Nancy Pelosi
Table of contents
Credit: Mark Wilson/ Getty Images
Current Position: U.S. Representative (since June 1987)
Why She Matters
At a Glance
Current Position: Speaker of the U.S. House (January 2007)
Career History: U.S. Representative (1987 to present); Northern California Democratic Party chairman (1977 to 1981); public relations executive, Ogilve&Mather (1986 to 1987)
Birthday: March 26, 1940
Hometown: Baltimore, Md.
Alma Mater: Trinity College, B.A., 1962.
Spouse: Paul Pelosi
Religion: Catholic
DC Office: 235 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, D.C., 202-225-4965
District Office: San Francisco, 415-556-4862
Born and raised amid the rough-and-tumble politics of Baltimore where her family ran the Democratic machine, Pelosi rose to the pinnacle of political power in January 2007 when she claimed the gavel as first female speaker of the House.
In March 2010, the speaker cemented her place in political history when she finessed the passage of President Obama's historic health-care reform legislation, 219 to 212, by approving the more moderate Senate version of health-care reform with a package of key amendments. The close victory had ABC anchor Diane Sawyer labeling Pelosi the "most powerful woman in American history." ABC News.com,
"Exclusive: Pelosi Defends Health Care Fight Tactics," March 22, 2010
"That sounds good.. I don't take it personally, except I take it as a compliment for all women," Pelosi responded.ABC News.com, "Exclusive: Pelosi Defends Health Care Fight Tactics," March 22, 2010
But Pelosi's bet on health-care reform is risky, as several endangered House Democrats voted yes and are at serious stake of losing their seats in November 2010. Indeed, her House majority is at stake as a result of the high-stake health gamble.
A mother of five, Pelosi steers House Democrats with an iron fist. While her rivals have tried to caricature the speaker as a San Francisco liberal, she has generally pursued a much more pragmatic course in leading the diverse Democratic caucus, whose ranks have swelled by her aggressive campaigning and savvy candidate recruitment in conservative districts.
Pelosi compromised with the George W. Bush administration on issues like the economy and terrorism, leaving some liberals upset. Pelosi is the highest-ranking woman in American politics and as House speaker, she is second-in-line to the presidency behind the vice president.
In 2008, she released a book entitled “Know Your Power: A Message to America’s Daughters.”.
Path to Power
The sixth child and only daughter of Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. and Annunciata, Pelosi was raised in the Little Italy section of Baltimore. She was introduced to the political world as a child because her father served as a Maryland House Member from 1939 to 1947 and then Baltimore mayor for 12 years. Her brother, Thomas D’Alesandro III, was mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971.
As part of a heavily Catholic family, Pelosi’s mother wanted her to become a nun. But instead, Pelosi attended Trinity College where she met her husband, Paul Pelosi, now a wealthy real-estate developer. Roll Call estimated the Pelosis' net worth as $18.7 million, making her the 17th richest Member of Congress.Roll Call’s 50 Richest, Sept. 22, 2008
The couple moved to his hometown, San Francisco, and had five children. She soon became involved in local politics, eventually returning home to Maryland to run California Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) presidential primary campaign in 1976. In 1979, Pelosi became chairwoman of the Northern California Democratic party, rising to chairwoman of the statewide Democratic Party in 1979, a plum post that introduced her to the state’s political heavy-hitters who she would later rely on.
U.S. House Member
When longtime Rep. Phil Burton (D-Calif.) died in 1983, he was replaced by another savvy female California pol: his wife, Sala Burton. When she too passed away in 1987, Pelosi was her handpicked successor.
Though her leadership ambitions weren’t instantly clear, Pelosi became a Washington player in 1997 as a leading critic of then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) from her perch on the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee.
