By David Espo
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Democrats have
"earned the mantle of fiscal responsibility" since taking control of
Congress in January by paying for their priorities.
"One hundred percent of the bills" have been paid
for, she told a conference of the Associated Press Managing Editors. She
estimated that 80 percent of the costs have been covered by spending reductions
elsewhere in the budget.
Pelosi, D-Calif., contrasted the Democrats' performance with
what she said was Republican abandonment of the pay-as-you-go principle while
they and President Bush shared power.
"A projected surplus of $5.6 trillion became a budget
deficit of more than $2 trillion" between the time Bush took office and
the present, she said.
As a result, she said that in 2007, "we will spend more
on interest payments on our national debt than on any other national priority
but defense. We pay in interest four times more than we spend on education and
four times what it will cost to cover 10 million children with health insurance
for five years."
House GOP leader John Boehner of
Pelosi's remarks on spending coincided with the release of a
report by the Democratic-controlled House Budget Committee saying the new
majority had enforced a pay-as-you-go rule "despite initial skepticism
that such discipline could be maintained."
The report cited spending cut offsets in a farm bill, an
increase in college aid and a recently vetoed bill to expand health insurance
to millions of lower-income children.
The claims drew a swift rebuttal from House Republicans, who
said nearly three-quarters of the Democrats' claimed savings were the result of
"gimmicks, fees or tax increases."
As an example, they said House Democrats relied on increased
fees to cover higher costs in a farm bill, then relied on some of the same
measures to pay for a portion of higher spending in energy legislation.
Much of the cost of the insurance measure is paid for by an
increase in the tobacco tax.
In her appearance before the editors, Pelosi said Democrats
will "never stop working to end the war" in
"The choice is clear: responsible redeployment of our
troops out of
The debate about spending is a perennial one. The
Democratic-controlled Congress appears to be on a collision course with Bush
and his Republican allies over the cost of routine spending bills needed to
fund the government for the budget year that began Oct. 1.
Bush has issued veto threats against most of the 12
measures, saying they exceed his own budget by a combined $22 billion.
Democrats counter that most of the additional money would be
used to restore unrealistic cuts sought by the administration to programs such
as law enforcement, education and health research.
Pelosi has enforced pay-as-you-go discipline only on
legislation affecting mandatory federal programs such as college student loans
and children's health and not on the annual spending bills.
