Nancy Pelosi is poised to be elected Thursday as U.S. House Speaker, the only woman who has held the office and now one of the few elected officials who will be returning to it.
The last time a Speaker regained the gavel was more than a half-century ago.
With President Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans still controlling the Senate, Pelosi’s return to the Speaker’s office to lead a Democratic majority with its biggest freshmen class since Watergate will shake up the dynamic in Washington even beyond the new era of divided government.
The mother of five and grandmother of nine has shattered glass ceilings to become one of the most powerful politicians of the 21st century. But she had to assuage some members of her own party by promising, at 78, to serve no more than four years in leadership, making way for the next generation.
Pelosi has also faced pressure from some incoming Democrats who have been willing to talk about the possibility of impeachment proceedings against Trump.
Democrats were cautious about mentioning the “I” word during the 2018 midterms for fear it would backfire politically, but Pelosi did not shy away from it Thursday in an interview airing on NBC’s Today show.
“We shouldn’t be impeaching for a political reason, and we shouldn’t avoid impeachment for a political reason,” she said. Pelosi also said she would wait for the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Nancy Pelosi speaks at a Dec. 11 meeting at the White House, in the presence of U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence, centre, and President Donald Trump. On Thursday, Pelosi is set to become one of few elected officials who will be returning as Speaker, the only woman who has held that role. (Evan Vucci/Associated Press)
Only the House can begin impeachment proceedings. And while Justice Department guidelines suggest a sitting president can’t be indicted, Pelosi called that “an open discussion” and “not conclusive.”
“Everything indicates that a president can be indicted after he is no longer president.”
Trump himself has denied any wrongdoing.
With respect to the partial government shutdown that began in mid-December, she told the NBC show that Democrats want the “Trump shutdown” to end. but she’s unwilling to fund Trump’s wall.
“There is no amount of persuasion he can use.”
‘It’s hard to pin the president down’
While the president has occasionally expressed begrudging admiration of her political skills, Pelosi said negotiating with Trump is difficult because he “resists science, evidence, data, truth.”
“It’s hard to pin the president down on the facts,” she said.
Pelosi is shown Thursday morning speaking to Congressional Black Caucus members at their swearing-in ceremony of the 116th Congress, at The Warner Theatre in Washington. (Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press)
In accepting the gavel, Pelosi will give a nod to the new era of divided government with a pledge to “reach across the aisle in this chamber and across the divisions in this great nation,” according to excerpts of her prepared remarks Thursday.
“The floor of this House must be America’s Town Hall: where the people will see our debates, and where their voices will be heard and affect our decisions,” she says.
It will be a challenge, as Pelosi remains a highly polarizing figure, vilified by Republicans as a San Francisco liberal and a caricature of big government.
In previewing Democratic priorities, she talks about lowering health-care costs, investing in green infrastructure and “restoring integrity” to government.
“We must be champions of the middle class and all those who aspire to it — because the middle class is the backbone of democracy,” she says.
Pelosi’s impending return to the Speaker’s office wasn’t guaranteed. A core group of rank-and-file Democrats has hungered for new leadership, saying it’s time for a new generation to take the helm. They’ve become tired of the Republican attack ads featuring Pelosi that are constantly run against them back home, and they worried she would be a drag on efforts to keep the majority in the next election. They enlisted some of the newcomers from the freshmen class to their ranks to try to stop her from regaining the gavel.
But one by one, Pelosi peeled away the skeptics, flipping No votes to the Yes column, sometimes in a matter of days. Some were given lead positions on their legislative priorities, even a gavel of their own to chair special panels.
It’s unclear what the final tally will be when votes for speaker are counted Thursday as the first act of the new Democratic majority.
“She’ll be more than fine,” said Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, the incoming House chairman of the Democratic caucus.
Jeffries said when he told his family that, because of his new position, he may be the one to put Pelosi’s name forward during the nomination proceeding, his youngest son said to him, “Don’t blow the moment, dad.”