In , Pelosi was selected to be the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, making her the first woman in history earn the honor. Four years later, she again broke new ground for women in U. After the Democrats won majorities in both the House and the Senate in the midterm elections, Pelosi was chosen to become the first woman to take the post of speaker of the House. As the leader of the Democratic Party in the House under a Republican president, Pelosi was sometimes a divisive figure.
A vocal critic of President George W. Bush 's stance on the war in Iraq, she advocated for the withdrawal of troops from the region. Pelosi found herself at the center of a controversy in when the CIA asserted that she had been made aware of its use of waterboarding of terrorism suspects—a technique that Pelosi had vocally opposed.
Pelosi denied the CIA's claims. Pelosi lobbied for the development of better-paying jobs, access to college education and affordable health care for all, and revised energy policy that focused on cleaner, more efficient domestic alternatives. After the election of Barack Obama in , Pelosi was in a position to work with a president of the same party.
She was instrumental in pushing for the health care reform legislation that became the Affordable Care Act Obamacare in , a position that earned her more criticism from the GOP.
Pelosi remained House speaker until November , when Republicans gained control of the House and elected John Boehner to the role, relegating Pelosi to minority leader. As the House's top Democrat, Pelosi endured criticism for her party's losses and challenges to her leadership.
Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan sought to replace her as minority leader in but was unsuccessful. On February 7, , Pelosi delivered a marathon speech on the House floor to protest legislation that lacked protection for "Dreamers," the children of undocumented immigrants. Taking advantage of the "magic-minute rule," which allows House leaders to talk for as long as they want, Pelosi read testimonies from Dreamers and recited Bible passages, in all standing for some eight hours and seven minutes, a House record dating back to at least The stalemate turned into a contentious day government shutdown, with the speaker drawing most of the president's ire for her control over congressional funding.
However, shortly after Pelosi effectively canceled the traditional State of the Union address, scheduled for January 29, President Trump agreed to temporarily reopen the government. Pelosi countered by scheduling a House vote on legislation to end the national emergency, ratcheting up the pressure on Senate Republicans to take a stand on the issue.
The gambit paid off, as the Republican-controlled Senate also voted to overturn the national emergency, forcing Trump to issue the first veto of his presidency.
The speaker found herself increasingly at odds with the progressive wing of her party, in particular, a group of four freshmen congresswomen — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna S. They're four people and that's how many votes they got. Pelosi and the Squad soon reunited in their opposition to Trump, after the president unleashed a Twitter diatribe in which he said the four congresswomen of color should "go back" to their countries. As Speaker, Pelosi has made the climate crisis her flagship issue, enacting comprehensive energy legislation in that raised vehicle fuel efficiency standards for the first time in 32 years and making an historic commitment to American home grown biofuels.
In , under her leadership, the House passed the landmark American Clean Energy and Security Act — a comprehensive bill to create clean energy jobs, combat the climate crisis, and transition America to a clean energy economy. In San Francisco, Pelosi was the architect of legislation to create the Presidio Trust and transform the former military post into an urban national park. In continuing to push for accountability and transparency in government, under Speaker Pelosi, the House passed the toughest ethics reform legislation in the history of the Congress, including the creation of an independent ethics panel, and increased accountability and transparency in House operations, including earmark reforms.
Additional key accomplishments signed into law under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi include: an increase in the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years; the largest college aid expansion since the GI bill; a new GI education bill for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; and increased services for veterans, caregivers, and the Veterans Administration. Her early life in Little Italy formed the basis for her future ambitions.
Pelosi began to love politics and the Democratic Party, and her political aspirations grew along with those of her family. Her parents would only let her move as far away as Washington, D. While attending Trinity College in Washington D. After they married, they spent some time living in New York.
Although she had spent her entire life on the East Coast, Pelosi and her husband decided to make the move. While her father and brother had left their mark on the city of Baltimore, Pelosi was destined for something different. San Francisco would become the city where she would work her way up the political chain. Unlike many women, who were becoming increasingly career-minded, Nancy Pelosi put her career on the back burner for a time, opting instead to raise a family and volunteer for the Democratic Party at every possible opportunity.
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