^^^ Pictured
Left to right, with Nancy Pelosi in the center: Rep. Ruben Hinojosa
(D-TX); Sister Norma Pimentel, Executive Director of Catholic
Charities of the Rio Grande; Mayor Tony Martinez of Brownsville,
Texas; and Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX) (Getty)
( Photo
courtesy of Heavy )
Focused Read in 3 minutes
A Mother, a grandmother, and a
leader who is focused on strengthening America's hard-working
families
Nancy Pelosi is the
Democratic Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 114th
Congress. From 2007 to 2011, Pelosi served as Speaker of the
House, the first woman to do so in American history. As the
Democratic Leader, Pelosi is fighting for bigger paychecks and better
infrastructure for America’s middle class families. In 2013,
she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame at a
ceremony in Seneca Falls, the birthplace of the American women’s
rights movement.
For 29 years, Leader
Pelosi has represented San Francisco, California’s 12th District,
in Congress. She has led House Democrats for more than 12 years
and previously served as House Democratic Whip.
Under the leadership of
Pelosi, the 111th Congress was heralded as “one of the most
productive Congresses in history” by Congressional scholar Norman
Ornstein. President Barack Obama called Speaker Pelosi “an
extraordinary leader for the American people,” and the Christian
Science Monitor wrote: “…make no mistake: Nancy Pelosi is the
most powerful woman in American politics and the most powerful House
Speaker since Sam Rayburn a half century ago.”
Working in partnership
with President Obama, Speaker Pelosi led House passage of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in early 2009 to create and
save millions of American jobs, provide relief for American families,
and provide a tax cut to 95 percent of working Americans. With the
House Democratic Caucus, Pelosi continues to focus on the need to
create jobs in America and prevent them from being shipped overseas.
Speaker Pelosi achieved
passage of historic health insurance reform legislation in the House
which establishes a Patients’ Bill of Rights and will provide
insurance for tens of millions more Americans while lowering health
care costs over the long term. The new law provides patients with
affordable insurance choices, curbs abuses by the insurance industry,
strengthens Medicare, and reduces the deficit by more than $100
billion over the next 10 years.
In the 111th Congress,
Speaker Pelosi also led the Congress in passing strong Wall Street
reforms to rein in big banks and protect consumers as well as the
Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which expands educational
opportunities and reforms the financial aid system to save billions
of taxpayers’ dollars. Additional key legislation passed into law
included the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to restore the ability of
women and all workers to access our judicial system to fight pay
discrimination; legislation to provide health care for 11 million
American children; national service legislation; and hate crimes
legislation. In late 2010, Pelosi led the Congress in passing child
nutrition and food safety legislation as well as repealing the
discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which
prohibited gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.
Pelosi has made energy
security her flagship issue, enacting comprehensive energy
legislation in 2007 that raised vehicle fuel efficiency standards for
the first time in 32 years and making an historic commitment to
American home grown biofuels. In 2009, under her leadership, the
House passed the landmark American Clean Energy and Security Act –
a comprehensive bill to create clean energy jobs, combat climate
change, and transition America to a clean energy economy. The
legislation was blocked by Republicans in the United States Senate,
but sent a strong signal to the world about the United States’
commitment to fighting the climate crisis.
A leader on the
environment at home and abroad, Pelosi secured passage of the “Pelosi
amendment” in 1989, now a global tool to assess the potential
environmental impacts of development. 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. As Speaker, Pelosi led the
fight to pass the DISCLOSE Act in the House, which fights a corporate
takeover of U.S. elections and ensures additional disclosure; she
continues to fight for this legislation today.
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.
Pelosi comes from a strong
family tradition of public service. Her late father, Thomas
D’Alesandro Jr., served as Mayor of Baltimore for 12 years, after
representing the city for five terms in Congress. Her brother, Thomas
D’Alesandro III, also served as Mayor of Baltimore. She graduated
from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. She and her husband, Paul
Pelosi, a native of San Francisco, have five grown children and nine
grandchildren.
You can see more on the Minority Leader's Page here
“ … The minority
leader serves as floor leader of the "loyal opposition,"
and is the minority counterpart to the Speaker. Although many of the
basic leadership responsibilities of the minority and majority
leaders are similar, the minority leader speaks for minority party
and its policies and works to protect the minority's rights. … “
You can read more on
Minority Leaders of the House (1899 to present) here
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Focused Thought in 30 seconds
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Focused Action (Time: TBD)
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Thank you for being #StrongerTogether today!
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(Remember 2018...)
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Curated by Gail Mountain, Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
( Gail Mountain is an editor for Progressive Democrats - Moving Forward Not Back and you can find her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GKMTNtwits )
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