Tag: Speaker Pelosi

Pelosi: House will stay in session until agreement is reached on coronavirus relief

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday announced that the House will remain in session until the parties have an agreement on another round of emergency coronavirus relief. 

In a conference call with the House Democratic Caucus — the first since the chamber returned from a long summer recess — Pelosi indicated she isn’t willing to accept a “skinny” legislative package, but told her troops the chamber’s calendar will be extended until an agreement is sealed, according to sources on the call. 

“We have to stay here until we have a bill,” Pelosi told lawmakers. Continue reading.

Mnuchin, Pelosi reach informal deal to avoid government shutdown

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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have informally agreed to pursue a clean, short-term stopgap measure to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month, sources in both parties confirmed Thursday.

That means the continuing resolution (CR) needed to keep the government open past Sept. 30 would be free of controversial policy riders that have bogged down previous funding bills, significantly lowering the odds of a shutdown leading up to the crucial Nov. 3 elections.

The tentative deal also means the government funding bill and a new coronavirus relief package being negotiated between Pelosi and Mnuchin would not be part of the same talks. Continue reading.

‘Are you really going to impeach me?’: How the Ukraine bombshell unfolded over 48 hours and laid bare Trump’s fixation with Biden

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Just after 8 a.m. on Tuesday, September 24, 2019, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in her Georgetown apartment, getting ready for the day that was going to be like no other in her long career. This was the day she would formally, officially, finally announce that the House was opening the impeachment inquiry against President Trump.

The California Democrat had resisted calls for impeachment from the left flank of her party for months. As the speaker, the one making the decision, Pelosi had to keep calibrating the risks. There was a risk to doing something, and a risk to doing nothing. She didn’t want to tolerate presidential misconduct. But she also didn’t want the House, or her party, to be seen as taking away the voters’ power to decide Trump’s fate. An impeachment couldn’t be personal, she kept telling her leadership team, or about policy differences. It had to be careful, fair, and easy for the American people to understand to avoid a severe backlash in an already deeply divided nation. As much as many of Trump’s actions appalled her, she had not seen an ironclad, public-unifying offense among them.

But now she had come to believe that Trump had abused his power on a July 25 phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, in which he had suggested Ukraine open investigations that would benefit Trump personally — including one into his chief political rival, former vice president Joe Biden. Continue reading.

Nancy Pelosi owns Fox News’ Chris Wallace: ‘Clearly you don’t have an understanding of what is happening here’

AlterNet logoHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) faced off against Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday over the failure to negotiate a COVID-19 financial relief bill.

In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Wallace suggested that there is an upside to executive actions taken by President Donald Trump in lieu of a financial relief bill because some people will get protections from evictions “rather than getting nothing at all.”

For her part, Pelosi quoted a Republican senator who said that the president’s executive action is “constitutional slop.” Continue reading.

Pelosi, Schumer say White House declined $2T coronavirus deal

The Hill logoDemocratic leaders said Friday that the White House rejected an offer for a roughly $2 trillion coronavirus relief package.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said that as part of a closed-door Thursday meeting, Democrats offered to reduce their $3.4 trillion price tag by $1 trillion if Republicans would agree to raise their roughly $1 trillion package by the same amount.

That strategy, effectively trying to split the difference between the two sides, would result in legislation costing between $2 trillion and $2.4 trillion. Continue reading.

Economic relief talks to ramp up Monday as Democrats, White House agree to sit down

Washington Post logoPelosi and Schumer will meet with Mnuchin and Meadows as they face the expiration of jobless aid within days

Top Democrats and the White House plan to meet Monday evening as they rush to begin negotiations over an economic relief bill aimed at addressing fallout from the coronaviruspandemic, bumping up against a tight deadline before expanded jobless aid expires later this week.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) plan to meet at 6 p.m. with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to begin formal talks. Negotiations were delayed because Democrats were waiting for the White House and Senate Republicans to unify behind a single plan, something that was expected to be released on Monday afternoon.

The White House and Senate Republican plan is expected to call for around $1 trillion in new spending, while the House Democrats have coalesced around a $3 trillion plan they passed in May. Pelosi earlier on Monday criticized Republicans for waiting so long to begin negotiations, saying “children are hungry, families cannot pay the rent, unemployment is expiring and the Republicans want to pause again and go piecemeal.” Continue reading.

Pelosi on Trump: ‘With him, all roads lead to Putin’

Members of Congress seek answers on reports about Russian bounties on U.S. soldiers

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday blasted the president for being beholden to the Russian government, following a startling New York Times report that Russia secretly offered bounties to Taliban fighters to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

“Just as I have said to the president: With him, all roads lead to Putin,” Pelosi said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I don’t know what the Russians have on the president, politically, personally, or financially.”

The California Democrat, who is part of the so-called Gang of Eight that gets intelligence briefings, said she was not aware of the situation and has asked for a report to Congress. Continue reading.

With a jab at Trump, Pelosi unveils new ‘Obamacare’ bill

WASHINGTON, DC — Flicking a dismissive jab at President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a plan Wednesday to expand “Obamacare,” even as Trump’s administration is about to file arguments in a Supreme Court case to strike it down.

Pelosi announced an upcoming floor vote on her measure, setting up a debate that will juxtapose the Democrats’ top policy issue, Trump’s unrelenting efforts to dismantle Obama’s legacy, and the untamed coronavirus pandemic.

On Thursday, the Trump administration is expected to file papers with the Supreme Court arguing that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. Pelosi wants her bill on the House floor Monday. Continue reading.

Pelosi orders removal of Confederate portraits in Capitol

The Hill logoSpeaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday ordered the removal of four portraits in the Capitol of previous House Speakers who served in the Confederacy.

The move marks Pelosi’s latest effort to take down Confederate imagery in the Capitol, following her push last week calling for the removal of 11 Confederate statues displayed in the Capitol complex.

“We didn’t know about this until we were taking inventory of the statues and the curator told us that there were four paintings of Speakers in the Capitol of the United States, four Speakers who had served in the Confederacy,” Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. Continue reading.

Pelosi asks House committees to require masks, setting up clash with GOP holdouts

Washington Post logoMasks have become the norm inside the House of Representatives, where some politicians now embrace the novel coronavirus precaution with colorful odes to their home districts. But there are holdouts: A small group of Republican representatives who have consistently declined to wear face coverings in Congress.

Now, as nine states hit record highs for infections, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is tightening the rules. Late Tuesday, she asked committee chairs to require masks at all hearings — and authorized the sergeant at arms to bar anyone who refuses to cover their face, according to a senior aide familiar with the request.

“This requirement will be enforced by the Sergeant at Arms and non-compliant Members will be denied entry,” the senior aide said in an email to The Washington Post. “Ultimately, Chairs will have the option of not recognizing Members in committee proceedings that fail to comply with the mask requirement.” Continue reading.