Nancy Pelosi

Background

Nancy Pelosi served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007-20011, the first woman to do so in American history. In 2002, House Democrats elected her the first woman to lead a major political party in Congress. As of this posting, she continues as Democratic Leader of the House for the 113th Congress. She serves California's 12th District, which includes most of San Francisco. The Christian Science Monitor wrote, "…Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in American politics and the most powerful House Speaker since Sam Rayburn a half century ago." Pelosi led the House effort to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in early 2009 to create and save millions of American jobs with a tax cut to 95 percent of Americans. She spearheaded passage of historic health insurance legislation, strong Wall Street reforms, and the raising of vehicle fuel efficiency for the first time in 32 years. She led Congress on tough ethics reform, an increase in the minimum wage for the first time in ten years, the largest college aid expansion since the GI bill, the largest increase in veterans health care funding in the 77 year history of the Veterans Administration, as well as a new GI education bill for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. She is a native of Baltimore where her father, Thomas D'Alexandro, served as mayor. Pelosi graduated from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. in 1962.  She and her husband have five children and nine grandchildren. This past speaker page shares her interview with Progressive Forum president Randall Morton.