March 21, 2010: The Speaker Takes the Floor
Last edited Fri Sep 27, 2019, 12:04 PM - Edit history (2)
I invite anyone who doesn't fully understand the power of Nancy Pelosi (or who understands it but likes to see her in action) to watch this clip from Sunday, March 21, 2010, the night the Affordable Care Act passed the House.*
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4799464/speaker-takes-floor
For more than a year, Speaker Pelosi had led the fight to pass the Affordable Care Act, making clear she intended to get the bill passed and sometimes shoring up weary, wavering allies, keeping their eyes on the prize. I recall one meeting where a group of civil rights advocates expressed skepticism of her commitment to fight to the bitter end. Speaker Pelosi looked around the room, pounded her hand on the table and declared, "We’ll go through the gate. If the gate’s closed, we’ll go over the fence. If the fence is too high, we’ll pole vault in. If that doesn’t work, we’ll parachute in but we're going to get health care reform passed for the America people."
Everyone buckled down and kept fighting. It was coming down to the wire and House leadership and the advocates working with them had been furiously whipping the vote throughout the weekend to wrangle every single vote we could. While we knew we were close, we still weren't sure if and when we'd get the votes.
That night, the House was in session and everyone hoped there would be a vote. But it would all depend on the Speaker's count.
The video starts just after Minority Leader John Boehner delivered a bizarre, almost unhinged screed. As soon as he finished there was polite applause and then you will hear a murmur slowly erupt into a great roar.
The eruption came because the Speaker had entered the chamber. And that meant only one thing: she had the votes and was calling the question. And since Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi never calls the question until she knows she has the right answer, her appearance on the floor meant she had her votes and the Affordable Care Act was going to pass.
She stepped to the podium, rallied her troops one more time and called the vote. The Affordable Care Act passed the House and President Obama signed it two days later.
And for, at least a little while, all was good and right with the world.
There's a reason Nancy Pelosi is revered by her caucus. Because she knows how to fight, she knows how to count, and she knows how to win. And she does it with grace and grit and style.
That's why I trust her now as the House grapples with investigations and impeachment. Speaker Pelosi's got this. And she will call the question at just the right, perfect time.
*For various procedural reasons, after passage that night, it went back to the Senate for concurrence and then back to the House. But that night's vote was the key vote.
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