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U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi believes more is on the line on Nov. 3 than the next occupant of the White House or the makeup of Congress. In the upcoming election, she said Monday, “civilization as we know it is at stake.”
During a wide-ranging forum discussion at Northeastern University’s Women Who Empower summit, Pelosi touched on the presidential race, the federal response to the spread of a new coronavirus, and the “marble ceiling” she faced along the way to becoming the first-ever woman speaker of the house.
In November, Pelosi said, issues including the climate crisis, immigration and the long-term makeup of the Supreme Court could all face dramatically different outcomes based on results at the ballot box.
“In my view, civilization as we know it is at stake. It’s about everything,” Pelosi said at the event. “All of the Bill of Rights and all that contains — that is under siege.”
COVID-19 Response
After the event, Pelosi told reporters that the federal government’s response to the spread of the coronavirus-caused COVID-19 respiratory illness is not finished even after President Donald Trump on Friday signed an $8.3 billion emergency funding package.
Pelosi said she and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would seek legislation with additional funding aimed at supporting workplaces involved in fighting the outbreak or those disrupted by its impact on supply chains and accessibility. Pelosi also wants to explore making low-interest loans available to affected businesses.
“If the business you work for folds because they can’t be sustained, then we want unemployment insurance or paid family leave if that’s not available,” Pelosi said. “If you’re a health care provider working in the workplace, we want to make sure you’re protected.”
Congress will continue relatively normal operations for now as it monitors the situation, Pelosi said, even though two members are self-quarantining after possible exposure to the virus at an event. There are no plans in place to close sessions or halt tours.
U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, who represents Massachusetts’ 5th Congressional District and spoke alongside Pelosi, said the package approved last week will direct at least $11.65 million to Massachusetts communities on the “front lines.”
Presidents and Health Care
Pelosi indicated that she is unlikely to publicly endorse one of the few remaining Democrats competing for president during the primary cycle. She declined to answer whether voters could assume who she supports based on her wariness about Medicare for All — a signature policy of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders not supported by his main opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden.
“We have in our caucus a range of opinions,” Pelosi told WBUR’s Meghna Chakrabarti, with whom she sat for a question-and-answer session. “Just about every candidate had supporters in our caucus, and I’m all for my caucus.”
Later in the event, Pelosi said she “usually always casts (her) vote for a woman” when possible, hinting that the speaker may have selected U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren — who has since withdrawn from the race — or U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in California’s Super Tuesday primary.
While she did not explicitly take a position on the primary, Pelosi also said she does not agree with Sanders’ vision to move as soon as possible to a universal, government-administered health care system, even as she welcomes debate on the topic and wants to see a public option implemented.
“If you want to evolve to that, let’s put that on the table,” Pelosi said. “What is the value of the benefit to the consumer, how much is it going to cost the consumer, the taxpayer, etc., and what is the likelihood that we could achieve that? For a proposal to be out there that says ‘we’re for Medicare for all and that means eliminating private health insurance,’ I just don’t think from the standpoint of what it means at the kitchen table of America’s working families that we should leapfrog to that.”
Women in Office
Asked if she was disappointed that a once-diverse Democratic primary field has essentially winnowed to a contest between two white, male septuagenarians, Pelosi said she was not, adding that the results came through a “democratic process.”
All of the women who ran, including Warren, “advanced the cause,” Pelosi said.
“What I’m disappointed in is when I’m introduced as the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States,” she said.
Pelosi made history in 2007 when she became the first woman to ascend to the speakership, an accomplishment she said Monday that she expected to come after a woman was elected president.
That role was a “very hard place for a woman to break through,” she recalled.
“You’ve heard about the glass ceiling,” Pelosi said. “Let me introduce you to the marble ceiling: over 200 years of a pecking order, one person after another all in line, and when I broke into the line, they said, ‘who said she could run?’ Poor babies.”
