Nancy Pelosi, former House Speaker and now minority leader, makes it clear what she thinks of Newt Gingrich's prospects for becoming president: Not going to happen, she told CNN's John King.

Here's the transcript:

KING:  Because of your history with Speaker Gingrich, what goes through your mind when you think about the possibility, which is more real today than it was a week or a month ago, that he would be the Republican nominee and that you could come back here next January or next February with a President Gingrich?

PELOSI:  Let me just say this.  That will never happen. 

KING:  Why? 

PELOSI:  He's not going to be president of the United States.  This is -- that's not going to happen.  Let me just make my prediction and stand by it.  It isn't going to happen. 

KING:  Why are you so sure? 

PELOSI:  There's something I know.  The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him, that's the prerogative.  I don't even think that's going to happen. 

So House Speaker John Boehner has named Republicans to a conference, or negotiating committee, to seek a compromise on the Social Security payroll tax plan. What about the Democrats?

They won't play the Charlie Brown role, says their House of Representatives leader.

"Are you not in some ways to blame for the stalemate by not naming your conferees?" Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was asked at a Tuesday news conference.

"No," she said. "It is not a question of blame for stalemate. It is a question of there is a bill that has passed the House and Senate that was designed to pass. The Republicans have put forth a path that is designed to fail. This bill that the Republicans passed in the House was not even brought up in the Senate. The Republicans in the Senate objected to it being brought up because they said they knew it would fail. And the bill that is in the House was not brought up by the House Republicans because, the Senate bill, because they knew it would pass.

"He is not Lucy. I'm not Charlie Brown. We are not falling for that football stunt again. Senator Mitch McConnell fell for it, but we are not falling for it. This is not about getting a bill passed. This is about not getting a bill passed."

The Senate passed a bipartisan compromise Saturday; the House, in a largely party-line vote, rejected it.

"Make no mistake," Pelosi said, "the fact is a clear one, if we do not have a payroll tax cut, it is because the Republicans in the House of Representatives have chosen to paint themselves in a different place than the Republicans in the country and the Republicans in the United States Senate. They are clearly isolating themselves.

" And I will not play Charlie Brown to their Lucy. They have pulled this football every single time. We are not going to let them mislead the American people."

Congressional Democrats, and the White House, Sunday railed against House of Representatives Republican leaders for threatening to undo the compromise tax plan that passed the Senate Saturday.

The plan would extend several expiring provisions for two months, including a 2 percentage point cut in the employee Social Security tax.

So, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Republicans should stop complaining--and, she said, stop listening to the Tea Party movement, the conservative grassroots movement that is demanding more fiscally responsible government.

"The Republican Tea Party's tax increase will hurt the middle class and hinder the economic recovery. And they know it," Pelosi said. "The bipartisan agreement successfully negotiated by Leader Reid and Leader McConnell and passed by the Senate with 89 bipartisan votes, took us to a place where we could continue the debate on behalf of the middle class, while ensuring that working families will not see their taxes increase on January 1.

“By holding up this bipartisan compromise, Tea Party House Republicans are walking away once again, showing their extremism and clearly demonstrating that they never intended to give the middle class a tax cut."

She called on House Speaker John Boehner to "bring the Senate-passed bipartisan bill to the floor immediately. The only thing standing in the way of a middle class tax cut is Tea Party Republicans in the House with their latest made-up crisis just days before Christmas.”

house of Representatives Republicans are trying to craft a package that will extend the Social Security payroll tax cut, stave off a cut in Medicare payments to doctors and extend certain jobless benefits.

But a Friday meeting found wariness among many GOP conservatives. Does that mean Republican leaders will need Democratic help in passing those measures? What does that mean, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was asked at a Friday afternoon news conference.

"Well, let me just say, I am not an expert on disarray on the Republican caucus.  But I do know that the Democrats put the heat on passing the payroll tax cut, and that disarray may be a result of them feeling the heat," she said.

The big stumbling block is how, or even whether, to pay for the extensions. "We are always willing to talk about some offsets when it comes to this," Pelosi said.

She added "we are always open to hear what they have to say.  So far, we haven’t heard anything that even sounds like a serious attempt at a bipartisan compromise." 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is considered to have excellent taste in clothing and appearance. Rep. Barney Frank, who announced last week he will retire from the House of Representatives, less so.

So in recalling Thursday some memories of the colorful Frank--as well as the gruff former Rep. David Obey, Pelosi offered reporters this anecdote:

"I was now the new Ranking Member (top Democrat) on Foreign Ops (House foreign operations panel). Now, when I was outside the Congress, you know, carrying pickets, Russians, Soviets out of Afghanistan, going to Central America, end the war. To me the most important place in the world was the Foreign Ops Committee of the House.

"They could stop the funding of all these things or make policy—not policy, but statements that related to our national security and human rights throughout the world. So to be the Ranking Member on Foreign Ops—never—it was one of those things I never expected, but this, that, and that and that and, you know, that around here, there I was, and when I came to Congress, I said does anybody know anybody on Foreign Ops because I want to talk to that person. Now I am the Ranking.

