A defiant House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed yesterday
to fight a Senate Republican economic stimulus bill that calls for a $40 billion
reduction in state funding over a House bill favored by Democrats.
Photos by Luke Thomas
By Luke Thomas
February 9, 2008
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a rare public appearance in her congressional district of San Francisco Sunday, serving the 35 millionth meal at a Tenderloin soup kitchen.
Pelosi marked the occasion to draw a parallel between the safety net provided to clients of Saint Anthony Foundation and a Democrat-supported $827 billion House economic stimulus package that aims to create as many as 4 million new jobs, “cut taxes, and stabilize the economy, especially at the state level,” Pelosi said.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, joined by California Senator Mark Leno
and Friar John of Saint Anthony Foundation, serves the 35 millionth meal
to volunteer Gigi Serafino, 12. Saint Anthony Foundation has been serving
those in need since 1950.
That safety net would include additional funding for state unemployment benefits and food stamps as well as funding for school construction, infrastructure and renewable energy investment.
While the nation’s unemployment rate has jumped to 7.6 percent, the highest in 16 years, the State of California is grappling with an unresolved $42 billion budget shortfall and a rising 9.3 percent unemployment rate with the looming prospect of unemployment insurance insolvency.
There was no discussion around bringing an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to help offset the spiraling national debt, an expense that is costing US taxpayers $6 billion to $9 billion per month.
But while State and Congressional Democrats are unified behind President Barack Obama in resolving the budget crises through supplying emergency aid to states, a competing Senate stimulus bill supported by Republican lawmakers calls for a reduction of $40 billion in State spending over the House bill favored by Democrats, a move Pelosi said will result in 600,000 fewer jobs.
She criticized Republican policies arguing they advance “prosperity for the few rather than honoring the work of the many.”
Though the Senate is expected to pass its bill Tuesday, Pelosi vowed to continue to fight for more job creation and increased aid to states.
“We won’t stop fighting no matter what the outcome of this bill is,” she said.
Pelosi lunches with Serafino and her grandfather, Winston Lee.
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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February 9, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Luke Thomas writes, “There was no discussion around bringing an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to help offset the spiraling national debt, an expense that is costing US taxpayers $6 billion to $9 billion per month.”
Right on, let’s end BOTH wars! I get the scary feeling that the Iraq withdraw is going to take a lot longer than Obama promised. Plus, people are too quiet about Afghanistan. Like Vietnam, we keep taking and re-taking the same villages. The existing government is really Taliban-lite. Keep in mind, we’ve been in Afghanistan longer than we’ve been in Iraq.