Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., thinks the House needs to manage its time more efficiently.
With deadlines looming for super committee recommendations on cutting at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years, Pelosi said there’s no reason those deadlines can't be met.
“We have to use our time well,” she said. “I don’t know what other facts they need, what more information they need to understand that it needs to be big, bold, and balanced.”
Pelosi said she doesn’t believe the committee “even needs to go" all the way to the Nov. 23 deadline.
And as far as she’s concerned, it’s not just the super committee that isn’t using it’s time as wisely as it could. The new calendar for 2012 released on Thursday by Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., only has the House scheduled to be in session for six days in January, which Pelosi says is unacceptable.
“The American people deserve better than following a holiday break and on top of that only having six days in Congress,” she said. “The world is not waiting; the world is watching.”
Cantor's office immediately fired back.
"The House next year will be in session a total of 109 days, compared with 104 days in 2008, during the second session of the 110th Congress, when Democrats controlled the chamber and during the last presidential election year," Cantor spokesman Brian Patrick pointed out.
Patrick said for purposes of this comparison, Cantor's office did not count days when Congress was in a pro-forma session.
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