House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., quipped this week that she thinks “a lot” about what she might do if she “ruled the world.”
Speaking at the 67th annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, where she accepted the Women for Peace and Security Award, on Monday, Pelosi said she often thinks about which policy issue she would prioritize if she was in charge of everything.
“When people ask me, ‘If you ruled the world, what one thing would you do?’—I think about that a lot,” Pelosi told the crowd. “It would be to prioritize the education of women and girls … It would make the biggest difference not only in their lives, their families, their communities but to the world.”
At home, however, Pelosi has found herself powerless to pass Democrats’ massive agenda.
At least two Democratic senators oppose their party’s $3.5 trillion spending bill, vowing publicly not to support it until the price tag is reduced.
And in the House, progressives have said they will vote against President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill if the Senate does not pass the $3.5 trillion bill as well.
In response to progressives’ demands, Pelosi delayed a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, leading to backlash from more moderate Democrats.
“While I have great respect for the Speaker, I believe her decision to again delay a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill is wrong,” Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., said in a statement.
“This promise was enshrined in a House resolution that every Democrat supported,” she said. “This written commitment was the only reason there were enough votes in the House to even start the reconciliation process—that is, to begin the process of writing the Build Back Better Act.”
Another moderate, Rep. Josh Gottehimer, D-N.J., accused Pelosi of “breaching her firm, public commitment to members of Congress and the American people to hold a vote and to pass the once-in-a-century bipartisan infrastructure bill.”
