Rep. Payne Praises Pelosi As She Steps Down From House Leadership

NEW JERSEY — Rep. Donald Payne Jr. of New Jersey was among the Democratic Party Congress members who had high words of praise for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as she announced plans to step down from her leadership post on Thursday.

Pelosi, who has served as a congresswoman in California since 1987, has been one of the most visible, high-profile Democrats in the United States for the past two decades. She was the first woman to serve in the post of House speaker – which is second in line to succeed the president after the vice president.

Pelosi announced her plans in a midday floor speech on the House floor, a day after Republicans clinched control of the House of Representatives, The New York Times reported.

Pelosi said she will continue to serve as a congresswoman, CNN reported.

With Republicans winning a majority in the House, they now have an opportunity to elect their own leaders, including the speakership, Fox News reported. The party will also gain an edge in dictating the legislative agenda for at least two years.

But in New Jersey – and the rest of the nation – Pelosi’s contributions as speaker won’t be forgotten, Payne said.

According to Payne, who represents the state’s 10th Congressional district (Essex, Hudson, Union):

“For 35 years and two terms, Nancy Patricia Pelosi has courageously and patriotically executed her duties and responsibility of representing San Francisco, California’s 12th Congressional District. For 19 years, she has fearlessly led House Democrats, shattering glass ceilings and consistently breaking barriers as the first and only woman to ever serve our nation as speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Today, she announced her decision to pass the torch to new Democratic House leadership in the 118th Congress.”

Payne recalled his first year as a congressman in 2012, when he was elected just months after the death of his “hero and father,” Donald Payne Sr.

“I will never forget the way that Speaker Pelosi took me and other newly elected democrats under her wing in the 113th Congress, mentoring us and providing guidance and leadership through some of our nation’s most turbulent times,” Payne said.

“Over the years, our relationship and my admiration for Speaker Pelosi has only grown,” he continued. “As she announces her decision to new democratic House Leadership. I am overcome with gratitude, emotion, and deep appreciation for all that she has been to us and all that she will ever be to our nation.”

“I am thankful that my constituents of New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District afforded me to the opportunity to serve with her,” he added. “She will forever be one of the greatest political figures in our nation’s history.”

The congressman continued:

“It was her hands that helped craft and enact lifesaving legislation that helped turn the tide of the COVID-19 pandemic ensuring that vaccines made it into the arms of hundreds of millions of Americans. And it was her hands that engineered the Build Back Better Act and the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act, which helped bring down the cost of prescription drugs, deliver lower health care premiums and the most consequential climate action in human history. We remember Speaker Pelosi as the architect of the Affordable Care Act and her legacy securing protections for all Americans with pre-existing medical conditions. She envisioned and crafted policies that have successfully ended annual and lifetime limits on health coverage, which has made available affordable health coverage for tens of millions of Americans.”

Payne concluded:

“Speaker Pelosi is a patriot and her love for our country and the democracy on which it stands is incalculable and will forever transcend party politics or ideology. Let her decision, announced today, and made only hours after Republicans received the votes to control the House of Representatives in the 118th Congress, perhaps best exemplify her belief and commitment to our nation and the democracy on which it stands. Our nation will forever be grateful for her selfless strides towards helping us form a more perfect union.”

Send news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.