“The president plans to announce her plans for the future tomorrow to her colleagues. To be continued,” her spokesperson, Drew Hammill, tweeted on Wednesday evening, without further details.
The third figure in the American state, this 82-year-old woman is known for her role as the first opponent of Donald Trump, whom she fiercely fought when he occupied the White House.
A tactician gifted with an unparalleled political flair, she has often made rain or shine on Capitol Hill where she was elected “speaker” in 2007, being the first woman to occupy the perch of the lower house.
In recent months, it is his commitment to Taiwan that has caused a lot of talk: his visit to the island claimed by the Chinese authorities, this summer, had angered Beijing.
At the end of October, her husband was attacked in the middle of the night at their home in California by a man armed with a hammer. He was actually looking for Nancy Pelosi, whom he accused of lying and to whom he intended to “break the kneecaps”.
The drama marked the Democrat, who said she was “traumatized”.
Just before the November 8 election, she told CNN that the attack would influence her decision whether or not to retire if the Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives.
This is what happened on Wednesday evening, at the end of a week of suspenseful counting as the complex American electoral system knows how to create.
In the end, the Republicans grabbed a majority of at least 218 seats which, although very narrow, will give them blocking power over Joe Biden’s policy until 2024.
The Congress thus finds itself divided, the Democrats having managed to retain control of the Senate.
In this configuration, Joe Biden’s party will no longer be able to vote on major projects. But neither does the other side.
The Republicans had threatened to unravel certain measures adopted under Joe Biden if they regained control of the two chambers. They wanted in particular to reconsider the funds allocated to the tax services to hire new agents, or on certain reforms in the world of education.
Republicans could also be more fussy about Washington’s aid to Ukraine.
They had also planned to attack the right to abortion or to legislate on firearms, which would have pushed Joe Biden to use his right of veto.
The 79-year-old president will not ultimately be forced to camp on this defensive posture. And will on the contrary have to use his negotiating skills, inherited from his long career as a senator, to avoid a paralysis of the federal administration (the famous “shutdown”).
But the outstretched hand of the president is likely to come up against a red wall, the color of the conservatives.
Even with a slim majority in the House, Republicans will have substantial inspection power, which they have promised to use for a host of investigations into Joe Biden’s handling of the pandemic or the withdrawal of Afghanistan.
They could also go after his son Hunter, accused of using his name to do business in Ukraine and China.
The Conservative Party intends to exploit any potential Democratic flaw, keeping the 2024 presidential election in sight. With his declaration of candidacy on Tuesday, Donald Trump launched a merciless fight for the nomination of the Republican Party for the election to the White House.
