It was during the latter’s tenure as speaker that Pelosi broke a House filibuster record, in February 2018 speaking for more than eight hours in defense of young immigrants. Reports said she did not sit or take any bathroom breaks during that time, and made the speech while in heels. It’s a moment worth revisiting as her historic role in Democratic leadership comes to an official end.
“Ms. Pelosi read heart-rending testimonies from Dreamers who had written their representatives about their lives,” The New York Times reported at the time. “There was Andrea Seabra, who is serving in the Air Force, and whose father was a member of the Peruvian Air Force. There was Carlos Gonzalez, who once worked as an aide to former Representative Michael M. Honda, Democrat of California. And there was Al Okere, whose father was killed by the Nigerian police after articles he wrote criticizing the Nigerian government appeared in a newspaper.”
Pelosi, who was House minority leader at the time, had been among those unsuccessfully pushing for permanent relief to be included as part of a budget deal. The insurrectionist administration had the prior September rescinded the successful and popular Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, announcing that renewals would stop within six months. With Ryan and then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refusing to hold standalone votes on a clean DREAM Act, its passage as part of a budget deal appeared to be the only possible vehicle for passage.
In her eight-hour-plus speech, Pelosi said that every day that passes without legislative relief is another day “the American Dream slips further out of reach. As members of Congress, we have a moral responsibility to act now to protect Dreamers who are the pride of our nation and our American in every [way] but on paper.”
Among the stories shared by Pelosi was that of Laura Alvarado, who was brought to the U.S. by her family when she was just 8 years old. Ineligible for financial aid due to her immigration status, Alvarado worked two jobs to pay for college, graduating with honors in 2006. “Laura wanted to become a lawyer but was unable to pursue this dream, Mr. Speaker, because she was undocumented,” Pelosi said. “Six years, long years later in 2012, President Obama established DACA and Laura’s life changed.” Hundreds of thousands of young immigrants have been able to work legally and live freer from the threat of deportation under the policy, which faces extinction due to Republican lawsuits. Pelosi said Laura and many other young undocumented immigrants “have so much to contribute to our country. Will American be a stronger country if we deport Laura?”
Pelosi’s first big challenge as Democratic House leader was when George W. Bush introduced a plan to privatize Social Security and turn it over to Wall Street in 2005. Pelosi was asked when she would come up with a Democratic plan. She defiantly responded: “Never. Is never good enough for you?” The defeat of the GOP’s Social Security privatization scheme marked a turning point in Bush’s presidency. Due to the Democratic victory on this critical issue, Bush’s approval ratings dropped below 50% for the first time during his presidency and he never recovered. The Democrats rode that momentum to win a huge victory in the 2006 mid-term elections in which they regained control of the House and the Senate.
After the economy collapsed in 2008, Pelosi worked with Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to save the banking system from a meltdown by helping pass the controversial TARP bill. After the big Democratic victory in 2008, Pelosi helped engineer the greatest Democratic legislative victories since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society in 1965–66. When the Democrats had the majority in both Houses in 2009–10, Pelosi supplied the necessary Democratic votes to pass the 2009 Recovery Act, the Affordable Care Act, cap and trade legislation and Wall Street reform.
In the 2017–2018 cycle, Pelosi recruited a diverse set of candidates that consisted of both progressives and moderates. Those Democrats went on to win 40 seats in the House. It was the best showing in the mid-terms for the Democrats since 1974. That 2018 triumph laid the foundation for Pelosi’s most significant accomplishments as Speaker in 2021–2022. While presiding over a narrow Democratic majority, Pelosi helped President Joe Biden pass the most ambitious and far reaching legislative agenda since Lyndon Johnson. Under her leadership, the House passed the American Rescue Act, a bi-partisan infrastructure bill, the first gun reform bill since 1994, a veteran’s health bill, landmark climate change legislation and prescription drug pricing reform.
At the end of the day, Nancy Pelosi will be seen as towering figure in
American history. She will go down in history as the greatest Speaker of
the House in U.S. history, topping Henry Clay and Sam Rayburn.
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