Pelosi: Democrats "Have a Plan" to Regain Control of the House

Will 2012 be a good year for Democrats?

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi certainly exuded confidence about her party's prospects of regaining control of the House in November during Politico’s monthly Playbook Breakfast at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., earlier on Tuesday.

“Right now we see a path towards that victory 10 months from now,” she said.

It is unclear whether Democrats will actually pick up the 25 seats they need to regain control of the chamber. The Democratic National Committee have so far held roughly 400 events in 75 House districts during this election cycle.

“We have a plan,” stressed Pelosi. “We have the candidates and that’s a big selling point.”

Should President Barack Obama campaign against Congress?

Congress ended 2011 with a historically low 11 percent approval rating. While not specifically endorsing a Capitol Hill-specific strategy, Pelosi strongly suggested that Obama should indeed campaign against this "do-nothing Congress."

“This Congress has done such a disservice to this country,” she said.

Pelosi also blasted the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and its impact on the country's campaign finance system.

“When we win, the first order of business is to reform… the system and try to amend the Constitution to change the ridiculous notion that any and all kinds of money can weigh into a campaign,” she said in response to Politico's Mike Allen's question about the Occupy movement.

Pelosi also described last night’s Republican presidential debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., as a “contest without a winner.” She suggested evangelicals and other conservatives are actually looking towards 2016 because they realize former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is not electable against President Barack Obama.

“The so-called right wing of the Republican Party… are not supporting Romney, at least not yet, because they don’t think he’s going to win,” said Pelosi, noting Romney’s position against direct talks between the United States and the Taliban in Afghanistan and other issues are either “uninformed” or “simply wrong.” “They question what he stands for. I’m not sure he knows what he stands for, and that makes it harder.”

House Republicans Triple DOMA Defense Cost Cap

Democrats blasted House Republican leaders on Tuesday, Oct. 4, for tripling the cap on the amount of taxpayer money a private lawyer they hire to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act can receive.

Paul Clement would not have been paid more than $500,000 for defending DOMA under the original contract into which House Speaker John Boehner and other Republican leaders had entered. The cap has now been raised to $1.5 million.

“News of the increased payments to DOMA attorneys reached me today, ironically, during a Republican-chaired hearing on a Balanced Budget Amendment, in which Republicans were addressing the apparent need to cut Social Security benefits and programs for the poor,” said New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler. “Clearly, discriminating against LGBT Americans is a greater priority for them than providing for the welfare of seniors or children.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders joined LGBT rights groups that blasted the increase as hypocritical.

“There seems to be no limit to how much taxpayer money the House Republican leadership is willing to spend to keep this discriminatory law on the books,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “At a time when budgeting is the watchword in Washington, Americans will be rightly aghast at this boondoggle for right-wing lawyers.”