If Democrats are able to regain control of the House of Representatives from the failed Republicans, they have some big plans for the last years of the Obama presidency, like comprehensive childcare.
In an interview with The Hill, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi explains.
Pelosi and other Democrats have emerged from the shutdown fight with new confidence, and she vowed her party would “of course” pick up seats next year. It is the first time Pelosi has guaranteed that Democrats will cut into the GOP’s majority.
Atop her priority list as Speaker, she said, would be “comprehensive affordable, quality childcare” for working mothers, which she sees as a natural extension of ObamaCare.
“That would have the biggest impact on women, families and … job creation,” Pelosi said. “That was on President Nixon’s desk … in the ’70s, and he vetoed it for cultural or whatever reasons. And now we have to do that again.”
Pelosi, the nation’s first female Speaker, has long fought for progressive legislation on women’s issues, whether at home, in the workforce or in politics.
Of a federal childcare law, she said: “This is the missing link in so many things that we’ve talked about. It is not exhaustive of all the things we want to do or have done with regard to women, but I do think it would unleash the power of women.”