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LGBT

Pelosi: Democratic Party Should Come Out For Full Marriage Equality

By Igor Volsky on Feb 15, 2012 at 9:05 am

House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) — a long time supporter of the LGBT community and proponent of marriage equality — is calling on the Democratic party to include marriage rights for gays and lesbians in its 2012 party platform, Metro Weekly’s Chris Geidner reports. Pelosi’s backing comes in response to Freedom to Marry’s new ‘Say I Do‘ campaign, which is pushing Democrats to become the first major political party to adopt the policy:

The proposed plank states: “We support the full inclusion of all families in the life of our nation, with equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law, including the freedom to marry. Government has no business putting barriers in the path of people seeking to care for their family members, particularly in challenging economic times. We support the Respect for Marriage Act and the overturning of the federal so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and oppose discriminatory constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny the freedom to marry to loving and committed same-sex couples.”

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill tells Metro Weekly, “Leader Pelosi supports this language.”

The Democrats’ 2008 platform opposed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which the Obama administration is no longer defending in court, but took no position on marriage equality. Obama has said that he is still “evolving” on the issue, even as a growing number of Democratic lawmakers now support marriage. At least 91 Democrats in the House, including Democratic National Committee chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and 23 senators back same-sex marriage. Twelve Democratic governors (and one Independent, Gov. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island) also favor full marriage rights.

Alyssa

15 Women GQ Could Have Named To Its Powerful People In Washington List

By Alyssa Rosenberg on Jan 19, 2012 at 11:06 am

GQ’s 50 Most Powerful People in Washington list came out yesterday. And it turns out that there are just 11 women on the list, two of whom (Heather Podesta and Lissa Muscatine) appear in the rankings with their husbands; three of whom (Svetlana Legetic, Jayne Sandeman and Barbara Martin*) appear as a single item on the city’s social scene; and one of whom, Buffy Wicks, appears at the end of a long list of men who will play key roles in the 2012 elections. Just five of them, Hillary Clinton, Kathy Ruemmler, Nancy Hogan, Patty Murray, and Liz Cheney get to stand on their own. There are some deeply bizarre exclusions here, ignoring women who wield power in the administration, the media, and think tanks and academia. Here are 15 we think could — and should — have made the cut.

1. Valerie Jarrett. Or Nancy-Ann DeParle. Or Samantha Power. Three of President Obama’s closest advisors are women, who have guided his thinking on everything from Libya strategy to health care reform. If that doesn’t count as power, I’m not sure what does.

2. Nancy Pelosi. The former speaker of the House may have lost her fanciest job title getting President Obama’s health care bill passed, but all that means is that she did exactly what elected officials are supposed to do: value policy results over the outcome of the next election cycle. And having your party down doesn’t mean you’re out. Pelosi is still a force in the House, even in the minority.

3. Katharine Weymouth. The Washington Post may not be the paper it once was, but that hardly means it doesn’t matter. As the Post’s publisher, Weymouth runs the biggest paper in town. She’s important, especially as the Post competes with upstarts like Politico and builds new initiatives like Ezra Klein’s publication-within-a-publication, Wonkbook.

4. Jane Mayer. The New Yorker’s resident giant slayer isn’t afraid to take on anyone, from the Koch brothers, to Art Pope, to the architects of the worst of the war on terror. Another rising Washington reporter, Annie Lowrey, who is part of the New York Times’ economic team, could also be on this list.

5. Neera Tanden. No, it’s not just because she’s my boss. It’s inexplicable that GQ would pick Liz Cheney, who runs the strawman think tank Keep America Safe and contributes to Fox News while ignoring the woman who runs one of the most powerful think tanks in Washington, and who was a key adviser to Hillary Clinton to boot. There’s real power, and there’s the ability to fling rhetorical bombs. Any power list worth its salt should distinguish between the two.