"So I go to make my first bill on the floor, managing the bill. I wasn't the Chairman, but we worked very closely together. Our Chairman, Sonny Callahan from Alabama, was just wonderful. We worked very closely together, but we had some differences, one of them being international family planning. Here we go again.

"Anyway, so I come to the floor, I have on a suit that I hadn't worn before and now mind you, Dave Obey had been the Chairman of that committee for, like, 13 years. He knew every semicolon, dot, everything in the bill. So he is the Chairman of the committee—no…the Ranking on the committee. It is his baby. You know, he thinks of this as his bill.

"I go to the floor, the first person I ran into is Barney Frank. Barney Frank, he says, 'That suit, give it away, give it away. Don't wear that suit anymore.'

"So I do the bill. I get everything accomplished that I set out to do. I was so proud. David is sitting there where David sits there and David says to me, 'You did what you came to do, you got the job done, but you could have been more diplomatic.'

"So I said this is really my day. I'm getting fashion advice from Barney Frank and diplomacy advice from Dave Obey. Can you imagine? Can you imagine?"

Democrats are making it clear they think the Supreme Court will uphold the 2010 health care law.

The Supreme Court agreed  Monday to hear arguments about the law's constitutionality, and Republicans said they were optimistic it would be overturned.

Not House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

"Today’s announcement places the Affordable Care Act before the highest court in our country.  We are confident that the Supreme Court will find the law constitutional and Americans will benefit from lower health care costs and greater access to high-quality medical care," she said in a statement.

“Millions of our nation’s families, seniors, young adults, and workers are already benefiting from the law.  Seniors are receiving discounts on prescription drugs and free preventive services.  Young people are gaining insurance by staying on their parents’ plans.  And children with pre-existing conditions are now protected from discrimination.”

 Ron Paul, who finished a strong second in a straw poll Saturday of Iowa Republicans, launched a new web ad Tuesday linking three of his rivals for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination to Democrats such as President Barack Obama, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

The ad says that Paul, a Republican U.S. representative from Texas, stands apart from

"Smooth talking politicians," while pictures appear of Obama and GOP presidential candidates Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.

It goes on to lament the politics of "he said, she said," while pictures appear of Pelosi, Reid, and Republican candidate Michele Bachmann.

Bachmann narrowly edged out Paul in the straw poll.

"One man has stood apart," the ad says of Paul. "Voting against every tax increase, every unbalanced budget, every time."

House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi don't agree on much -- but they have agreed to "conclude" the House page program -- putting an end to the 200-year-old program in which blue jacketed young people have learned the ins and outs of the federal government.

The pair cited "advances in technology" that have reduced the need for services traditionally done by pages, as well as the cost of the program for ending it. They said an independent review found that pages who once delivered documents are now "rarely called upon." Nor do they deliver phone messages to lawmakers,who now carry Blackberries and cell phones.

The annual cost to run the program exceeds $5 million, not including costs associated with the Page dormitory and school.

The pair directed the House Historian to prepare an official history of the House Page Program as a tribute to the many Pages, Members of Congress and congressional staff who have contributed to the program.

After a testy night of fingerpointing, congressional leaders met for just under an hour this morning with President Barack Obama and vice president Joe Biden. No word yet on the next steps -- Obama said he expected leaders to present him with a plan to avoid default after talks between the WHite House and House Speaker John Boehner collapsed.

Despite the weekend casual look -- the men in blazers, no ties -- the mood looked grim from the pool video shot at the beginning of the confab.

From the White House pool report: "Strained body language suggested a school principal's office with a handful of sullen suspects sitting grimly downcast as the boss says: 'OK, we're going to sit here all day until I find out who shot that spitball.' "

The sitting arrangement has the president flanked by House Speaker John Boehner on his right, and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid to his left. Across the table, facing the Rose Garden: Biden, flanked by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on his left and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to his right.

Congressional leaders are due back at the White House today on the orders of a visibly steamed President Barack Obama who says he wants a solution to raising the nation's debt ceiling after talks to strike a deal with House Speaker John Boehner broke down.

"We have run out of time," Obama said last night. "And they are going to have to explain to me how it is that we are going to avoid default. And they can come up with any plans that they want and bring them up here and we will work on them.

"I expect them to have an answer in terms of how they intend to get this thing done over the course of the next week," Obama said. "The American people expect action."

The meeting with the president, vice president, Boehner, Majority Leader Harry Reid, Republican leader Mitch McConnell and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is scheduled for 11.

In his weekly radio address today, Obama continues to push for a package that reduces the deficit by cutting spending and increasing taxes on the wealthiest. White House officials said last night that they were close to reaching a deal with Boehner -- with just three sticking points. But Boehner accused the White House of moving the goal posts.

And he added, the White House "refused to get serious about cutting spending, and making the tough choices that are facing our country on entitlement reform. Listen, that’s the bottom line."

"This debate boils down to a simple choice," Obama says in his address. "We can come together for the good of the country and reach a compromise; we can strengthen our economy and leave for our children a more secure future. Or we can issue insults and demands and ultimatums at each another, withdraw to our partisan corners, and achieve nothing. Well, we know the right thing to do. And we know what the American people expect us to do."