Pelosi Predicts Boehner’s Job Is Safe

'At long last he has done the right thing'

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Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi gestures after President Obama spoke on auto fuel efficiency standards on July 29, 2011, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi predicted Wednesday that her counterpart, Speaker John Boehner, will keep his gavel despite the risk that he’ll infuriate conservatives if he allows the Senate’s new debt-ceiling compromise to pass the House with the help of Democratic votes.

Asked on MSNBC if Boehner should remain the Republican leader even after a rough two weeks for the GOP during the ongoing government shutdown, Pelosi, a former Speaker herself, said: “sure.”

“He’s a decent fellow,” Pelosi said. “He has done the right thing. At long last he has done the right thing.”

She  was referring to multiple reports that Boehner will allow a vote on a Senate compromise that would end the shutdown and lift the debt limit, but is loathed by many conservatives in his caucus. Boehner’s office has yet to publicly say if he’ll allow a vote or not.

Pelosi, speaking moments after Senate leaders announced the bipartisan compromise, lamented the gridlock of recent weeks.

“It’s a really sad state of affairs that government would be shutdown not for 16 days,” she said, “that the full faith and credit of the United States would be in doubt.”