Pelosi Attacks GOP 'Anti-Government Ideologues,' Claims Anti-Obamacare Republicans Are 'Legislative Arsonists

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi attacked Republicans pushing to defund Obamacare for being “legislative arsonists” and claimed their “anti-government ideology” is “making a mess” on Capitol Hill.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appeared on CNN's "State of the Union." (Image source: CNN)

“None of us [in Congress] come here to have more government than we need,” Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in an interview aired Sunday on CNN’s "State of the Union."

She said that rather than ask “How much government do we need?” many Republicans simply say, “We don’t need any government.”

“The anti-government ideology … is making a mess of what goes on in Congress,” Pelosi said.

She continued, blaming the threat of a possible government shutdown on “anti-government ideologues” who dominate the Republican Party.

“Republicans put legislation on the floor that was intended to shut down government,” she said, referring to the GOP’s most recent effort to defund Obamacare. “To them, that’s a victory because they’re anti-government ideologues.”

“They want to defund Obamacare,” Crowley said as if asking for a clarification.

“No,” Pelosi replied. “They want to shut down government.”

The California congresswoman later said in reference to her disagreement with Republicans over the budget that many in the GOP, “legislative arsonists” as she calls them, want to “burn down” what Congress should “be building up in terms of investments in education and scientific research.”

"How far away are they from what you could deal with?" Crowley asked.

"What we deal with is what we agreed to in the Budget Control act which is a bipartisan agreement. The Budget Control Act was one trillion 57, theirs is $988 billion," Pelosi said.

"That makes a very big difference in the delivery of service to the American people. So, I think it's really important to note that there are lots of excuses that they use.

"But for many of them, I call them legislative arsonists. They're there to burn down what we should be building up in terms of investments and education and scientific research," she added.

She clarified that not all Republicans want to shut down government. Still, she added, many in the GOP would view it as a victory:

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(H/T: Weasel Zippers). Featured image screen grab.

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