Democrat on Democrat: Pelosi called out for her wealth

Rep. Laura Richardson is angry Nancy Pelosi agreed to a GOP proposal to freeze Congress' pay.

Class warfare erupted in a House Democratic Caucus meeting Tuesday, as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s personal fortune was thrown in her face by a junior colleague angry about a proposal to freeze the pay of members of Congress.

Rep. Laura Richardson attacked Pelosi for endorsing the GOP-written pay freeze during a Tuesday caucus discussion of a possible Democratic amendment to the payroll tax cut, according to several sources who were in the room at the time. Both women are California Democrats.

The sources disagreed on the exact wording of the unusually direct shot at the party leader, but Richardson’s sentiment was clear: Pelosi, who is worth at least $40 million, doesn’t need the money as much as some of her colleagues, and she should have consulted with them before deciding to protect the GOP-written pay freeze.

It was “something like ‘Well I am sorry, Madam Leader, but some of us are not in the financial situation you are in,’” said one source.

Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) jumped in to contend that members should be willing to take a pay freeze as part of a bill that is blocking raises for other federal civilian workers.
But sources said it was one of the most tense intra-party changes in recent memory.

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