Nancy Pelosi Presides Over Opening Of Most Diverse Congress Ever

House speaker Nancy Pelosi took the gavel for the second time, having already held the post from 2007 to 2011, and oversaw the swearing in of the most diverse group of representatives ever. </s> Nancy Pelosi victorious – why the California Democrat was reelected speaker of the House

(THE CONVERSATION) Despite some brash and not insignificant opposition, California’s Nancy Pelosi is returning to her previous role as speaker of the House.

She will preside over a chamber that is 77 percent male and a Democratic Caucus that is 62 percent male.

When the Democratic Caucus held their leadership election on Nov. 28, Pelosi won the nomination on a 203 to 32 vote, falling 15 votes shy of the 218 she would later need to win the speakership with all members voting.

When a vote was taken on the House floor on Jan. 3, she won by a vote of 220 to 192, with 15 Democrats voting for someone else or voting “present.” The close vote illustrated, once again, Pelosi’s skill in coalition-building and counting votes, but also that some Democrats – particularly new members and those in swing districts – are dissatisfied with her as the party’s standard bearer.

As a political scientist who focuses on gender and party discipline in the House of Representatives, I have studied Pelosi’s leadership and how she was able to hold it for so long.

It’s important to realize that Pelosi’s battle to win over wavering Democrats didn’t begin in November 2018. Rather, it stretches back to when she was first elected to leadership in 2001. Her ongoing ability to rally members of her own party illustrates why she has been among the most successful U.S. House speakers. It also suggests her leadership will help Democrats in Congress as they negotiate with President Trump and Senate Republicans, even if Pelosi remains unpopular in some Democratic members’ districts.

Pelosi’s rise to power and leadership are characterized by her intense partisanship, fundraising prowess and coalition-building within her own party.

Elected to the House in 1987, she won her first leadership race as party whip in October of 2001, defeating Steny Hoyer of Maryland by a vote of 118 to 95. As minority leader, Pelosi established a reputation as a pragmatist who enforced party discipline, counted votes, built coalitions – and raised enormous sums of money for her colleagues.

Fast forward to the 2006 elections – halfway through the second term of Republican President George W. Bush. Democrats gained 30 seats and majority party control. Taking the gavel at the start of the 110th Congress, Pelosi became the first female speaker of the House, presiding over an 84 percent male chamber.

Serving as speaker from 2007 to 2010, Pelosi benefited from – and expanded – the centralization of party leaders’ power that occurred during the previous 12 years of GOP control of the House.

As she stepped into the leadership role in 2007, Pelosi had more tools and prerogatives than her immediate Democratic predecessors, Tip O'Neill, Jim Wright and Tom Foley. That’s because under Republican speakers Newt Gingrich and Dennis Hastert, the shift of power away from committee chairs to party leaders – a change that had been taking place since the Democratic reforms of the 1970s – picked up speed. For example, Republicans instituted six-year term limits on committee chairs in 1995 and made clear that seniority was only one of many factors that a party leadership-led steering committee considered when selecting committee chairs.

During her first two terms as Speaker, Pelosi maximized her influence, setting the legislative agenda, pursuing partisan policy initiatives and fundraising for her colleagues. As I argue in my book on party discipline, Democratic committee chairs, grateful to return to the majority, were willing to cede power to her and other party leaders.

For the most part, Pelosi worked hard to build consensus within her party and shut Republicans out of the process. She frequently met with freshmen and more moderate and conservative Democrats to find common ground on the party agenda.

Under her leadership, House Democrats voted on average with the majority of their caucus 92 percent of the time in 2007 and 2008, setting a record for party cohesion. Pelosi routinely challenged President Bush and congressional Republicans, particularly on issues related to the war in Iraq.

When Obama was first elected in 2008, the Democrats gained unified party control of the White House and both chambers of Congress. Pelosi had a new challenge: building coalitions to pass the president’s ambitious agenda items – like health care and financial regulatory reform – rather than the easier job of simply attacking a Republican president’s proposals.