6. Maureen Dowd. She may go waspish more than she goes sincere. But even if you think she’s light, there’s no question that Dowd can skewer her subjects, or define them, whether with uncomfortable nicknames or facts.

7. Kathleen Sebilius. Or Janet Napolitano. Or Michèle Flournoy. Or Mary Schapiro. President Obama has women overseeing everything from implementation of his health care law, to homeland security, to the country’s securities oversight, a critical issue in this economic crisis. And Flournoy could be Secretary of Defense some day, too.

8. Jessica P. Einhorn, Dean of Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University. SAIS is a highly respected institution, and Einhorn is part of an important generation of women in foreign policy, and this summer, will wrap up 10 years of creating the next one.

9. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The senior woman on the Supreme Court has hung on through health issues to continue her life-long fight for women’s rights.

10. Chan Heng Chee. Washington isn’t just a town where American policy gets made. It’s also the home of a vibrant diplomatic community. The deputy dean of the diplomatic corps, Ambassador Chan is the leader of Washington’s women ambassadors, a fixture in the city’s social scene, and has a long-game perspective on the American relationship with Asia.

*Full disclosure: I worked with Jayne and Barbara while I was at Washingtonian, and like and respect them both. If you’re going to put the curators of the social scene on the list, they undeniably belong there.

NEWS FLASH

Pelosi Lashes Out At Gay Republicans: ‘They’ve Chosen A Party That Supports Their Income,’ But ‘Denigrates Them’ | Nancy Pelosi lashed out against gay Republicans during an interview in the February issue of the Advocate. “They’ve chosen a party that supports their income — a party that denigrates them and treats them with disrespect,” Pelosi told reporter Andrew Harmon. The former House speaker is “pushing the DNC to help fund the fight against anti-marriage equality ballot measures in Minnesota and North Carolina as well as a campaign in Maine that aims to overturn a 2009 ballot measure that rescinded marriage rights for same-sex couples in the state.” “There are more ways to get your voice heard than just speaking…. But I hope the president would just say he supports equality in marriage,” Pelosi said.

Economy

House Democrats Rush Floor Demanding Republicans Come Back To Work, GOP Cuts Off C-SPAN

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jan 6, 2012 at 2:47 pm

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and a group of Democratic lawmakers took to an empty House floor today to demonstrate that they were willing to work while Republicans lawmakers are at home. “Where are the Republicans?” demanded Assistant to the Minority Leader James Clyburn (R-SC). Joining Pelosi and Clyburn were five other House Democrats who are assigned to the payroll-tax extension conference committee.

Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA), representing House Republicans, quickly banged his gavel over the Democrats’ voices, and instructed the clerk to stop taking notes of the proceedings. Moments later, the microphones were silenced and C-SPAN’s video feed was cut. (The House leadership controls the cameras and has previously cut video of Democrats on the floor.) Watch it:

The theatrical stunt also serves to underscore Provident Obama’s claim this week that Congress is effectively in recess, thus allowing him to make recess appointments, even though the Senate has been holding 30-second long pro-forma sessions.

LGBT

Nancy Pelosi Intervenes To Stop Deportation, Keep Gay Couple Together

By Marie Diamond on Jan 5, 2012 at 10:25 am

As ThinkProgress has often reported, many binational gay couples live in constant fear of being separated by deportation because the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prevents the federal government from recognizing their relationships. But for one San Francisco couple at least, the story has a happy ending, thanks to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

Pelosi personally intervened on behalf of two of her constituents, Bradford Wells and Anthony John Makk, a couple who have lived in San Francisco’s Castro District for the better part of 19 years and were married in Massachusetts in 2004:

Makk is an Australian citizen who was facing deportation after the couple was denied spousal immigration benefits under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which blocks federal benefits to same-sex couples.

Wednesday the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sent the couple a letter that they have been granted a two year deferred action on deportation. Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, personally intervened on behalf of the couple to ensure that Makk could stay in the country.

