?”
PELOSI: “Well, I don’t agree with you that cannabis is not related to this. This is a therapy that has proven successful.” (Speaker Pelosi, Press Conference, 7/31/2020)

Q: “I understand you’re pushing for a repeal of the SALT caps in this--in this package. Can you tell me why that’s pertinent and…”
SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “Well, it’s not just on pushing it. There is a two-year repeal in the HEROES Bill and I believe it should stay in.” (Sen. Schumer, Press Conference, 08/04/2020)