Nancy Pelosi, who has served as the party’s leader in the US House of Representatives for almost 20 years, has announced her resignation. The oldest and most influential Democrat in Congress, the 82-year-old is also the first female speaker of the House.
In the lower House of Congress, she will continue to represent her California district. It happens at a time when projections indicate that Republicans will regain control of the House after the midterm elections.
Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, has secured his party’s candidacy for speaker of the incoming Congress and is likely to succeed Nancy Pelosi in that position. In a statement read aloud in the chamber on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “I would never have believed that someday I would move from homemaker to House speaker.”
“I won’t run for Democratic leadership in the upcoming Congress again. A new generation must now take the helm of the Democratic caucus, “She spoke. Mrs Pelosi will continue in the position she first assumed in 1987 until January 2025, when a new Congress will take office.
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Hakeem Jeffries, a congressman from New York, is generally anticipated to assume the top Democratic leadership position in the House, making him the first black lawmaker in US history. The only place in Congress mentioned explicitly in the US Constitution is Speaker of the House. It is the next in line for the presidency after the vice president.
Scripture teaches us that, for everything, there is a season – and a time for every purpose under heaven.
As Speaker, it has been my privilege to play a part in forging extraordinary progress for the American people. pic.twitter.com/lCFZc4qNfc
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) November 17, 2022
What bills are considered and voted on is decided by the speaker, his deputy, and the chairs of the committees. They choose the topics for discussion and establish the agenda.
In 2003, Mrs Pelosi was named minority leader, a position that denotes the person in charge of the House opposition. She then became the first woman to lead a major party in either chamber of Congress in 2006, when the Democrats regained control of the House for the first time in more than ten years.
Four years later, Mrs Pelosi was named minority leader again, but she didn’t take the speaker’s seat until 2019.
A priceless resource and a lightning rod
One of the most successful US legislative leaders in history, Nancy Pelosi, is a significant asset for Democrats and a deadly foe for Republicans. She is a force on Capitol Hill and a target for criticism due to her legislative prowess, perfect sense of legislative timing, and talent for political theatre.
Her press conferences and speeches rarely served as motivation. However, she faced minimal challenges in maintaining the unity of her turbulent and frequently tiny majority in the House on crucial votes. However, her strength has come at a cost. She became a hobgoblin of the right in part because of her skills.
The development of younger leaders within the chamber has also been stifled by the length and intensity of her hold on House Democrats over the past two decades. They might finally get their chance now. However, they’ll have big shoes to fill.
As a speaker, Nancy Pelosi was instrumental in furthering or obstructing the presidential goals of several presidents. She is generally regarded with orchestrating the passage of the landmark healthcare law under former President Barack Obama and legislation to address infrastructure and climate change under President Joe Biden.
Throughout his presidency, Mrs Pelosi also openly criticised Donald Trump, famously tearing up a copy of his State of the Union address behind the president’s back. After a violent break-in at her House, last month left her husband Paul, 82, needing skull surgery, rumours about her future circulated.
On Thursday, lawmakers applauded her when she thanked them for their prayers and referred to her as her “loved companion in life and my pillar of support.”According to the Washington Post, she later claimed that she had been dealing with “survivor’s guilt” since the attack because her husband had been harmed “because they were looking for me.”
Former Mrs Pelosi’s chief of staff, John Lawrence, told the BBC that now that Democrats were back in the minority, she would be crucial in advising incoming members of Congress and liaising with the White House.
He declared, “There’s never really a good time to depart.” “When things are going well for you, you want to accomplish a lot, and when they’re not, you want to fight back.” President Biden referred to Mrs Pelosi as “the most significant speaker of the House of Representatives in our history” in a statement on Thursday.