House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., followed by Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., and others, emerges from a closed caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. to announce that she wants to remain as the top Democrat in the House of Representatives. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., followed by Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., and others, emerges from a closed caucus meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. to announce that she wants to remain as the top Democrat in the House of Representatives. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
This Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012, photo shows the Capital building in Washington. The federal government started the 2013 budget year with a $120 billion deficit, an indication that the U.S. is on a path to its fifth straight $1 trillion-plus deficit. Another soaring deficit puts added pressure on President Barack Obama and Congress to seek a budget deal in the coming weeks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio walks from the House floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012, as the lame duck 112th Congress session began. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg)
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi's decision to serve another term in that post will probably have a big influence on efforts by President Barack Obama and Congress to reach an agreement to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.
Pelosi announced Wednesday she'll continue to lead her party in the House despite the Democrats' failure to win back the majority it lost in 2010. "We have work to do," she said. "It isn't about the gavel, although we'd like to have it."
Obama and congressional leaders of both parties have sounded conciliatory following his re-election last week, saying they'll work together toward a deficit-trimming budget deal to ward off automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts set to take effect in January.
But Obama is also insisting that any deal include higher taxes on the wealthy. Republicans oppose increases in tax rates and say any grand compromise must include spending cuts in "entitlement" benefit programs.
Pelosi has been one of the biggest defenders of entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. And she gave no ground Wednesday.
While saying "everything is on the table" in talks that Obama will convene on Friday, Pelosi also said she'll continue to resist efforts to pare back either program. "Any adjustments we make in them would be to make them stronger," she said.
If Pelosi, 72, hadn't sought the Democratic leadership post again, it probably would have gone to either Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland or Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina.
She said she didn't want to lose her place at the negotiating table with Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker John Boehner. "The thought of four men at that table" wouldn't exactly square with her longtime goal to "empower women in the workplace," she suggested.
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