House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday her troops will be able to sustain President Obama’s vetoes on the Keystone XL pipeline and on a bill to tweak the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, as she and her troops adapt to in the minority on both sides of the Capitol.
Mrs. Pelosi led her first press conference of the new year by listing the areas where she and her troops will back Mr. Obama on vetoes — though she also said they will look for areas to cooperate with Republicans, saying that Democrats found a way to work with President George W. Bush in his final two years in office.
A day earlier, Mrs. Pelosi led a revolt that defeated the Dodd-Frank tweaks bill, which failed despite having passed overwhelmingly just four months ago, with the support of more than 95 Democrats that previous time. On Wednesday, however, just 35 Democrats joined the GOP, and the bill failed to get the two-thirds vote needed.
Mrs. Pelosi predicted the GOP will get the bill through eventually on a majority vote, but that Mr. Obama will veto it, and House Democrats will back him.
“We will be able to sustain the president’s veto on that bill. Same thing with the Keystone pipeline,” she said.
Mr. Obama has issued two written veto threats on Keystone and on another bill designed to undo Obamacare’s definition of the workweek as 30 hours. Both of those bills are expected to clear the House this week, and to get votes in the Senate in the near future. The Dodd-Frank veto threat was made in a statement from a spokesperson.
Mrs. Pelosi said having the ability to uphold vetoes “strengthens our hand” as Democrats try to negotiate with Republicans over what happens in bills.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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