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Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi (born March 26, 1940) is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives. A Democrat, she is the first woman to lead a major political party in either house of Congress. She has represented California's 8th District (see map) since 1987 (it was numbered the 5th District until 1993). The 8th District covers most of the City and County of San Francisco except for a corner in the southwest, comprising the areas of the Sunset District and St. Francis Wood. Those areas are part of the San Mateo County-based 12th District.
Early life and career Pelosi was born Nancy D'Alesandro in Baltimore, Maryland to Italian American parents. She became involved in politics at an early age and her father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., was a U.S. Congressman from Maryland and also a Mayor of Baltimore. Pelosi graduated from Baltimore's Institute of Notre Dame high school and Trinity College (now Trinity Washington University) in Washington, DC, where she met her future husband, Paul Pelosi. When the couple married, they moved to his hometown of San Francisco, where his brother was a member of the city's Board of Supervisors (San Francisco city & county--council). Once the youngest of their five children became a senior in high school, Nancy Pelosi became involved in Democratic politics, working her way up to becoming party chairwoman for Northern California, and joining forces with one of the leaders of California Democratic Party politics, 5th District Congressman Phillip Burton. She is an honorary board member of the National Organization of Italian American Women. Family Pelosi's daughter Alexandra covered the Republican presidential campaigns in 2000 and made a movie about the experience, Journeys with George. She also covered the campaigns in 2004, and wrote a book. The Pelosi family has a net worth of over $25 million, mainly investments of husband Paul Pelosi. Besides a large portfolio of jointly owned San Francisco Bay Area real estate, he also has millions of dollars worth of shares in publicly traded companies such as Microsoft, Amazon.com and AT&T. Congressional career When Burton died in 1983, his wife Sala won a special election to complete his term. When she became ill with cancer, she suggested that Pelosi run for her seat in 1988. Sala Burton died on February 1, 1987, just a month after being sworn in for a second full term. Pelosi won in a special election to succeed her, narrowly defeating left wing San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt, and took office on June 2, 1987. She was elected to a full term in 1988 and has been reelected eight times, often with more than 70% of the vote. The 8th is one of the safest Democratic districts in the country; Democrats have held the seat since 1949. Pelosi has kept this tradition going. She has never faced a credible Republican opponent, which is not surprising since Republicans only make up 13 percent of registered voters in the district. Since defeating Britt, she has never participated in a candidates’ debate. After the Tiananmen protests of 1989, Pelosi became a supporter of the Chinese democracy movement and vocal critic of the government of the People's Republic of China and sponsored the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992. In the House, she served on the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees, and spent long hours raising funds for other members. She was the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee for two years. Democratic Party leadership In 2001, she was elected to the position of House Minority Whip, serving as second-in-command to Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri. Since then, she has campaigned for candidates in 30 states and in 90 Congressional districts, garnering support for her further climb to the top. In 2002, after Gephardt resigned as minority leader to seek the Democratic nomination in the 2004 presidential election, Pelosi was elected minority leader. She is touted as a likely Speaker of the United States House of Representatives should the Democrats win control of the House in the 2006 U.S. Congressional elections. Record Abortion Pelosi has a long record of being Pro-Choice. Her record of voting shows that she is in favor of a woman’s right to choose, even up into the ninth month, the outcome of her pregnancy. Since 1995 she has consistently voted against any bill that challenges the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the landmark abortion case of Roe vs. Wade. However she has opened herself to some criticism because she voted for the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in 2001 that makes it a federal crime to commit violence against a pregnant woman that interrupts or terminates her pregnancy but voted against it in 2004 when it was reintroduced with a new definition of a violent attack on a pregnant woman as two distinct crimes: one against the woman herself, and the other against her fetus. She is also a consistent yes vote for federal funding of abortion facilities and financial aid to such organizations. Agriculture Pelosi has a reputation of