Pelosi’s role in the passage of the Affordable Care Act can hardly be overstated.

She brought Democrats together to start the process in the House before Obama became deeply involved. Three House committees marked up the bill which Pelosi then assembled. When key House Democrats threatened to withdraw their support over disagreements related to abortion funding, Pelosi appeased them and attracted enough votes to pass the bill. And when it seemed that the House and Senate would not be able to reconcile their versions after Senate Democrats lost their 60-vote filibuster-proof majority with the special election of Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who filled the seat of the late Democrat Ted Kennedy, Pelosi’s leadership was critical in crafting and executing a complicated legislative strategy that resulted in the bill that Obama ultimately signed into law.

House Democrats were largely unified on other votes as well. The average member voted with the majority 91 percent of the time in 2009 and 89 percent in 2010.

But Obama’s legislative successes came at a cost. During the 2010 midterm elections Democrats lost 64 seats. Republicans gained a 242 to 193 majority, their best showing since 1946.

Back in the minority, Pelosi lost the speakership but was reelected as Democratic leader in 2011, defeating North Carolina centrist Heath Shuler by a caucus vote of 150-43. In a sign of dissatisfaction, 19 Democrats did not support her in the vote on the House floor.

On Jan. 3, 2017, reeling from being completely shut out of power in Washington, all but four Democrats voted to reelect Pelosi as their leader for the eighth time. However, this show of Democratic unity on the House floor masked the uneasiness during the party’s internal contest between Pelosi and relatively unknown seven-term Democrat Tim Ryan of Ohio in late November. Pelosi prevailed, 134 to 63 – hardly a ringing endorsement.

As the 115th Congress got underway, Pelosi pledged to seek common ground with President-elect Trump on job creation, trade and support for working families. She also warned that “If there is an attempt to destroy the guarantee of Medicare, harm Medicaid, Social Security, or the Affordable Care Act, Democrats will stand our ground.”

Not surprisingly, with deep policy divides and intense competition between the parties, along with the difficulty of negotiating with President Trump, finding that common ground has been elusive. Without the votes to advance the Democrats’ agenda in the House, criticizing Republican policies and especially President Trump was the best way for Pelosi to get attention. It also helped Democrats win elections in 2018, as a majority of voters saw the 2018 election as a referendum on the president.

And so to Pelosi victorious. She brings three main strengths as the party’s leader: fundraising prowess, experience and skill in legislative bargaining and coalition building, and the ability to effectively challenge Trump with policy and procedural expertise. Pelosi showed her skill when confronting the president about the government shutdown during a highly publicized meeting on Dec. 11. Indeed, it was praise from Democrats for her strong performance that day that likely bolstered her bid for the speakership.

Her skill has also been display as Pelosi has won over skeptical Democrats on both her ideological left and right since the November elections. Pelosi has relied on the immense power and prerogatives of leadership that she herself helped to expand, winning over members one committee assignment and policy promise at a time. However, as part of the bargain, Pelosi ultimately agreed to curb the power of the speaker and limit her remaining time in leadership to four years. She also agreed to a series of proposals by the “problem solvers” caucus that would allow somewhat more opportunities for junior members to be involved in policymaking and large bipartisan coalitions to move legislation that party leaders had not put on the agenda.

Democrats’ internal leadership battle made clear that the party needs to develop a deeper bench of potential leaders with skills and experience to replace not only Pelosi but long-time #2 and #3 leaders Steny Hoyer and James Clyburn as well. However, it also shows that women leaders need to take extra steps to prove themselves in a male-dominated institution. After all, neither Hoyer nor Clyburn faced any opposition.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: http://theconversation.com/nancy-pelosi-victorious-why-the-california-democrat-was-reelected-speaker-of-the-house-107333. </s> WASHINGTON (AP) – Nancy Pelosi called for kids to join her as she was sworn into as House speaker. Dozens of youngsters gathered around Pelosi on the dais as she took the oath of office. She’s the first woman to hold the office, and now she’s also the first woman to return to it. Pelosi said: “I now call the House to order on behalf of all of America’s children.” Pelosi invited her grandchildren to come to the speaker’s podium, and then said other children in the chamber were welcome to join them. </s> Nancy Pelosi reclaimed the gavel and called for bipartisanship Thursday as she became House speaker for the second time.

