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Pelosi Slams Boehner On Energy, Economy And Rangel

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lashed back at House Minority Leader John Boeher (R-Ohio) on Friday, calling GOP attacks on the Democratic energy proposal and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) an "act of desperation."

Boehner and other GOP leaders had written to Pelosi on Tuesday, calling for Rangel to be removed from his chairmanship while the House ethics committee investigates unpaid taxes on his vacation home in the Dominican Republican, the use of several rent-controlled apartments in Harlem, and his fundraising efforts on behalf of the "Rangel Center" in New York City.

Boehner also criticized Pelosi for not calling the House back into session during August while Republicans staged a floor protest on high energy prices.

Pelosi, however, hit back hard. In her letter to Boehner, Pelosi said House GOP leaders "are in denial about the failure of the Bush-Republican Congress to grow the American economy," and said the Bush administration had the worst economic record of any presidency since Herbert Hoover.

Pelosi also said Republicans "consistently side with Big Oil companies against the U.S. taxpayers and consumers both on the House floor and during the recent recess.

The California Democrat noted that Rangel had voluntarily asked for an ethics committee probes, and, without mentioning any names, pointed out that a "number of Republican Members whose ethical behavior has been under serious question and on which you have remained silent."

Pelosi ended the letter with a call for bipartisan cooperation on energy and economic stimulus legislation.

Here's the full text of Pelosi's letter to Boeher:

"September 12, 2008

Dear Leader Boehner:

It is with great curiosity and concern that I read your letter of September 9, 2008 for the following reasons:

It is cause for concern that you and your colleagues in the Republican House Leadership are in denial about the failure of the Bush-Republican Congress to grow the American economy. The record is very clear that, with your complicity, the George W. Bush Administration now shares with the Administration of George H.W. Bush the worst record on job creation since Herbert Hoover in the 1930s.

It is curious that you would consistently side with the Big Oil companies against the U.S. taxpayers and consumers both on the House floor and during the recent recess.

It is also curious that you characterize the August District Work Period as a paid vacation. Perhaps you are projecting your own use of it as a vacation onto others who spent their time meeting with constituents to hear their views and, I would hope, to spend time with their families."
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