Pelosi Said Bush Tax Cuts Created Deficit, Not Jobs

By Jon E. Dougherty at 27 Jun 2011

(Newsroom America) -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that tax cuts passed during the Bush administration and which are still sought by Republicans now to boost employment created deficits instead of jobs.

"All this talk about tax cuts in the Bush years -- the Republicans said tax cuts will produce jobs. They didn't. They produced a deficit," Pelosi said on CNN's "State of the Union" program.

Her comments came a day before President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with Senate leaders with an eye towards restarting talks aimed at reducing the budget deficit.

Republicans who appeared on Sunday news talk programs said tax cuts were still needed to bolster employment, adding that any new taxes would only slow job growth even further.

"If you want to kill the economy, raise taxes," Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Senate Minority Whip, said during an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

Obama will attempt to restart talks after Republicans abandoned them last week, saying Democrats would have to take tax hikes off the table to proceed. The talks are being led by Vice President Joe Biden.

The talks come as lawmakers from both major parties debate raising the government's debt ceiling by at least $2 trillion from its current level of $14.2 trillion. Republican leaders have said any increase in the ceiling must come with matching budget cuts.

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, a leading GOP presidential contender, said she wouldn't support raising the debt ceiling and added that the Treasury Department wasn't likely to default on government loans.

"It isn't true that the government would default on its debt [Aug. 2] because, very simply, the treasury secretary can pay the interest on the debt first and then, from there, we have to just prioritize our spending," she said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Some Republicans also said they would support cuts to the defense budget, but only cuts that would not sacrifice the safety or mission of U.S. troops engaged overseas.

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