Pelosi says no regrets

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., says she has no regrets about her tenure as House speaker and pledged to keep working to solve working families' problems.

"We pledge to work together with our Republican colleagues to address the challenges facing America's working families," Pelosi said Tuesday in her last news conference as House speaker. "We must solve their problems. And when the suggestions put forth are problem-solvers to the American people, the Republicans will find in the Democrats willing partners."

She said Democrats will focus on job creation and "measure every policy" to determine whether it creates jobs, strengthens the middle class and reduces the deficit.

Pelosi, who will keep her leadership role when the Democrats become the minority Wednesday, defended the healthcare reform Democrats shepherded through Congress, calling Republicans' plans to repeal the law would do "very serious violence to the national debt and deficit."

"Plain and simple, repealing healthcare reform would hurt millions of Americans," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla., a vice chairwoman of the Steering and Policy Committee. "Every minute wasted on trying to repeal healthcare reform fruitlessly is one less minute the Republicans will spend on job creation and turning this economy around. Fruitlessly trying to nick healthcare reform to death is going to take hundreds of hours of staff time, floor time, and member time.

"We cannot take our eyes off the prize of continuing our economic recovery. We are going to watch for every Republican hypocrisy and call them on it when we see it."

Democratic leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said U.S. voters sent two messages on Election Day.

The first is, "We need jobs, and we need to grow the economy," Hoyer said. "And the second message: We ... need to address the deficit and the debt."

Democrats and Republican can work together "to strengthen American business, rebuild American manufacturing and its middle-class jobs, and make the hard fiscal choices that are necessary to stave off crisis," Hoyer said. "I fear, however, unfortunately, that the rules package that the Republicans are going to be offering will make the deficit worse, not better, will explode deficits, as has been the case in years past, and are attempting to change as they did in the early 2000s this -- the PAYGO (pay-as-you-go) premise that you would pay for what you buy."

Democratic leaders said the party will oppose the planned adoption of House rules they find unpalatable. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., called the rules package "chock-full of stuff that leads to fiscal irresponsibility."

Congratulating Speaker-apparent John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the Republicans for their majority, Pelosi said, "I look forward to working with them. But that's the key: We look forward."