Pelosi: GOP May Not Act On Debt Until Markets Plummet

The Hill reports:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned Thursday that it might require financial markets to plummet before Republican leaders agree to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

"I don't need to see markets drop 400 points, but Republicans may need to see markets drop 400 points," Pelosi said during a press conference at the Capitol.

Pelosi noted that it took another stock-market free-fall, in late 2008, to convince House lawmakers to rally behind the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which President George W. Bush had proposed to stabilize a teetering Wall Street.

When the House shot down the initial TARP bill, the Dow fell 777 points. Four days later, the House passed the bill, with 57 members switching their "nays" to "yeahs."