House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday asserted the Democrats’ leverage in the upcoming spending fight, pledging her party would uphold a presidential veto of GOP legislation if President Obama and Democrats oppose it.
“The leverage we have springs from the presidential veto, and the presidential veto is sustainable by the unity of the House Democratic caucus and Senate Democratic caucus,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi made the statement as Democrats and Republicans are getting ready to engage in high-stakes negotiations to fund the federal government for the next fiscal year.
Pelosi said Democrats would oppose any spending bill that strips taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides abortions and healthcare for women. She said Democrats have the numbers to block any effort by the GOP to defund the organization because Obama would veto the bill.
“They are going to have to face a presidential veto, and we will sustain it,” Pelosi said.
House and Senate Democrats will huddle with President Obama at the White House today to discuss their strategy. Pelosi said Democrats want to lift mandated spending caps under the so-called sequestration.
“Sequestration is really something that has to go,” Pelosi said.
The two parties will ultimately have to cut some deal on spending, and Pelosi said she has had preliminary discussions with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, “about when we are going to speak about it.”
She added, “We are making progress.”