The California Democrat became most powerful woman in Washington and pledged to “reach across the aisle in this chamber and across the divisions in this great nation” as the nation’s capital remains under the cloud of an ongoing government shutdown and deep divides mar her own party.

“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,” Pelosi added.

The promise to work with the opposition comes as Dems face intra-party rifts and a government shutdown nears the two week mark. Pelosi’s fractured party and Republicans remain in a stalemate over funding for President Trump’s border wall.

Pelosi made history as the first woman to rise to the position in 2007. She served as the nation’s third most senior official for four years spanning the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations and helped guide the Affordable Care Act through Congress.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the Democratic Caucus Chair, heaped praise on Pelosi as he nominated her as speaker.

“Nancy Pelosi is a woman of faith, a loving wife, a mother of five, a grandmother of nine, a sophisticated strategist, a legendary legislator, a voice for the voiceless, a defender of the disenfranchised a powerful,” he said.

Pelosi garnered 220 votes to win the speakership, with 15 Democrats either voting present or casting symbolic ballots against her. Democrats hold a 235-199 majority over Republicans.

The 78-year-old’s return to the speaker's office was far from guaranteed and she will face a new set of struggles during her second tenure in the post.

Rank-and-file Democrats joined freshman lawmakers in calling for new leadership, a sentiment echoed by voters, according to numerous polls.

Moderate Democrats, including Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.) and other newly-elected lawmakers who flipped formerly red districts, followed up on campaign promises and opposed Pelosi’s speakership.

Rep. Kathleen Rice, a major Pelosi critic representing Nassau County, cast a symbolic vote for former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Rose voted for fellow veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Il.)

Pelosi, first elected in 1987 to represent a California district that includes San Francisco, was able to keep the skeptics at bay during a procedural vote in November by doling out lead positions on special panels and promising to follow through on their legislative priorities.

She also vowed to serve no more than four years in leadership, opening the door for a younger generation of Democrats to take control of the party in the near future.

Young progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — who became the youngest woman to serve in the House after being sworn in Thursday morning — have openly challenged several of Pelosi’s positions and could cause headaches for the centrist.

Adding to the complications, Pelosi’s rise to regain power comes at a crucial time for women in politics. The 116th Congress will count an unprecedented number of women as members after 100 female lawmakers won elections this past November.

GOP leader Kevin McCarthy's name was put into nomination by his party's caucus chair, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney. She said McCarthy knows "our rights come from God" and "government is not the source of our liberty.”

Pelosi has also split from some Dems who want to use their majority to bring impeachment proceedings against Trump.

The Speaker has called impeachment a "divisive activity,” but she 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, adding that she would wait for the findings of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 election.

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."

"Everything indicates that a president can be indicted after he is no longer President," she said.

Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing, balked at the prospect of Pelosi returning to power ahead of last years Midterms.

“Can you imagine Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House?" Trump asked a crowd at a Minnesota rally in October. "Don't do that to me!” </s> President Donald Trump on Thursday congratulated Democrat Nancy Pelosi on her election as House speaker and insisted on the need for a wall along the US-Mexico border.

