Conor Cruise O’Brien
Irish politician, writer, historian and academic (1917-2008)
Nancy Pelosi, a prominent American politician, has served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives twice, making her the first woman to hold this position. She has played a crucial role in the Democratic Party’s leadership and has been involved in the passage of several landmark bills during her tenure.
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Thomas L. J. D'Alesandro III
Paul Pelosi
Nancy Patricia Pelosiis an American politician who served as the 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the first woman elected as U.S. House Speaker and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress, leading the House Democrats from 2003 to 2023. A member of the House since 1987, Pelosi currently represents California’s 11th congressional district, which includes most of San Francisco. She is the dean of California’s congressional delegation.
Pelosi was born and raised in Baltimore, and is the daughter of mayor and congressman Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. and Annunciata M.Lombardi. She graduated from Trinity College, Washington, in 1962 and married businessman Paul Pelosi the next year; the two had met while both were students. They moved to New York City before settling down in San Francisco with their children. Focused on raising her family, Pelosi stepped into politics as a volunteer for the Democratic Party in the 1960s. After years of party work, rising to chair the state party, she was first elected to Congress in a 1987 special election and is now in her 19th term. Pelosi steadily rose through the ranks of the House Democratic Caucus to be elected House minority whip in 2001 and elevated to House minority leader a year later, becoming the first woman to hold each of those positions in either chamber of Congress.
In the 2006 midterm elections, Pelosi led the Democrats to a majority in the House for the first time in 12 years and was subsequently elected Speaker, becoming the first woman to hold the office. Until Kamala Harris became vice president in 2021, Pelosi was the highest-ranking woman in the presidential line of succession in U.S. history, as the speaker of the House is second in the line of succession. During her first speakership, Pelosi was a major opponent of the Iraq War as well as the Bush administration’s attempts to partially privatize Social Security. She participated in the passage of the Obama administration’s landmark bills, including the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the 2010 Tax Relief Act. Pelosi lost the speakership after the Republican Party retook the majority in the 2010 midterm elections, but she retained her role as leader of the House Democrats and became House minority leader for a second time.
In the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats regained majority control of the House, and Pelosi was again elected Speaker, becoming the first former speaker to reclaim the gavel since Sam Rayburn in 1955. During her second speakership, the House twice impeached President Donald Trump, first in December 2019 and again in January 2021; the Senate acquitted Trump both times. She participated in the passage of the Biden administration’s landmark bills, including the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and the Respect for Marriage Act. In the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans narrowly regained control of the House for the new Congress, ending her tenure as speaker. She subsequently retired as House Democratic leader. On November 29, 2022, the Steering and Policy Committee of the House Democratic Caucus named Pelosi “Speaker Emerita”.
Nancy Pelosi is an American politician who served as the 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party and was the first woman elected as U.S. House Speaker.
Nancy Pelosi was born on March 26, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland.
During her tenure as Speaker, Nancy Pelosi led the Democrats to a majority in the House in 2006 and participated in the passage of landmark bills such as the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Nancy Pelosi has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1987, representing California’s 11th congressional district which includes most of San Francisco.
As Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi presided over the House’s impeachment of President Donald Trump in both 2019 and 2021, though the Senate acquitted him both times.
Before entering politics, Nancy Pelosi was focused on raising her family and served as a volunteer for the Democratic Party in the 1960s. She graduated from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. in 1962 and married businessman Paul Pelosi the same year.
After the 2022 midterm elections, which saw Republicans narrowly regain control of the House, Nancy Pelosi retired as House Democratic leader. The House Democratic Caucus has since named her ,Speaker Emerita,.
Furthermore, we believe that health care reform, again I said at the beginning of my remarks, that we sent the three pillars that the President’s economic stabilization and job creation initiatives were education and innovation – innovation begins in the classroom – clean energy and climate, addressing the climate issues in an innovative way to keep us number one and competitive in the world with the new technology, and the third, first among equals I may say, is health care, health insurance reform.
American politician
Bipartisanship is nice, but it cannot be a substitute for action, not having it cannot prevent us from going forward.
American politician
I will not be making appointments to a committee that is not bipartisan.
American politician
America will be far safer if we reduce the chances of a terrorist attack in one of our cities than if we diminish the civil liberties of our own people.
American politician
I have deep emotions about the American people. If I were to cry for anything, I would cry for them and the policies that they’re about to face.
American politician
We haven’t really gotten the credit for what we have done.
American politician
If you make – not have – $1 million a year, should you not participate in the sense of community of our country? I’m willing to put that on the table.
American politician
The president led us into the Iraq war on the basis of unproven assertions without evidence; he embraced a radical doctrine of pre-emptive war unprecedented in our history; and he failed to build a true international coalition.
American politician
Let’s just do what is right for the American people. And those of us who are involved in politics and government know that our responsibility is to the American people, that we have a responsibility to find our common ground, to seek it and to find it.
American politician
We in Congress stand by Israel. In Congress, we speak with one voice on the subject of Israel.
American politician
The impact of climate change is a tremendous risk to the security and well-being of our countries.
American politician
In our recovery package we put new standards of accountability and transparency, which we hope will now apply.
American politician
I have newspapers coming to me and saying, ‘Can we get in on the TARP?’.
American politician
We are not going back to the failed policies of the past. We are fighting for the middle class!
American politician
Social Security has never failed to pay promised benefits, and Democrats will fight to make sure that Republicans do not turn a guaranteed benefit into a guaranteed gamble.
American politician
But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.
American politician
I have absolutely no regret about my vote against this war. The same questions remain. The cost in human lives, the cost to our budget, probably 100 billion. We could have probably brought down that statue for a lot less.
American politician
Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs.
American politician
Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.
American politician
What we’re discussing privately and publicly, is a budget which is a blueprint for the future which creates jobs, which educates our children, which provides healthcare for all Americans, which takes our deficit down, which gives a tax cut for 95% of the American people.
American politician
We have so much room for improvement. Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory… of how we are taking responsibility.
American politician
America must be a light to the world, not just a missile.
American politician
Democratic priorities remain clear: to provide a tax cut for working families, to promote policies that produce jobs and economic growth, and to assist millions of our fellow Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.
American politician
Being the first woman speaker and breaking the marble ceiling is pretty important. Now it’s time to move on.
American politician
I would never think of crying about any loss of an office, because that’s always a possibility, and if you’re professional, then you deal with it professionally.
American politician
Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance.
American politician
My biggest fight has been between those who wanted to do something incremental and those who wanted to do something comprehensive. We won that fight, and once we kick through this door, there’ll be more legislation to follow.
American politician
We’re sad about some of the losses of members of great seniority and distinction in the Congress, and some very new members, who will no longer be serving with us.
American politician