House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is under fire after Democratic candidates lost four special elections to replace lawmakers selected for posts in President Donald Trump's administration, but she said Monday there is "no way" she'll step down while Trump is in the White House and Republicans have control of Congress.
"Let me tell you why I should stay instead," Pelosi told the "CBS This Morning" program. "I'm a master legislator, experienced in terms of knowing institutional memory of the Congress. If Hillary Clinton had won, I might have gone home, but with Donald Trump in the White House, with a Republican majority in the White House, no way."
Further, Pelosi said, Democrats may have lost four races, including experiencing a bruising defeat in Georgia's special election last week, but there are far more races ahead that Democrats will win.
"These are four races chosen by Donald Trump, four races where there were double-digit leads for Republicans in previous elections," the California lawmaker and former House speaker said.
"We picked up 70 points, 25 in one race, 15, 20 like that in the four races. People in those states are very happy because we've pushed the Republicans very far back."
Pelosi said she likes to win, but "the people in Georgia worked very hard, in all those places. They made great progress. They lost, but there are 70 races that are easier for us than any of those."
Democratic Reps. Kathleen Rice of New York, Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Tim Ryan of Ohio are said to be spearheading the push to remove Pelosi from her leadership role.
Ryan last year ran for the House minority leader spot against Pelosi, but fell short.
"They had their time on TV," Pelosi said Monday. "This is such a small item. It isn't about me. Right now, our fight is about the Affordable Care Act. I've always had a fight in the caucus right from the start."
Pelosi said she had the same opponents against her in November, after Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton lost to Trump.
As for now, the challenge is with saving the Affordable Care Act, Pelosi said, but there still remains a problem about how the party conveys its message.
"I say to people, it happens with your spouse as well," said Pelosi. "If you think you're communicating and they don't think you're communicating, then you're not communicating. It isn't about our agenda. It isn't even about our message. It's about the communication of it."
At this point, nobody knows if there will be enough votes in the Senate to pass the Republicans' healthcare bill, she said, but the Congressional Business Office's review of the legislation, expected out on Monday, will be important.
"We do know that many more people, millions, hundreds of thousands of people will die if this bill passes," said Pelosi, and she does not think there is room for Republicans to fix it, although she does think Obamacare can be saved through a bipartisan effort.
"That's what we had hoped President Trump would want to do from the start instead of sabotaging it," said Pelosi.
"Some of the ills of it are because of the Republicans, when they took power, not renewing some of the things that were in there. And any bill that is passed, you see implementation and you know how you can improve it. But these bills systemically, structurally, they're very harmful to the benefits. "
However, she does not think there is anything that can be worked with from the current version of the American Healthcare Act.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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