Pelosi Sounds Bipartisan Tone

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), accused Monday by House Republicans of giving a partisan speech, sounded a less partisan tone in her floor address Friday.

“In a bipartisan way, we rejected that proposal,” Pelosi said.

She then listed the ways in which she thought the bill has been improved since it was first proposed. She noted provisions allowing the government to try to recoup any losses in five years and limits on executive compensation.

She also reached out to centrist Blue Dog Democrats, who have railed against deficit spending and said they were disappointed in tax incentives included in the package that don’t come with offsets.

“No new deficit spending must be our mantra,” she said.

On Monday, after the bailout bill failed, House Republicans said in a news conference that as many as a dozen Republicans were ready to vote for the measure until Pelosi gave her speech.