In 1999, betting — wrongly, as it turned out — that Democrats would retake the House in 2000, she campaigned against Hoyer for Minority Whip. Pelosi and Hoyer first met as interns for ex-Sen. Daniel Brewster (D-Md.), but their relationship has never been smooth. Democrats did not regain the majority, so the race did not happen. Nonetheless, Pelosi was primed for battle and when Minority Leader David Bonior (D-Mich.) stepped aside, with a push, Pelosi and Hoyer locked horns and she emerged the victor.
As the second-ranking member of the Democratic leadership, she worked under then-Majority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) but was not hesitant to challenge him. Tellingly, Pelosi opposed him on the Iraq war; while Gephardt backed President Bush’s 2002 resolution authorizing the use of force, Pelosi opposed it and brought 126 Democrats along with her. After Democrats failed to win a majority again in 2002, Gephardt stepped down and Pelosi ran for majority leader, winning, 177 to 29.
With tireless campaigning and fundraising and a sharper anti-Bush message, Pelosi spearheaded the aggressive drive that saw Democrats reclaim the majority in 2006. Her election as Speaker in 2007 was celebrated with fanfare and included a party in Baltimore’s Little Italy and at the Italian Embassy in Washington.Biographical and career data based on Almanac of American Politics, 2008 edition, and Pelosi’s official Web site
“For our daughters and granddaughters, today we have broken the marble ceiling. For our daughters and our granddaughters, the sky is the limit, anything is possible for them,” Pelosi effused on Jan. 6, 2007, the day she was sworn-in as the highest-ranking female politician in the country.Weisman, Jonathan and Murray, Shalaigh, The Washington Post, ‘Democrats Take Control on the Hill,’ Jan. 5, 2007
The Issues
Pelosi originally focused on local issues after being elected to the House in 1987, such as preserving San Francisco’s historic Presidio. She also vigorously fought giving China most-favored-nation status and China’s 2001 entrance to the World Trade Organization. She encouraged President Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing summer Olympics.O’Keefe, Ed, ‘Pelosi: President Should Consider Boycotting Olympics Opening ,’ ABC News, March 31, 2008
Pelosi has been a consistent liberal in terms of her personal voting record. But she has played a considerably more pragmatic role as Democratic leader and speaker. The election of more conservative Democrats to the House has also forced Pelosi’s hand, causing her to stake out more moderate stances than some liberals would like.Washington Post Votes Database,
Pelosi’s top priorities since becoming speaker include limiting U.S. involvement in Iraq, addressing global climate change and energy issues and passing landmark ethics legislation. She also pushed major health-care reform through the House in November 2009, 220 to 215, though the overall effort is still stalled. Roll Call vote, Nov. 7, 2009
As part of her “100 Hours” agenda at the start of the 110th Congress, House Democrats quickly approved a minimum wage hike, the remaining 9/11 commission recommendations, public disclosure of lawmakers pet projects known as earmarks and major ethics legislation that outright banned gifts and meals from lobbyists and restricted travel from outside groups.Espo, David, The Associated Press, ‘Pelosi Says She Would Drain GOP Swamp,’ Oct. 6, 2006
In March 2008, after a series of congressional scandals and dismal approval ratings, Pelosi backed the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics, the first independent body to have the authority to launch an ethics probe of Members of Congress.Nancy Pelosi’s Web site,
The Economy
Pelosi was a loyal Obama lieutenant when it came to passage of his mammoth $787 billion economic stimulus package in February 2009, despite the Senate scaling back spending from the House version. 
No House Republicans supported the deal.
Pelosi also worked with Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to craft a politically-palatable $700 billion bailout that Congress approved in fall 2008.
Pelosi may be remembered for cooperating with rather than antagonizing the Bush administration on economic issues. In February 2008, she brokered a deal with Bush and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) to provide taxpayers with rebate checks in order to jumpstart the flailing economy.