“The positive resolution of Anthony’s immigration petition is a personal victory for Bradford and Anthony, and keeps this loving couple together,” Pelosi said in a statement. Pelosi told the couple about the ruling herself Wednesday.

According to Metro Weekly, Pelosi also noted the broader implications of the case: “Anthony would have faced deportation because of the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, even though he has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, has no criminal history, has never lived here illegally and is the primary caregiver to his husband.”

She applauded the recent efforts of the Obama administration to close many low-priority immigration deportation proceedings, including those against same-sex couples. Pelosi also pledged to fight for the full repeal of DOMA, which continues to keep many other binational gay couples in legal limbo.

Health

GOP Jumps On Pelosi Waiver Story To Regurgitate False Claims About Health Law

By Igor Volsky on Oct 31, 2011 at 12:55 pm

Conservative blogs and Fox News lit up this weekend after House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told CNBC on Friday that the businesses that received government waivers from the Affordable Care Act are “small,” gleefully pointing out that large corporations like McDonalds also applied for and were granted exemptions. Watch the segment:


The story perpetuates two important Republican myths — one completely unsubstantiated and refuted charge that Democrats inappropriately influenced HHS to grant waivers to politically-connected unions or companies in Pelosi’s district, and the second that the waivers themselves are proof that the law is not working as intended.

The waivers — some 1,800 in all — are part of the law itself and speak more to its success than failure. The ACA provides HHS with flexibility to grant businesses and states additional time to comply with the law’s requirements, permitting these entities to gradually transition beneficiaries from subprime insurance into more comprehensive basic coverage. In other words, the waivers are a bridge to 2014: businesses with insurance plans that are structured in such a way as to make it impossible to meet the regulations surrounding annual limits and medical loss ratios will have additional time to redesign their benefit packages and won’t dump coverage for their existing employees before they can enroll in insurance through the state-based exchanges.

If anything, the flexibility that waivers provide undermines the GOP’s main criticism against reform — that the ACA is a one-size-fits-all law designed by bureaucrats without taking the needs of business into consideration. And conservatives are now pretending that in following the letter of the law, the administration is actually allowing businesses to circumvent it.

Economy

Herman Cain Mocks ‘Princess Nancy’ And Other Democrats Who ‘Didn’t Want To Lay Off Teeeeachers’

By Scott Keyes on Oct 14, 2011 at 1:45 pm

Last fall, Republicans attempted to block a jobs bill proposed by congressional Democrats that would have prevented tens of thousands of teachers across the country from being laid off. Though Democrats were able to overcome Republican objections and pass the legislation, many conservatives were less than enthusiastic about saving teachers’ jobs.

One such voice was former pizza executive and current Republican presidential frontrunner Herman Cain. Cain, a radio host in Atlanta, Georgia for three years, blasted the proposal to save teachers’ jobs during his radio show on Aug. 11, 2010. The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO mocked those who “[d]idn’t want to lay off teeeeachers” and called the move a “$26 billion bailout of teeeeachers.” Cain then went on to deride then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, referring to her as “Princess Nancy”:

CAIN: You heard about the $26 billion bailout of teeeeachers. Didn’t want to lay off teeeeachers. Here’s what I want to share with you in this segment tonight. It’s called, “beneath the $26 billion bailout.” [...]

What I want to do this segment is peel back the onion on the $26 billion bailout that they rushed back to Congress in an emergency session called by “Princess Nancy!” “This is an absolute national congressional emergency!” They rushed back to pass this $26 billion emergency jobs bill. It was a $26 billion spending bill.

Listen to it:

Cain’s dismissal of the teachers’ jobs bill as a “bailout” is absurd for two reasons. First, Cain was among the 2008 bailout’s biggest supporters. Second, ensuring that educators continue to receive a paycheck isn’t a “bailout,” it’s a salary. Wall Street bankers deserve to be rescued, in Cain’s worldview, but attempts to save teachers’ jobs are met with scorn.

