Vice President Kamala Harris and Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi made historical past Wednesday as the primary girls — one among them Black and Indian American — to share the stage in Congress throughout a presidential tackle.President Joe Biden famous the historic growth on the very opening of his tackle. After taking the rostrum, Biden greeted the 2 girls standing behind him with a “Madam Speaker” and “Madam Vice President.”He then declared, “No president has ever stated these phrases — and it’s about time.”Biden delivered his first prime-time speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night time flanked by Pelosi and Harris, two California Democrats.The 2 started the night time with one other historic second: An elbow-bump howdy, a pandemic spin on the standard handshake. Pelosi and Harris stood facet by facet behind the dais within the Home chamber, chatting with one another and sometimes waving to lawmakers because the group waited for Biden to reach.“It is fairly thrilling. And it is fantastic to make historical past. It is about time,” Pelosi stated hours earlier than the speech throughout an interview on MSNBC.Pelosi already is aware of what it appears like to take a seat on the podium within the Home chamber and introduce a president for his or her speeches. She has sat there for a number of addresses by Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.Girls’s advocates stated seeing Harris and Pelosi seated collectively behind Biden shall be a “lovely second.” However they famous that electing a girl to take a seat within the Oval Workplace stays to be achieved, together with the addition of an equal rights modification to the Structure.Biden helped usher the second alongside by pledging to choose a girl for his operating mate and deciding on Harris, then a U.S. senator from California.“It is a nice begin and we have now to proceed to maneuver ahead to present girls their equal due,” stated Christian Nunes, president of the Nationwide Group for Girls.Pelosi made historical past by changing into the primary feminine Home speaker throughout Republican Bush’s presidency. He acknowledged the second by noting throughout his tackle to Congress after Pelosi’s election that he had the privilege of being the primary president to open with the phrases “madam speaker.”Pelosi, 81, reclaimed the highly effective management submit throughout Republican Trump’s presidency and sat behind him throughout his ultimate two speeches to Congress, famously ripping up her copy of Trump’s remarks in 2023 as cameras continued to roll after he was completed addressing lawmakers.Harris, 56, made historical past final 12 months when she turned the primary girl and first Black and Indian American particular person elected vp. In her position as president of the Senate, she joins Pelosi to preside over the joint session of Congress.Debbie Walsh, director of the Middle for American Girls and Politics at Rutgers College, stated Wednesday night time will present males, girls, girls and boys that girls can attain and maintain high-level positions and that they’re as entitled to them as males are.Walsh additionally famous Biden’s promise to place a girl on his ticket, and pointed as properly to the variety of his Cupboard. She stated Biden was prone to start the speech by turning round to face Pelosi and Harris and feeling proud — not simply personally, “however I additionally suppose proud for the nation and proud for his celebration and I believe he’ll clearly see the historic implications of this and the position that he performed in making that occur.”“For all of us who care about girls’s public management, we nonetheless look ahead to the day when the particular person standing on the podium, in entrance, is a girl,” Walsh added. “However for now it is a notably gratifying second.”Harris’ workplace declined remark Wednesday on her historic position within the president’s tackle, preferring to let the second converse for itself.Aside from the speech Wednesday, Harris and Pelosi have notched one other first in U.S. and girls’s historical past. They’re first and second, respectively, within the line of presidential succession.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi made historical past Wednesday as the primary girls — one among them Black and Indian American — to share the stage in Congress throughout a presidential tackle.
President Joe Biden famous the historic growth on the very opening of his tackle. After taking the rostrum, Biden greeted the 2 girls standing behind him with a “Madam Speaker” and “Madam Vice President.”
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He then declared, “No president has ever stated these phrases — and it’s about time.”
Biden delivered his first prime-time speech to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night time flanked by Pelosi and Harris, two California Democrats.
The 2 started the night time with one other historic second: An elbow-bump howdy, a pandemic spin on the standard handshake. Pelosi and Harris stood facet by facet behind the dais within the Home chamber, chatting with one another and sometimes waving to lawmakers because the group waited for Biden to reach.
“It is fairly thrilling. And it is fantastic to make historical past. It is about time,” Pelosi stated hours earlier than the speech throughout an interview on MSNBC.
Pelosi already is aware of what it appears like to take a seat on the podium within the Home chamber and introduce a president for his or her speeches. She has sat there for a number of addresses by Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Girls’s advocates stated seeing Harris and Pelosi seated collectively behind Biden shall be a “lovely second.” However they famous that electing a girl to take a seat within the Oval Workplace stays to be achieved, together with the addition of an equal rights modification to the Structure.
Biden helped usher the second alongside by pledging to choose a girl for his operating mate and deciding on Harris, then a U.S. senator from California.
“It is a nice begin and we have now to proceed to maneuver ahead to present girls their equal due,” stated Christian Nunes, president of the Nationwide Group for Girls.
Pelosi made historical past by changing into the primary feminine Home speaker throughout Republican Bush’s presidency. He acknowledged the second by noting throughout his tackle to Congress after Pelosi’s election that he had the privilege of being the primary president to open with the phrases “madam speaker.”
Pelosi, 81, reclaimed the highly effective management submit throughout Republican Trump’s presidency and sat behind him throughout his ultimate two speeches to Congress, famously ripping up her copy of Trump’s remarks in 2023 as cameras continued to roll after he was completed addressing lawmakers.
Harris, 56, made historical past final 12 months when she turned the primary girl and first Black and Indian American particular person elected vp. In her position as president of the Senate, she joins Pelosi to preside over the joint session of Congress.
Debbie Walsh, director of the Middle for American Girls and Politics at Rutgers College, stated Wednesday night time will present males, girls, girls and boys that girls can attain and maintain high-level positions and that they’re as entitled to them as males are.
Walsh additionally famous Biden’s promise to place a girl on his ticket, and pointed as properly to the variety of his Cupboard. She stated Biden was prone to start the speech by turning round to face Pelosi and Harris and feeling proud — not simply personally, “however I additionally suppose proud for the nation and proud for his celebration and I believe he’ll clearly see the historic implications of this and the position that he performed in making that occur.”
“For all of us who care about girls’s public management, we nonetheless look ahead to the day when the particular person standing on the podium, in entrance, is a girl,” Walsh added. “However for now it is a notably gratifying second.”
Harris’ workplace declined remark Wednesday on her historic position within the president’s tackle, preferring to let the second converse for itself.
Aside from the speech Wednesday, Harris and Pelosi have notched one other first in U.S. and girls’s historical past. They’re first and second, respectively, within the line of presidential succession.
