Flashback — Pelosi on Tax Cut Bill: ‘Like Death ... This Is Armageddon’

Today Walmart announced it would be raising its minimum wage to $11, a move it says is possible after the Republican tax cut bill.

In Washington, D.C., the primary energy provider, Pepco, announced it was cutting residents' power bills, also owing to the tax cut bill.

And that's just a start. AT&T announced it was giving 200,000 employees bonuses. Aflac, Associated Bank, Bank of America, Bank of Hawaii, BB&T, Boeing, Central Pacific Bank, Comcast, CVS, Delaware Supermarkets, FedEx, PNC Bank, Sinclair Broadcasting, Southwest Airlines, SunTrust, Wells Fargo, and Western Alliance also all announced bonuses, raises, and new hires. 

But just last month, the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, warned that the Republicans' tax cut bill would bring about the end of the world. 

The California congresswoman was asked by a reporter about Democrats' "apocalyptic" rhetoric about the GOP bill, and whether it's warranted. 

"Isn't really what's going on is that many people are getting a very modest tax cut, and some people are getting a tax increase, while a lot of this is also going to business," a reporter asked, "but it's not the end of the world?"

"No," Pelosi quickly countered, "it is the end of the world."

"The debate on health care is like death," Pelosi continued. "This is Armageddon."

Pelosi went on, charging that Republicans only join Congress to give tax cuts to the rich: "That's their purpose in coming to Congress."

"It's in their DNA to give tax cuts to the rich," she said.

Shortly after her comments, she returned to the microphone after apparently being warned about likening a tax cut bill to the end of the world. She said God will ultimately protect America from Republican tax cuts.

"The only reason it isn't the end of the world is because America is a great country," she said. "And the greatness of America, and the fact that God is always with us, is what gives us hope. But it is very important for the American people to know how adversely they will be, personally, hurt by all of this."

Here's a transcript of her comments:

No, it is the end of the world. The debate on health care is like death. This is Armageddon.

This is a very big deal. Because you know why? There's really a very hard way to come back from this. They take us further, more deeply into debt. What can you do but raise taxes? They content that their gift to corporate America -- a trillion and a half dollars -- will be paid for by the growth it creates. And even their own people say, 'Nonsense, not true, not true.' So let's be truthful with the American people about that. They throw a few crumbs to the middle class, what they give with one hand they take away a bounty from another. 

And why? Because it's in their DNA to give tax cuts to the rich. That's their purpose in coming to Congress."

The only reason it isn't the end of the world is because America is a great country. And the greatness of America, and the fact that God is always with us, is what gives us hope. But it is very important for the American people to know how adversely they will be, personally, hurt by all of this.