Considering the rhetoric Cain has employed regarding the recent Wall Street protests — “if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!” — it’s no surprise that the former pizza executive would mock attempts to save teachers’ jobs.

Update

Later in the segment, Cain went on to further mock the proposal to prevent teacher layoffs. “Now they say that this was supposed to save teachers’ jobs! Duh duh duh da duh da! The federal government to the rescue!” Cain yelled in an impersonation of the Superman theme. “We can’t let kids show up for schools, and not have teachers!” Cain said, facetiously. Watch it:

Despite Cain’s taunts, the bill was instrumental in protecting thousands upon thousands of teachers’ jobs that were threatened because of state and local budget shortfalls.

NEWS FLASH

Nancy Pelosi: GOP’s Anti-Abortion Bill Would Let Women ‘Die On The Floor’ Of A Hospital | Completely ignoring their promise to focus on jobs, House Republicans will vote today on their “Protect Life Act.” Known by opponents as the “Let Women Die” bill, the measure would allow hospitals receiving federal support to turn away a woman seeking an abortion in any circumstance, even if it is necessary to save her life. At a press conference ahead of the vote, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) blasted the Republican’s bill as “just appalling.” “When the Republicans vote for this bill today, they will be voting to say that women can die on the floor,” she noted. Watch it:


Yesterday, President Obama promised to veto this and any bill that would restrict insurers from paying for abortions as it “goes well beyond the safeguards found in current law.”

Update

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) described the GOP’s efforts as misogynist from the House floor:

By Tanya Somanader on Oct 13, 2011 at 5:04 pm

NEWS FLASH

Pelosi Calls Out Cantor’s Hypocrisy For Smearing Occupy Wall Street | House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called out Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) for calling the 99 percent movement a “growing mob” after having supported the Tea Party movement. “I didn’t hear him say anything when the tea party was out demonstrating, actually spitting on members of Congress right here in the Capitol,” Pelosi said ABC’s “This Week” yesterday. “And he and his colleagues were putting signs in the windows encouraging them.” Watch it, via Politico:

Security

On Its 10th Anniversary, Progressive Lawmakers Call For End To War In Afghanistan

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Oct 7, 2011 at 11:08 am

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, and progressive lawmakers are using the date to call for its end. The U.S. has largely completed its mission in Afghanistan, they say, so we shouldn’t continue sending American troops into harms way. Moreover, the fighting has been extremely costly — a recent Brown University study found that 10 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost between $2.3 and $2.7 trillion — and lawmakers are calling for an end to that spending at at a time when the needy are facing cuts at home, the Hill reports:

“Bin Laden is gone, Al-Qaeda has been scattered around the globe, and yet we continue to risk the lives of brave Americans and squander billions of dollars after a decade of interminable conflict,” [Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY)] added. “It has to stop.” [...]

“The American people are weary of war, period, and want our troops to come home,” [House Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi [D-CA] said. “We appreciate that the president is winding that war down, and we won’t have many more anniversaries of the longest wars in our country’s history.” [...]

“We are now spending $120 billion a year in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And incredibly, President Obama – who I strongly support in general – is contemplating staying in Iraq even longer than George Bush wanted to,” [Rep. Barney] Frank [D-NY] said Tuesday to a crowd of liberal activists gathered in Washington for the Take Back the American Dream conference. “That is totally unacceptable, and we must make that very clear.”

The war in Afghanistan, which President Bush launched on Oct. 7 2001, became the longest war in American history last July.

Under Obama, the U.S. has begun to draw down its troop presence, beginning with pulling the 33,000 surge troops by the end of 2012 and the remaining 68,000 by the end of 2014. But yesterday, the defense ministers from the 49 nations that make up the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan pledged their support to the country, even after 2014. “Let there be no mistake: transition is not departure. We will not take our leave when the Afghans take the lead,” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters.

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