Health-Care Reform
On Nov. 7, 2009, Pelosi scored a major victory when the House passed, 220 to 215, health-care reform legislation with a robust public option that depended on raising taxes to defray costs. But she did so by compromising with some of the House's more conservative Democrats, who insisted they get a chance to vote on banning federal funds from being used to pay for abortions. The plan also required individuals to carry insurance.Roll Call vote, Nov. 7, 2009
But the Senate plan, passed in December 2009, didn't contain a public option and instead levied a tax on so-called "Cadillac" health-care plans (those with premium benefits) rather than wealthier individuals. The two bills were stalled in Congress in early 2010.
The House fight to that vote was long and winding and required the speaker to make other pragmatic concessions.
After more than a year of legislative wrangling, the House passed the Senate version of health-care reform on March 21, 2010, clearing the way for the Senate to approve a package of amendments insisted on by the lower chamber with a simple majority (using a process known as reconciliation).
The $940 billion bill requires most Americans to carry health insurance and require that insurance companies cover them, regardless of pre-existing conditions. It establishes a national insurance exchange allowing Americans to compare and purchase insurance plans. The bill will be paid for by increasing taxes on well-off Medicare recipients and by taxing premium insurance plans. By the end of the bill’s 10-year roll-out, 32 million uninsured Americans will have health coverage and the deficit will be $138 billion lower, the Congressional Budget Office estimated. Murray, Shailagh and Lori Montgomery, The Washington Post, "House Passes Health-Care Reform Bill without Republican Votes," March 22, 2010
Pelosi spoke to the Washington Post's Lois Romano in late July 2009:
The Environment and Trade
In June 2009, Pelosi scored a significant victory when she spearheaded House passage, 219 to 212, of a bill to limit greenhouse gas emissions through cap-and-trade. The legislation, authored by Reps. Waxman and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), was a top priority of the Obama White House. But it faces an uphill battle in the Senate. O'Connor, Patrick and Lerer, Lisa, Politico, "House Passes Climate Change Bill," June 28, 2009
Pelosi has taken the reins of environmental reform since becoming speaker. One of her first tasks was sidelining former House Energy and Commerce Chairman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.). Fearing that he was too tied to auto interests in the Detroit district he represents to be a change agent, Pelosi boldly established a competing panel on Energy Independence and Global Warming chaired by ally Markey. But she was ultimately forced to back off and declare that the new panel had no legislative authority. In December 2007, she and Dingell buried the hatchet to enact the first new fuel efficiency standards for auto makers in 25 years. Weisman, Jonathan, The Washington Post, ‘Edging Away from Inner Circle, Pelosi Asserts Authority,’ July 9, 2007 But Pelosi angered some environmentalists by allowing a vote in fall 2008 on offshore drilling in response to high gas prices.
Pelosi has held firm in her general opposition to trade deals negotiated by the Bush administration, killing in one fell swoop action on the Colombia free trade agreement by revoking the administration’s fast-track authority when it sent the deal to the Hill in 2008.Fox News, ‘Bush Says Colombia Trade Deal Dead,’ April 14, 2008
Iraq and FISA
But Pelosi earned the ire of liberal activists when she could not lead Democrats to a substantial policy change on the Iraq war. She wholeheartedly supported her longtime ally, Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.), after his November 2005 speech calling for a “redeployment,” or withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. But once Democrats were in charge, she succumbed to the reality that Congress was relatively powerless to stop the war. Herszenhorn, David, The New York Times, ‘Democrats Say They Won’t Back Down on the War,’ Nov. 19, 2007
Her bid to install Murtha as her chief lieutenant failed miserably; Murtha lost to Hoyer, her old nemesis in the contest for Majority Leader, 149 to 86. Corn, David, The Nation, 'Murtha Loses — And So Does Pelosi,' Nov. 16, 2006 Hoyer had taken a more moderate Iraq position.
