Pelosi spars with interviewer on stimulus check 'obstruction': 'You held out for 8 months'

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sparred with Lesley Stahl over stalled coronavirus relief and admitted the Democrats held up aid for eight months in part "because there was no respect for our heroes," during a "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday.

Stahl remarked that Pelosi, D-Calif., was not "known as a person who compromises" after Republicans called her slow-walking "despicable."

"No, I am," Pelosi responded. "I'll compromise. We wanna get the job done. I'm mischaracterized by the Republicans that way, but that's a tactic that they use. But, we know we want results for the American people."

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., holding a news conference last week. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Stahl then brought up the $900 billion coronavirus relief package that passed in December after President-elect Joe Biden had secured the election.

Pelosi said in the interview it was stalled because of Republican obstruction.

"Yours, too," Stahl responded.

"No, it wasn't obstruction. ... We held it up because there was no respect for our heroes, our state and local health care workers, police and fire, our first responders, our sanitation, transportation, food workers, our teachers, our teachers, our teachers. They would not go down that path," Pelosi said.

Pelosi defended the decision to hold up the aid package, which included $600 stimulus checks, even though Stahl pointed out members of the Democratic Party called it a mistake.

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"They may have. But it isn't — it wasn't a mistake, and I would not, and nobody expects me to, to support something that solidifies injustice in our country," Pelosi said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., blamed Pelosi and her Senate counterpart Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for the better-late-than-never aid package.

"I said back in July what the country needed was a package roughly of a trillion dollars focused on kids in school, small businesses, health care providers, and direct cash payments," McConnell said in December. "We started advocating that in July and August. The talks were unproductive, so I essentially put that bill on the floor of the Senate in both September and October. Not a single Democrat supported it. Their view was, give us everything we want or we won't give you anything."

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"It's noteworthy that at the end they finally gave us what we could have agreed to back in July," he continued. "I think what held it up was, they did not want to do anything before the presidential election. I think they felt that would disadvantage the president."

Fox News David Rutz contributed to this report.