Pelosi Hits Back

But what if the recovery package fails to fix the economy? What's Plan B?
We know from economists across the spectrum that it will work to stop the downward spiral we are in, because it focuses on job creation. At $800 billion, I feel confident about the bang for the buck we'll get. It's not an ephemeral thing we're doing here, it's not a speech — it's creating jobs. What we don't know — what is uncharted — is how deep this downturn in the economy could become.

What if it turns out to be deeper than expected? What will you say to the American people a year from now, which is the timeline the Obama administration has put forward for achieving results, if we're still in a world of hurt?
We will be accountable. We will answer for this legislation one year from now, about what worked best and where more needs to be done. We won't say, "Well, that's just the economy's fault." No, we will be accountable for the decisions that we make.

The last administration didn't place much of an emphasis on accountability. Sen. Patrick Leahy called yesterday for a "truth commission" to investigate abuses of power under Bush, and Rep. John Conyers has sponsored a similar bill. Do you support such a process?
I support what Mr. Conyers is doing. I look at it from the standpoint of a separation of powers. We believe there was a politicizing of the Justice Department under President Bush, that conversations took place at the White House that supported that activity. We asked for those documents, but we did not receive them. We asked for those people to testify, but they did not come. That, for us, is a violation of the Constitution. So what we're talking about is bigger than any specific activity. We're talking about contempt of Congress — Article One, the legislative branch.

I also support what President Obama has said: "My approach is to look forward, recognizing that no one is above the law." Both of those approaches are correct. It is also correct for us, as the first branch of government, to say, "The White House, no matter who is in it, cannot violate the Constitution by not being accountable to the Congress." And we will continue to pursue our contempt-of-Congress charges against these people for what we believe has been the politicizing of the Justice Department.

But Conyers is asking for more than that. He wants subpoena power to investigate potential abuses of war powers, to force people to testify about torture and find out what was done at Guantánamo and the CIA's black sites. Do you foresee a scenario in which senior members of the Bush administration are actually prosecuted?
I think so. The American people deserve answers. Where we are now, in terms of prosecution of White House staff, is that we have charged them with contempt of Congress. We're talking about Harriet Miers, Josh Bolten and Karl Rove. The natural course of events from here is that the speaker will determine what charge we're going to pursue, because there are more than one. Under Bush, the Justice Department told the U.S. attorney not to prosecute the case. So the beat goes on — it just gets worse. We don't know what will happen, because they've delayed it a long time.