Republicans attacked Nancy Pelosi when she was Speaker of the House under Obama and now again under Biden. Easier to attack her than the president. They tried to block everything Biden tried to do and then turned around and hypocritically attacked him for not getting the job done. And they’ve attacked Pelosi for getting too much done, passing things they didn’t like. Speaking out of both sides of their mouths, Republicans claim Biden and Pelosi didn’t get the job done except when claiming they did too much.
Some Democrats picked up the chant – Republican criticism made them shy to support Pelosi. Wow – Republicans got Democrats to attack the biggest thorns in the Republicans’ side! Republicans’ hatred for Pelosi’s success is exactly why Democrats should stand by her. Democrats that do Republicans’ bidding are Democrats in Name Only – DIMOS.
She proudly lists among her accomplishments laws she, Biden and Obama got done – each a poke in Republican eyes:
- The just passed Inflation Reduction Act
- The American Rescue Plan to deal with the pandemic.
- The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to rescue America from the 2009 financial crisis.
- The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to restore women’s ability to fight pay discrimination.
- The Dodd-Frank reforms to rein in big banks and protect consumers, seniors and Servicemembers.
- Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, and they blocked the effort to repeal it, increased funding to fight the opioid epidemic, and support NIH medical research.
- They also passed major energy and environmental legislation in 2007, 2009 and 2021, to raise fuel efficiency standards, support America's homegrown biofuels, create clean energy jobs, combat the climate crisis and transition America to a clean energy economy and help American communities improve resiliency to climate disaster, plus she helped provide new funding to combat poisons in our air and water for our health.
- They also passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, advancing justice for the millions of Americans at risk from discrimination and violence simply for being who they are.
- For America’s workers and families they increased the minimum wage for the first time in a decade; and she shepherded through Congress the largest college aid expansion since the GI bill;
- For our veterans, a new GI education bill for those who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; increased services for veterans and their caregivers; and care for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals in the line of duty;
Under her leadership, the House created the bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
And under her leadership, the House voted:
- To expand ballot access, outlaw partisan gerrymandering, combat dark money in politics, and pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to restore the federal government's power to defend ballot access across the country.
Under her leadership, the House voted
- To help Biden put together billions of dollars to support Ukraine and orchestrate severe consequences on Russia.
- To stand by the repeal of policies that prevented gay and lesbian Americans from openly serving their country.
- To pass legislation:
- To save lives through mandatory background checks for gun purchases;
- To protect pregnant workers against discrimination;
- To reform America's immigration system and secure justice for Dreamers and farmworkers;
- And to protect borrowers from unfair lending practices.
I’d say, keep it up, Nancy. I appreciate and admire you, Biden and Obama for the same reasons Republicans don’t. Wow!
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
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