Nancy Pelosi: “First, congratulations to each and every Member of this House on your swearing-in to the 108th Congress which is about…”

“First, congratulations to each and every Member of this House on your swearing-in to the 108th Congress which is about to occur. A special congratulations and welcome to the freshmen to the Capitol and certainly to their families and friends. Let us all welcome our freshmen Members. Let me also thank my Democratic colleagues. I am humbled by the honor they have bestowed upon me to become the House Democratic leader. I know that I speak for all of us when I express profound gratitude to our esteemed colleague, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt). We thank the gentleman for his unwavering service to this institution and to our country. It is a great honor to follow in his footsteps. And to my family, my dear husband, Paul, our five children, and our five grandchildren, and to my D'Alesandro family, I thank them very much for the love, support, encouragement, and joy that they have given me. Because of you, and the people of San Francisco, whom I am honored to serve, I had the unprecedented privilege today to have my name placed in nomination as the first woman ever to do so in the history of the House of Representatives. I am grateful to my colleagues for the confidence and proud of my party for breaking down another barrier and leading America closer to the ideal of equality that is both our heritage and our hope. We serve in the people's House; and today, I want to pay tribute to the American people.…”