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Pelosi: '2017 Was a Very Bad Year for the American People'

January 30, 2018

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) on Tuesday gave Republicans a failing grade for 2017, saying it was a "very bad year for the American people."

In a "NowThis Politics" Facebook video released hours ahead of President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, Pelosi argued against many of his expected talking points.

"When the president comes to make the State of the Union address, he will try to characterize his initiatives as something positive," Pelosi said. "But 2017 was a very bad year for the American people because of the failure on the part of the Republicans in Congress to get the job done."

"They have failed. I give them an F," Pelosi added.

Pelosi said events of the past year that Trump will tout as accomplishments of his administration and the Republican Party are really just dressed up failures.

"The Republican tax scam has trouble in store for America's families," Pelosi said, claiming middle-class Americans will actually pay more in taxes with the Republican tax overhaul, which Trump signed into law in December.

Several analyses have found that most middle-class families will received a tax break in 2018, rather than an increase.

Pelosi then gave Trump a failing grade because, as president, "he had more opportunities" to get things done.

"I think he'll take credit for things that didn't happen or things that happened that he had nothing to do with," Pelosi said. "I expect that he will misrepresent the facts when it comes to infrastructure, immigration, intelligence, you name it."

Trump is set to deliver his first formal State of the Union address at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. White House officials have said the president will try to reach across the political aisle with his speech and unify the country. He is expected to tout economic growth of the past year and the GOP tax reform law, discuss his immigration policy, and highlight a national security policy of "peace through strength."