Meanwhile, efforts to include a timeline for troop withdrawals in legislation funding the war repeatedly stalled in the Senate. In June 2008, however, Congressional Democrats did manage to get Bush to swallow a supplemental war spending package that included an extension of unemployment benefits and new education benefits for veterans. Hulse, Carl, The New York Times, ‘House Approves Veterans Education Aid in a Deal on War Spending,’ June 20, 2008
Liberals were also upset by what they saw as an accommodation with President Bush by Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) with Bush on warrantless wiretapping. Greenwald, Glenn, Salon.com, June 20, 2008
The House ultimately passed a bill to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court with many of Bush’s prerogatives intact, including retroactive protection for telecom companies. Hard-core liberals were also incensed that Pelosi did not pursue impeachment of Bush and Vice President Cheney for the faulty intelligence leading up to the Iraq war. Pelosi, instead, buried impeachment motions authored by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), at the House Judiciary Committee. Liberal outrage over the inaction prompted anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son died in Iraq, to challenge Pelosi for re-election as an independent in November 2008. Wildermuth, John, The San Francisco Chronicle, ‘Anti-War Activist Cindy Sheehan on the Ballot,’ Aug. 9, 2008
CIA Controversy
In spring 2009, Pelosi got in a heated battle with the CIA, led by her former California House colleague Leon Panetta, over when she knew that harsh interrogation tactics like waterboarding were being employed against high-value terrorist detainees. Republicans used the issue as a cudgel against the speaker and some, including ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), called for Pelosi's ouster.
The CIA maintains it informed Pelosi about those tactics in September 2002, but Pelosi insisted she did not know about waterboarding specifically until early 2003, and the CIA admitted its records might not be accurate.
“The only mention of waterboarding in the [September 2002] briefing was that it was not being employed,” Pelosi said on May 14, 2009. Pelosi said CIA briefers had given her “inaccurate and incomplete information.” She added about the CIA: "They mislead us all the time."Thrush, Glenn, Politico.com, "Nancy Pelosi draws fire over CIA claim," May 14, 2009
The Network
Pelosi draws on a wide range of family, lawmakers and San Francisco businessmen and pols for advice. “She doesn't have a close circle, she has an ever-widening circle,” said a key local ally, ex-Rep. John Burton (D-Calif.), Sala Burton’s brother-in-law. "Her friends go from the cream of the crop down to the average working stiffs. She covers the whole gamut." Coile, Zachary, The San Francisco Chronicle, ‘Pelosi Seeks Input from Diverse Array of Confidants,’ Dec. 19, 2006
Her staunchest ally in Congress is probably Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), who advises her on politics and policy. John Lawrence, Miller’s former chief of staff, is now Pelosi’s top aide. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) are close friends, as is Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), who ran her leadership campaigns for minority whip in 2001 and for minority leader in 2002. Furthermore, Pelosi floated the name of Texas Rep. Chet Edwards, a moderate Democrat representing George Bush’s hometown of Crawford, as a good vice presidential pick based on his military credentials. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is probably Pelosi’s closest Senate ally.
Pelosi’s Washington staffers yield considerable clout and include Lawrence and deputy chief of staff George Kundanis, who manages floor strategy.Terri McCullough serves as Pelosi’s personal office director; she is married to Howard Wolfson, the communications director for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Senate campaign.
In California, Pelosi counts on Burton, Dan Bernal, her district director, and Bill Hambrecht, a Silicon Valley investment banker and major Democratic donor whose family has gone skiing with Pelosi’s.
By all accounts, Pelosi also divines political wisdom from her husband, Paul, and her daughter Christine Pelosi, a member of the Democratic National Committee who trains candidates for office.
Outside of government, she is tight with ex-Rep. Tom Downey (D-N.Y.) — the husband of Obama energy czar Carol M. Browner — chairman of the Downey McGrath Group, ex-Rep. Marty Russo (D-Ill.), the CEO of Cassidy & Associates and George Crawford, Pelosi’s former chief of staff who is now a lobbyist at King & Spalding. Coile, Zachary, The San Francisco Chronicle, ‘Pelosi Seeks Input from Diverse Array of Confidants,’ Dec. 19, 2006
Footnotes
(photos courtesy Pete Souza / White House)
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