House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) urges Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to pass $ 2,000 incentive checks to Americans during her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, USA December 30, 2020.
Leah Millis | Reuters
The House re-elected Nancy Pelosi as speaker on Sunday and expanded the Democrat’s second series to lead the chamber.
Pelosi, the only woman to serve as speaker, will hold the post for a fourth term. The 80-year-old regained the hammer in 2019 after eight years of Republican control. California minority leader Kevin McCarthy will lead the GOP for a second term.
Pelosi received 216 votes, while McCarthy received 209. Five Democrats did not support Pelosi. Three votes “present”, one supporting Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., and another support Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.
The California Democrat is leading a thinner majority after the GOP overturned at least ten seats in the 2020 election. Her party entered Sunday with 222 members, four more than the 218 needed for a majority in the full House.
Pelosi and Elected President Joe Biden will focus on addressing issues, including coronavirus relief, health care and infrastructure, in the new Congress. Georgia’s run-off election in Georgia, which will decide whether Republicans own the Senate, will determine how much the pair can accomplish.
Before Pelosi made remarks to the House on Sunday, he raised the speaker’s hammer to applause from Democrats. She cites ending the coronavirus pandemic as ‘our top priority’.
“And we will defeat it,” she said.
Pelosi and Biden have said they will campaign for another round of pandemic relief in the coming weeks. They described the $ 900 billion package signed last month as a down payment. Pelosi on Sunday called for state and local government assistance, which Senate President Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Opposed.
She added that the House should work with Vice President Biden and Kamala Harris to “pursue justice – economic justice, justice in health, racial justice, environmental and climate justice.”
Pelosi insisted that her party’s loss of seats would not reduce her leverage and would not force her to change her strategy. She said the election of Biden, who will take office on January 20, gives Democrats more power for the next two years.
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