Meltdown: Pelosi Blames Senate For Economy!

The Hill:

While trying to mend ties between her caucus and the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi turned her ire toward her Senate colleagues on Thursday, blaming Senate delays in passing the Democratic agenda for the disappointing jobs picture heading into the midterm elections.

“If we had healthcare sooner, if we had energy sooner, if we had an education bill sooner – they are all three pillars of job creation – and that would have resulted in more jobs created by now,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters Thursday at her weekly press conference.

Pelosi was defending the Democrats’ legislative efforts despite the near certainty that the party will have to campaign this fall with unemployment near double digits and millions still out of work.

While Democrats have boasted about turning job losses into gains, party leaders acknowledge that the economic recovery has not progressed fast enough, leaving Democrats vulnerable at the ballot box in November. Pelosi put the onus squarely on the protracted legislative battles that stalled the Democratic agenda for months.

She praised the $787 billion economic stimulus package, which Democrats enacted a month into President Obama’s term. Though economists credit the bill with creating jobs and preventing a steeper freefall, the public is not convinced, polls show.

“We feel confident and proud of the Recovery Act,” Pelosi said.

Democrats touted their priority legislation on health care and energy as job boosters, and the House passed them within Obama’s first year in office. But amid delays in the Senate, the legislative battle dragged on, meaning voters will see only a limited impact from the healthcare bill and perhaps no energy legislation at all.

The Senate bottleneck has heightened tensions with the House, and leaders in the lower chamber have been increasingly willing to air those complaints in public in recent months. A dispute between House Democrats and the administration boiled over this week after White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on “Meet the Press” that Democrats may lose the House in November.

In the same press conference she criticized her Senate Democratic colleagues, Pelosi on Thursday also sought to close the divide with the White House, saying the president is fully engaged in helping Democrats preserve their majority.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on Thursday that Democrats are in a “full-scale civil war.”