Nancy Pelosi: 'It's a False Argument to Say We Have a Spending Problem'

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelsoi (D-CA) sat down for an exclusive interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. Democrats and Republicans are currently sparring over how to deal with sequestration – the $85 billion dollars in automatic spending cuts due to kick in on March 1st. Republicans believe it needs to be avoided through other spending cuts, not tax hikes.

Pelosi told Wallace that reaching sequestration is out of the question. “It is almost a false argument to say we have a spending problem. We have a budget deficit problem that we have to address.”

She said more revenue and more cuts can be accomplished through a “big, balanced, bold proposal.”

The U.S. needs to invest in education and scientific research, Pelosi argued. Instead of lowering Pell Grants, she called for eliminating the subsidies for big oil. “We need growth with jobs.”

Wallace pointed out that the total debt has increased $5 trillion dollars since President Obama came into office.

Pelosi said, “The fact is a lot of the spending increases came during the Bush administration. Two unpaid for wars that we got ourselves engaged in, prescription drug plan that added enormous amounts to our spending, and tax cuts for the high-end that did not create jobs and create revenue coming up.”