In a surprising, albeit brief, appearance before reporters, his first of the year, Trump hailed the "tremendous achievement" of Pelosi, who at age 78 once again takes leadership of the House of Representatives, a post she held from 2007-2011. </s> Women made history this Election Day, with the highest-ever number projected to win seats in the House of Representatives: As of early Wednesday morning, 96 women have reportedly won House races, with 31 women newly elected to the House and 65 female incumbents. The prior record of women in the House was 85 representatives, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The women elected in this year’s midterms include Democrats Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim women ever elected to Congress, as well as Sylvia Garcia and Veronica Escobar, the first Latina congresswomen in Texas. Ayanna Pressley officially became Massachusetts’ first black woman elected to Congress, after unseating 10-term Representative Michael Capuano in the state primary. And as anticipated, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won her election to the House in New York’s 14th Congressional District, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

The first Native American women were also elected. Democrat Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation, defeated the Republican incumbent in Kansas’s Third Congressional District by nine points, becoming not only the first Native American woman elected to Congress, but also the state’s first openly gay representative — and the first former mixed-martial-arts fighter. Deb Haaland, who is an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, won a seat in the First District in New Mexico.

“There is going to be a historic number of women walking onto the floor of the U.S. House in January … They’re going to change the way things work,” Stephanie Schriock, the president of the pro-choice PAC Emily’s List, told BuzzFeed News. “This is gonna be the most diverse freshmen class of women that we’ve ever brought in by far.”

Women also made history in the Senate and in governorships. Arizona is guaranteed to elect its first female senator, with two women — Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Martha McSally — facing off in a close race after Jeff Flake’s departure. Meanwhile, Florida elected its first openly lesbian mayor, Teri Johnston.

But although women came out in droves to vote for left-leaning candidates, forming what many are calling a “pink wave,” many white women still voted for Republicans — including Republican men. In Georgia, Republican Brian Kemp received 50.5 percent of the electoral vote for governor, beating the progressive candidate Stacey Abrams by a small margin; if elected, Abrams would have been the first black woman elected as governor in the U.S. A staggering 76 percent of white women voted for Kemp, who boasted about being “politically incorrect” during his campaign, while 97 percent of black women went with Abrams. Likewise, in Texas, 59 percent of white women voted for Republican Senator Ted Cruz, while 95 percent of black women supported his challenger, the beloved Beto O’Rourke.

Nevertheless, the historic record of women and a Democratic majority in the House shows some promise for the years ahead. </s> FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2016, file photo, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Pelosi faces a challenge to her job as frustrated House Democrats meet to select a new slate of leaders. Pelosi is likely to be re-elected easily Nov. 30 despite disenchantment among the Democratic caucus she has led since 2002. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, file) </s> Republican Rep. Paul Ryan won re-election on Tuesday as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives when the lawmakers convened for the 115th session of the Congress.

Only one Republican member defected and voted for Rep. Daniel Webster.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Speaker was first elected on Oct. 29, 2015.

Ryan was re-elected by the House Republican caucus in November 2016 to serve a second term as Speaker of the House.

On the Democratic side, Nancy Pelosi was re-elected Minority Leader with only four of her colleagues voting for someone else for the top Democratic position.

Ryan is expected to address the 115th Congress.

The post Paul Ryan re-elected U.S. House Speaker appeared first on BusinessDay : News you can trust.

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Also, Like us on facebook </s> WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi created history by speaking continuously for more than eight hours in the lower chamber - the longest address in at least 108 years.



Pelosi's protest was designed to draw attention to the plight of the young immigrants facing deportation, who are known as Dreamers.



Their status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy is in jeopardy after March 5.



She was against a compromise federal budget deal that does not address the sensitive issue.



Although other lawmakers praised her marathon speech, it failed to produce the desired result as House Speaker Paul Ryan refused to bring up bipartisan immigration legislation to protect Dreamers to the floor for a vote.



The 77-year old veteran California Democrat started her speech at 10:04 am and yielded the floor at 6:11 p.m.



Pelocy's day-long speech in four-inch heels and consuming nothing but water ended precisely eight hours and seven minutes after she began.



'I just got word that the House historian confirms that you have now set the record for the longest continuous speech in the House since at least 1909,' said Pelosi, reading aloud a message from a clerk.



Party leaders are allowed to speak as long as they wish in the House, and as minority leader, Pelosi was taking advantage of that rule.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
The 116th United States Congress, which contains a record number of women and minorities, is sworn in at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the Speaker of the House of Representatives for the second time, the first being from 2007–2011.