Pelosi changes tune

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) changed her tune on Friday, giving a floor speech in support of the financial bailout package that was striking in its lack of partisanship.

Pelosi hailed a bill she said was addressing real financial hardships faced by “Mr. and Mrs. Jones” on Main Street. In approving the bill, she said lawmakers would be helping their constituents and neighbors.

{mosads}“While the focus has been on the Dow Jones and Wall Street, we have dealt with the real Mr. and Mrs. Jones of Main Street,” Pelosi said.

“It's an important vote, it's a difficult vote, but it is a vote we must win for the American people,” Pelosi said.

She noted the bill had been improved from the earlier version rejected by the
House, and she credited bipartisan negotiators in the House for winning concessions from the White House.

Pelosi’s speech on Monday, minutes before the House rejected a similar bill in a 205-228 vote, was much more critical of the Bush administration.

She said the administration’s economic policies built on “budgetary recklessness” and “an anything goes mentality.” That speech also emphasized Democratic efforts to improve the package.

The Dow Jones Industrial average plunged by 778 points that day, partly as a reaction to the House vote, and Republicans delivered fewer votes for that package than expected. Some GOP leaders, along with aides to GOP presidential candidate John McCain, blamed Pelosi’s speech for turning away some potential GOP votes.

Several rank and file Republicans opposed to the bill dismissed the charges from their leaders, and said they simply opposed the bill. GOP leaders backed away from the charges later in the week.

On Friday, Pelosi also emphasized the need for Congress to turn away from deficit spending. “No new deficit spending must be our mantra,” she said.

She emphasized that several congressional committees will hold hearing to examine how the crisis started, and she said Congress must look into “unsavory lending practices.”

The House passed the pill Friday by a large margin, 263 to 171.

Meghan McNamara contributed to this story.