Nancy Pelosi Quotes

Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is an American politician serving as the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives since 2011, representing California's 12th congressional district. She previously served as the 52nd Speaker of the House from 2007 to 2011, the only woman to do so. Her ascent to House Speaker also made her the highest-ranking female politician in the history of the United States.

A member of the Democratic Party, Pelosi represents California's 12th congressional district which consists of four-fifths of the city and county of San Francisco. The district was numbered as the 5th during Pelosi's first three terms in the House, and as the 8th from 1993 to 2013. She served as the House Minority Whip from 2002 to 2003, and was House Minority Leader from 2003 to 2007, holding the post during the 108th and 109th Congresses under George W. Bush. Pelosi is the first woman, the first Californian, and the first Italian-American to lead a major party in Congress. After the Democrats took control of the House in 2007 and increased their majority in 2009, Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House. After the Democrats lost House control in the 2010 elections, Pelosi was elected as the Democratic Leader by House Democrats and therefore the Minority Leader in the Republican-controlled House from 2011 to 2019.During and after her tenure as Speaker, Pelosi was perceived as a contentious political figure, with Republican candidates frequently trying to tie their Democratic opponents to Pelosi and with moderate Democrats seeking to show their moderate bona fides by expressing opposition to Pelosi. Pelosi is expected to run for Speaker of the House of Representatives on the opening of the 116th U.S. Congress on January 3, 2019. If elected Speaker, Pelosi would become the seventh individual to return to the Speakership on non-consecutive terms of office and the first since Sam Rayburn in 1955.

✵ 26. March 1940
Nancy Pelosi photo
Nancy Pelosi: 30   quotes 0   likes

Famous Nancy Pelosi Quotes

“Maybe it will take a woman to clean up the House.”

Interview with Barbara Walters (December 13, 2006)
2000s

“You've heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. But I don't know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket. Prevention, prevention, prevention—it's about diet, not diabetes. It's going to be very, very exciting. But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”

9 March, 2010. Source: http://www.slate.com/id/2279128/ Having to pass a bill to know what is does is a Grin and Bear It cartoon punchline http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/john-roberts-obamacare-cartoon from 1947, paraphased in a 1948 Indiana Law Journal article by then Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3871&context=ilj Frankfurter was in turn cited in 2015's decision in King v. Burwell, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, which turned on a complication in the very law resulting from the bill Pelosi was above describing. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-114_qol1.pdf
2010s

“[Under the Affordable Care Act] everybody will have lower rates, better quality care, and better access.”

NBC-TV Meet the Press (July 1, 2012) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqONZAN_Us0
2010s

“The proposed Bush regulations put politics above the health care needs of Americans.”

[Gajewski, Karen Ann, Worth Noting, Humanist, 68, 5, September/October 2008, http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=19&hid=114&sid=fc488ea1-3734-4774-a772-f0aafb4b9077%40sessionmgr103&bdata=JmxvZ2lucGFnZT1sb2dpbi5hc3Amc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZl#db=afh&AN=34312851, 2008-11-22]
2000s

“Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory…of how we are taking responsibility.”

[Pelosi appeals for China's help on climate change, The Associated Press, May 28, 2009, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hLcZ2jQ4mu4rd7XlB3hetiVn1qbAD98F32AG0, 2009-05-28, http://web.archive.org/web/20090603034428/http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hLcZ2jQ4mu4rd7XlB3hetiVn1qbAD98F32AG0, 2009-06-03]
2000s

Nancy Pelosi Quotes about people

“I say to my colleagues never confine your best work, your hopes, your dreams, the aspiration of the American people to what will be signed by George W. Bush because that is too limiting a factor.”

[Associated Press, House Dems face uphill battle to end Iraq war, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17534366/, MSNBC.com, March 8, 2007, 2007-03-09]
2000s

“The American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D. C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.”

Source: Post-election comments, 2006-11-7. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/07/AR2006110700473.html

Nancy Pelosi Quotes

“Are you serious? Are you serious?”

When asked :"Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JByUpfmjQ
2000s

“Why should we put a plan out? Our plan is to stop him. He must be stopped.”

