America will be far safer if we reduce the chances of a terrorist attack in one of our cities than if we diminish the civil liberties of our own people.

Committee assignments
In the House Nancy Pelosi served on the Appropriations and Intelligence Committees and was the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee until her election as Minority Leader. She picked Pelosi as her designated successor guaranteeing her the support of the Burtons' contacts. Nowhere were the American people more clear about the need for a new direction than in Iraq.

After the Democrats took control of the House in 2007 and increased their majority in 2009 Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House for the 110th and 111th Congresses. Pelosi is the first woman the first Californian and first Italian-American to lead a major party in Congress. The district was numbered as the 5th during Pelosi's first three terms in the House and as the 8th from 1993 to 2013.