Pelosi, Speier attract hundreds to town hall
Pink Pussyhats and poster board protest signs dotted the auditorium at Balboa High School on Saturday as hundreds of San Franciscans turned out to hear House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jackie Speier speak about a wide range of topics, including health care reform and the Trump administration’s fresh defeat, Russian influence in U.S. politics, climate change and more.
But the protest signs and pink knitted hats — a widely used symbol of the Women’s March protests that followed President Trump’s inauguration — belied a room that was largely welcoming to the two Democrats.
Unlike several Republican-led town halls earlier this year, where angry constituents confronted legislators over the GOP’s plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and allegations of the Trump administration’s coziness with Russian officials, the questions lobbed at Pelosi and Speier were often paired with thank-yous and couched by the acknowledgment that with Democratic minorities in both houses of Congress, the party’s hands remain somewhat tied.
“What a tonic you are to each of us ... because it underscores why we are doing what we’re doing,” said Speier, D-Hillsborough. “This week was an extraordinary week because it proved this country is great because the foundation of this country is solid. ”
But several people who turned out Saturday said they wanted more than words from the two representatives.
“They said a lot of good things in there,” San Francisco resident Juli Carter, 43, said after the meeting. “What we want, what I think all of us seemed to want, is for them to back those words up with action. To really fight back. To be more aggressive in resisting Trump’s agenda.”
If there were any Trump supporters in the crowd, they weren’t willing to speak out in deepblue San Francisco, where the president has few backers.
Several in the crowd clamored for Pelosi to capitalize on the failure of Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan to pass an alternative to Obamacare and support a singlepayer health care plan — a system where the government would replace insurance companies in paying for people’s health care.
Pelosi, who turns 77 Sunday, touted her longstanding support for a single-payer plan, repeating to several people in the audience that she had been carrying signs in the street supporting such a system “since before you were born.”
“What I would say — and I want the president to hear me say this — is we’re ready to talk about how we can make some improvements to the Affordable Care Act,” she said. “Please recognize the fight we’re in now. When we passed the ACA, it was something that took 100 years to do. Was it perfect? No. Would I have preferred a singlepayer system? Yes. If you want to move to single payer, what you should do ... is support state options.”