“None of us [in Congress] come here to
have more government than we need,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in an
interview aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
She said that rather than ask “How much government do we need?” many Republicans simply say, “We don’t need any government.”
“The anti-government ideology … is making a mess of what goes on in Congress,” Pelosi said.
She continued, blaming the threat of a
possible government shutdown on “anti-government ideologues” who
dominate the Republican Party.
“Republicans put legislation on the floor that was intended to shut down government,” she said, referring to the GOP’s most recent effort to defund Obamacare. “To them, that’s a victory because they’re anti-government ideologues.”
“They want to defund Obamacare,” Crowley said as if asking for a clarification.
“No,” Pelosi replied. “They want to shut down government.”
The California congresswoman later
said in reference to her disagreement with Republicans over the budget
that many in the GOP, “legislative arsonists” as she calls them, want to
“burn down” what Congress should “be building up in terms of
investments in education and scientific research.”
“How far away are they from what you could deal with?” Crowley asked.
“What we deal with is what we agreed
to in the Budget Control act which is a bipartisan agreement. The Budget
Control Act was one trillion 57, theirs is $988 billion,” Pelosi said.
“That makes a very big difference in
the delivery of service to the American people. So, I think it’s really
important to note that there are lots of excuses that they use.
“But for many of them, I call them
legislative arsonists. They’re there to burn down what we should be
building up in terms of investments and education and scientific
research,” she added.
She clarified that not all Republicans
want to shut down government. Still, she added, many in the GOP would
view it as a victory.
I think we can all see who the real "Wacko Bird" is.