The Democratic President of the House of Representatives of the US Congress announces that she will not run for the Democratic leadership of the new Congress.
SourceAFP
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” JI’m not going to run for the Democratic leadership of the next Congress. », said the emblematic leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, during a speech delivered in the hemicycle. At 82, Nancy Pelosi says she wants to make way for ” a new generation »in a renewed House after midterm elections that gave a new majority to the Republicans. President Joe Biden immediately paid tribute to her, hailing her as a ” fervent defender of democracy ».
To applause, Nancy Pelosi reminisced about her 35 years in the House, which she watched evolve into ” more representative of our beautiful nation ». The first woman to occupy the Lower House perch, she also spoke of darker times, such as the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. ” Indeed, American democracy is majestic, but it is fragile », she warned. Nancy Pelosi maintained the suspense over her withdrawal until the end, taking home two different versions of her speech. She will continue to sit in the chamber, as a simple elected from California.
Her husband recently attacked at his home
The third figure in the American state, she is known for her role as the first opponent of Donald Trump, whom she fiercely fought when he occupied the White House. A tactician gifted with an unparalleled political flair, she has often made rain or shine on Capitol Hill, where she was elected “speaker” in 2007. In recent months, it has been her commitment to Taiwan who caused a lot of talk: his visit to the island claimed by the Chinese authorities this summer had angered Beijing.
At the end of October, her husband Paul was attacked in the middle of the night at their home in California by a man armed with a hammer. He was actually looking for Nancy Pelosi, whom he accused of lying and who he relied on ” break the kneecaps ». The drama marked the Democrat, who said to herself ” traumatized ». At the beginning of her speech, she also had a word for her husband, ” beloved partner » and ” support ».
Just before the Nov. 8 election, she said the attack would influence her decision whether or not to retire if the Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives. This is what happened on Wednesday evening, at the end of a week of suspenseful counting as the complex American electoral system knows how to create. In the end, the Republicans grabbed a majority of at least 218 seats which, although very narrow, will give them blocking power over Joe Biden’s policy until 2024.
A Divided Congress
The Congress is therefore divided, the Democrats having managed to retain control of the Senate. Even with a slim majority in the House, Republicans will have substantial inspection power, which they have promised to use for a host of investigations into Joe Biden’s handling of the pandemic or the withdrawal of Afghanistan. They did not waste a second to implement it. On Thursday morning, the Conservatives in the Lower House announced their intention to investigate the risks to “national security” posed by the business transactions of Joe Biden’s family abroad. This is not a surprise: they had undertaken to investigate his son Hunter, accused of having used his name to do business in Ukraine and China.
And in this new configuration, the party of the Democratic president will no longer be able to vote on major projects. But neither does the other side. The Republicans had threatened to unravel certain measures adopted under Joe Biden if they regained control of the two chambers. In particular, they wanted to reconsider the funds allocated to the tax services to hire new agents or certain reforms in the world of education.
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The right could also be more fussy about the aid provided by Washington to Ukraine. She had also planned to attack the right to abortion or to legislate on firearms, which would have pushed Joe Biden to use his right of veto.
The 79-year-old president will not ultimately be forced to camp on this defensive posture. And will on the contrary have to use his negotiating skills, inherited from his long career as a senator, to avoid a paralysis of the financing of the federal administration.