“We’re not doing short-term action, because if we do short-term action, they’re not going to do anything else,” she said of Republicans Friday afternoon during an interview in her office, after negotiators blew past their own deadline without a deal. “That’s it — like a sucker punch, you know — ‘Let us just do this little bit,’ and then you know what? We’ll never see them again.”
Instead, Ms. Pelosi is pushing for a sweeping package that includes billions of dollars for state and local governments and schools, food and rental assistance, and additional aid for election security and the Postal Service.
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“Up and until now, she has rationally assumed there was some self-interest on the part of Trump that would lead to a deal,” said former Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, who joined Ms. Pelosi that day at the White House in 2008. “If, in fact, that turns out not to be the case, you have a whole new ballgame to think about.”
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“This president is the biggest failure in our history,” she said on Friday. “I can’t think of anybody worse.”
He appears to return the sentiment, referring again to Ms. Pelosi this week as “Crazy Nancy.”
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Ms. Pelosi said she also questioned the overall approach of the administration, comparing their negotiating tactics to “Sophie’s Choice,” a film in which a mother must choose which of her children to send to their death.
on Twitter: "Many of us pleaded with Democratic leaders in Congress this spring to ensure all our big asks got included in the stimulus bill. “Next time,” they said. We knew there wouldn’t be a next time. And here we are." / Twitter
