Nancy Pelosi on Thursday recaptured the speaker’s gavel as her party returned to power in the House of Representatives, overcoming more than a dozen defections from rebellious Democrats.
The political powerhouse from California was elected with 220 votes, to 192 for Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy. In her new role, she will immediately confront the ongoing standoff over the partial government shutdown, even as she tries to set her party’s agenda in the 116th Congress and her deputies wield new power to investigate the Trump administration on multiple fronts.
Pelosi, who previously served as speaker for two terms, has eyed a return to the position ever since Republicans took the House in 2010.
In her floor speech marking her return to power, Pelosi vowed to pursue lower health care costs, address climate change and tackle other Democratic priorities as speaker, saying “the American people spoke, and demanded a new dawn” in November’s elections. She also made reference to the historic number of women serving in the House.
“I am particularly proud to be the woman speaker of the House of this Congress, which marks 100 years of women having the right to vote,” Pelosi said.
Her return, though, wasn’t guaranteed after Democrats flipped control of the chamber in November: some Democrats campaigned on opposing Pelosi’s return to the speakership, calling for new leadership. But in recent weeks, Pelosi, who first entered Congress in 1987, won over enough critics to secure the job again in part by agreeing to term limits for the speaker’s office. – READ MORE