House Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted defeat for her party Friday if Democrats embrace a far-left policy platform that is at odds with mainstream America.
Democratic California Rep. Pelosi told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in an article published Saturday that Medicare for All might be “a lovely concept,” but not a “winning message.”
U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi holds a news conference with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal to unveil a $760 billion infrastructure spending bill proposed by House Democrats at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., Jan. 29, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Pelosi was critical of the Medicare for All proposal that both Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren have campaigned on. Although Warren has indicated her universal, taxpayer-funded health care plan will run “just under $52 trillion” over a decade, Bernie Sanders has refused to put a price on his plan.
“I just say to all of our friends, you know, you want to go to the left? You want to win the election, let’s make a decision to win the election. And when you make a decision to win the election, you have to make every decision in favor of winning,” Pelosi told the paper. “We all understand what’s at stake.” (RELATED: Pelosi On Impeachment Impasse: Democrats ‘Accomplished” Showing The Public ‘The Need For Witnesses’)
“There’s plenty of progressive work that we can do in the mainstream without, um, shall we say, having the luxury of our exuberances in carving up a pie we don’t even have,” she said. (RELATED: Trump: ‘Nervous Nancy’ Pelosi Is A ‘Nasty, Vindictive, Horrible Person’)
Pelosi argued that Democrats became the House majority party after the 2018 midterms because the party stuck to policies that were relevant to average voters. She says she understands that not all Americans are as liberal as her San Francisco constituents.
“We won last time with a mainstream message.”