Pelosi: now we don’t have to ‘explain process’

Sen. Arlen Specter’s decision to switch parties will make it easier for Democrats to move forward with their agenda, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday.

Specter’s switch will give Democrats 60 caucus members in the Senate (assuming Al Franken wins his legal battle in Minnesota). That is enough votes to end debate on a bill and overcome Republican filibusters.

“Very exciting, very exciting for the American people, because now we can get things done without explaining process,” Pelosi told CNN’s Candy Crowley.

Specter has said that he will not be that “automatic 60th vote.”

Pelosi added that Specter’s decision should prompt some reflection on the part of Republicans.

“You know what, they’re going to have to do their own self-analysis,” she said, adding that Democrats had worked harder to be bipartisan. “Hopefully now [Republicans] will also extend the hand of friendship so they can work together in bipartisan way.”

Pelosi also defended her claim that she was never informed that waterboarding would be used on suspected terrorists. She added that her Republican critics might be revealing classified information by revealing more specifics from the interrogation briefings.

“[F]or some reason the Republicans, while I am barred from talking about what goes on in meetings and I could be charged for revealing classified information, they seem to feel at liberty to talk about everything that went on at every meeting as they saw it,” Pelosi said.

The Speaker indicated that she won’t push for an independent “Truth Commission” to investigate Bush-era interrogation policies, instead ceding to President Obama’s desire to leave the matter co Congressional committees.

“It’s pretty clear–the president has been pretty clear that he doesn’t want any Truth Commission on Torture and so has Harry Reid,” she said, “so the attention to that will probably be done in a more regular order way by the committees in the House and in the Senate.” Pelosi added that she would personally prefer a commission.