By: Meredith Shiner
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her two top debt negotiators are paying a visit to Wall Street Monday to make the Democratic case for raising the debt ceiling.
Pelosi, Budget Committee ranking member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD.) and Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) are meeting with members of the Partnership for New York City at the Regency Hotel. Event hosts include Loews CEO Jim Tisch and Silver Lake CEO Glenn Hutchins.
The New York trip will fuel a full-day media blitz. Clyburn kicked off the day on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and Pelosi will appear on CNBC and Bloomberg television this afternoon.
The trip coincides with the day the federal government is expected to hit its debt limit. The Treasury is taking measures to ensure the United States does not default.
Last week Speaker John Boehner gave a speech to a Wall Street crowd that set down markers for what House Republicans want as part of a debt ceiling deal.
Van Hollen and Clyburn serve on a bipartisan, bicameral group working with Vice President Joe Biden to find a debt reducing plan that can carry a vote to raise the debt ceiling. Republicans and Democrats are calling for cuts to federal spending, but the parties disagree on how those savings should be achieved.
Democrats would like to see the Bush-era taxcuts expire, which Republicans oppose. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week he would only vote for a plan that includes entitlement reform to programs like Medicaid and Medicare.
The House is on recess this week and staff for the negotiators are going to continue to meet in the members absence.
Politico: Pelosi visits Wall Street
May 16, 2011