Referring to George W. Bush on Fox News (March 17, 2005)
2000s

“By making college more affordable for all and more accessible for minority students, the first new higher education authorizing legislation in a decade will help strengthen our nation and America's middle class, and spur a new age of innovation and ingenuity in our country.”

[Pelosi: Higher Education Bill is Bipartisan Investment in College Affordability and in America's Middle Class, July 31, 2008, http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=116&sid=67fb11ac-0f16-45c1-8646-27ef9a9cdd0f%40sessionmgr107&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=mth&AN=32X1328555230, 2008-11-08]
2000s

“Members of Congress I have the high privilege and distinct honour of presenting to you, his excellency Bertie Ahern (/ei/hern), the Taoiseach, the Prime Minister of Ireland”

Referring to Bertie Ahern (Ah-hern) at a joint meeting of the US Congress at Capital Hill in Washington (April 30th, 2008) http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0430/ahernb.html
2000s

“"Why don't we just leave this room today forgetting the word 'earmark'?"-June 2007”

[Darling, Brian, Pelosi Lets Earmarks Rule the Day in Congress, Human Events, 64, 34, October 6, 2008, 2008-11-22]
2000s

“This president goes into office with more expectations than any president I can ever remember in my lifetime.-2008”

[Dan Reed, Obama Has Much to Do Before Even Taking Office, USA Today, November 6, 2008 1B, 2008-11-08]
2000s

“With Americans worried about losing their jobs, their savings, their homes and their chance at the American Dream, the New Direction Congress will work in a bipartisan way to lift our economy and help America's middle class.”

[Pelosi Statement on Fiscally Responsible Recovery Package to Lift Economy and Help the Middle Class, October 15, 2008, http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=112&sid=e9e82631-01bc-425d-b19f-38189788ba53%40sessionmgr107&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWh, 2008-11-08]
2000s

“I have said it before and I will say it again: Impeachment is off the table.”

[Susan Ferrechio, Pelosi: Bush Impeachment 'Off the Table', http://www.nytimes.com/cq/2006/11/08/cq_1916.html, New York Times, November 8, 2006, 2008-03-15]
2000s

“A woman is like a teabag. You can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.”

Interview with ABC News, as quoted by Hilary Clinton.
2000s

“The word 'campaign' is a war term. So when you go into a campaign you just prepare to go to war. If you think this is an exercise in civic activity…then you are going to be surprised.-1985”

[Herrnson, Paul S., Women Running "as Women": Candidate Gender, Campaign Issues, and Voter-Targeting Strategies, The Journal of Politics, 2003, 65 no. 1]
2000s

“Let me just say we're going to pass the bill this week.”

Source: Pelosi on infrastructure bill: 'I'm never bringing a bill to the floor that doesn't have the votes' https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/573976-pelosi-on-infrastructure-bill-im-never-bringing-a-bill-to-the" (September 26, 2021)

“I'll let you know as soon as I wish to.”

Source: Pelosi tells Democratic leaders she wants House votes on infrastructure bills this week https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pelosi-tells-democratic-leaders-house-votes-infrastructure-bills/story?id=80971904" (November4, 2021)

“At the same time, we must lift the debt ceiling and hope that we can have a unanimous Democratic vote and perhaps a bipartisan vote to do so”

Source: " Pelosi writes to Democrats about Build Back Better https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/oct/12/debt-ceiling-deal-latest-biden-pelosi-democrats-us-politics-infrastructure-live?page=with:block-61658bda8f089af1cb01c728#block-61658bda8f089af1cb01c728" (October 12, 2021)

“We are visiting you to say thank you for your fight for freedom — that we’re on a frontier of freedom, and that your fight is a fight for everyone. And so our commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done.”

Remarks to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, quoted in "Pelosi makes unannounced trip to Kyiv, becoming highest-ranking US official to meet with Zelensky since the war began" by Michelle Watson and Eliza Mackintosh, CNN https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/01/politics/pelosi-zelensky-kyiv-ukraine-intl/index.html] (1 May 2022)]; also in "Pelosi meets Zelenskyy in Ukraine, says commitment is to be there for you until the fight is done'", Global News (1 May 2022) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga34dmkMwBU

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