being generally supportive of the agriculture sector in her district. However, agriculture is not a large industry in her district so she cannot be counted upon to support the industry in all cases. One of her votes that caught the most criticism from the agriculture industry was against the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, which was a continuation of a 1996 bill, signed into law by President Clinton that continued subsidies to small farmers. Budget and Taxes Pelosi has been a strong supporter of a balanced budget and supports federal funding of government programs with tax increases when necessary. She has supported many bills which would increase assistance to the poor and disadvantaged but would increases taxes on higher wage earners. Pelosi has also voted against repealing the Estate Tax. She has been an outspoken supporter of a balanced budget and has no tolerance for a deficit in federal spending, even to the point of increasing taxes for all Americans to cover spending. Civil Liberties Pelosi has been a consistent vote in favor of general civil liberties and supporter of First Amendment rights. She has been consistent in voting for freedom of speech even to the point of voting against several bills that would ban burning of the American flag. She has voted and been a strong supporter of the separation of church and state. And she has been a supporter of redefining the definition of marriage to allow same-sex marriages. National Defense Before September 11, 2001, Pelosi has been fiscally conservative when it comes to government spending on national defense and military programs. After 2001 she has been generally supportive of spending for national defense in areas of the war on terrorism. In San Francisco, however, Pelosi is sometimes seen as more moderate, because she voted for the Patriot Act (which she now opposes) and authored the Presidio Trust Act, which privatized the Presidio of San Francisco. Like most House Democrats, Pelosi opposed the resolution authorizing President Bush to use military force against Iraq, and has acknowledged Saddam Hussein's WMD program. She has also begun to strongly criticize the war effort since then, and has introduced an amendment to the FY 2006 Defense Appropriations bill calling on Bush to specify a strategy for success in Iraq, as well as a timetable for a safe withdrawal of American troops. Education Pelosi has been a strong ally in the federal funding of education, both public schools and higher education. She was even a supporter of the hotly contested “No Child Left Behind Act” in May of 2001 which instituted testing to track students' progress and authorize an increase in overall education spending to nearly $23 billion for fiscal year 2002, and about $135 billion over the 2002-2006 period. Environment and Energy Pelosi has a history of supporting the development of new technology to reduce our dependence upon foreign oil and the adverse effect the burning of fossil fuels has upon the environment. She has widely supported conservation programs and energy research appropriations. She has also voted against ANWR Drilling *. Gun Control Pelosi is a reliable vote to restrict the ownership of firearms and concealed carry. She has voted consistently to restrict the amount of handguns sold in the United States and extending the waiting period for purchasing a firearm of any type. However she did vote against the bill that would make background checks at a gun show mandatory and she did vote against the Gun Ban Real Act that sets the mandatory minimum prison sentence for possession of a firearm to 5 years in prison for possession of a firearm while committing a crime and 10 years in prison for brandishing a firearm while committing a violent federal crime or drug trafficking. Health Care Pelosi has been a supporter of strong government control over the health care industry. She has continually voted to increase Medicare and Medicaid benefits across the board. In addition she has voted to support assisted suicide and research on human embryo's for possible cures. Immigration Pelosi has been a constant supporter of immigrant rights no matter what their legal status may be. She has voted against the States choice to deny public education services to illegal immigrants and allow them to collect public assistance such a welfare and Medicaid. Most recently she has voted against the inherent authority of State and local law enforcement to assist in the enforcement of immigration laws, to provide for effective prosecution of alien smugglers, and to reform immigration litigation procedures. She also voted against the Secure Fence Act of 2006 that authorizes the construction of an additional 700 miles of double-layered fencing between the U.S. and Mexico and grants the Secretary of Homeland Security authority to take necessary steps to stop unlawful entry of immigrants into the U.S. Labor Pelosi has continually voted for increasing minimum wage throughout her service as a Representative. Science and Medical Research Pelosi has continually voted to further research into adult and embryonic stem cell therapies. See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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