In an interview for the FRONTLINE documentary “Pelosi’s Power,” Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi offers her own perspective on her decades in Congress and shares details about key legislative battles.
“I said, ‘Well, we have an opportunity of a generation,’" she tells FRONTLINE. "We’re not going to let anything stand in our way to pass the Affordable Care Act. If there is a big fence blocking us, we will push open the gate. If that doesn’t work, we’ll climb the fence. If that doesn’t work, we’ll pole-vault in.’”
Pelosi was first elected as a U.S. representative (D-Calif.) in 1987. She served as speaker of the House from 2007 until 2011 and resumed the role again in 2019.
The following interview was conducted by FRONTLINE’s Jim Gilmore on Dec. 6, 2021. It has been edited for clarity and length.
“Pelosi’s Power” premieres March 22, 2022.
This interview is being published as part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind our documentaries. Explore the transcript of this interview, and others, on the FRONTLINE website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/about-frontlines-transparency-project/
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