In a rare break from President Obama, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted the White House on Thursday for putting its weight behind the $1.1 trillion government funding package.
In a speech decrying the “cromnibus” on the House floor, Pelosi, the minority leader, noted that Republican defections have given the Democrats significant leverage in the debate and wondered why the White House wouldn’t use that power to fight the conservative policy riders that have sparked the Democrats’ outcry.
{mosads}“I’m enormously disappointed that the White House feels that the only way they can get a bill is to go along with this,” Pelosi said. “And that would be the only reason they would sign such a bill that would weaken ‘a critical component of financial system reform aimed at reducing taxpayer risk.’ Those are the words in the administration’s statement.”
Liberal Democrats are up in arms over two GOP amendments to the sweeping year-end spending bill. The first would undo parts of the Democrats’ 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law; the second would allow wealthy donors to give a great deal more money to political parties.
Pelosi and the Democrats have panned those inclusions, arguing that, not only are they bad policies, but they have no business in a government spending bill.
Obama disagrees. In a statement issued Thursday, the White House said it would back the spending package despite reservations over the controversial provisions.
The White House was quick to downplay the divisions with Pelosi.
“The president’s respect and affection for Leader Pelosi are no secret,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday. “That said, it’s clear that we have a difference of opinion here.”