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A4 up front
Monday 19 august 2019

House speaker as U.S. emissary: Pelosi emerges as force abroad

Continued from Front the subject of a Trump rally
chant, “Send her back!”
She is reviving a more tradi- Former Secretary of State
tional American approach Madeleine Albright said
to foreign policy, in style that at a time when U.S.
and substance, reinforc- policy is “confusing every-
ing long-standing U.S. alli- body in the world,” Pelosi
ances and commitments and the members of Con-
to democracy and human gress are trying to “present
rights, at a time when the the best face of America.”
old order appears to be “Thank goodness that
slipping away. they’re doing this,” Albright
“What’s really important for said.
people to know is, we’re all With the lawmakers, Pe-
in this together,” Pelosi told losi is sending a “very clear
The Associated Press in an message” to the foreign
interview. “This isn’t about officials in the room, said
me. It’s about our country Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif.,
and our shared values, to a Guatemalan American
show our strength of who who joined the Central
we are and what we be- American trip.
lieve.” “Presidents come and go.
Since retaking the speak- Congress will always be
er’s gavel this year, Pelosi there,” Torres said.
has led large congressio- The scope of Pelosi’s diplo- In this Aug. 8, 2019, file photo, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gives a news conference at the Air
nal delegations abroad: macy often resonates with Force Base in Guatemala City.
to assure European allies members of the president’s Associated Press
at a Munich security con- party, creating rare biparti- and urged the Hong Kong grich, R-Ga., visited the during the federal govern-
ference; warn Britons of san accord. government to end the former Soviet Union. More ment shutdown.
the pitfalls of Brexit; assess This past week, when Trump standoff. It was a sentiment recently, when John Boeh- Trump dismissed Pelosi’s
the migrant crisis in Cen- said he hopes it works out shared by several top Re- ner, R-Ohio, was speaker, “excursion” as a “public re-
tral America; and mark the with Hong Kong pro-de- publicans, including Sen- he invited Israel’s Benjamin lations event” and suggest-
400th anniversary of the mocracy protesters facing ate Majority Leader Mitch Netanyahu to address a ed the lawmakers could
slave trade in Africa with retaliation from China — “I McConnell of Kentucky. joint meeting of Congress fly on commercial aircraft
members of the Congres- hope nobody gets killed,” Congressional leaders rou- amid opposition to the to the combat zone. Con-
sional Black Caucus, in- he told reporters — Pe- tinely play a role influenc- Obama administration’s gressional travel is, by law,
cluding the immigrant con- losi affirmed the U.S. com- ing policy abroad. While nuclear deal with Iran. Pe- federally funded.
gresswoman who became mitment to human rights House speaker, Newt Gin- losi, as a young lawmaker, Critics may see the trips as
went to China to oppose merely junkets or, worse,
the violent crackdown on meddling in the administra-
democracy protesters in Ti- tion’s foreign affairs. Ameri-
ananmen Square. can politicians generally
But not since the late Re- abide by a rule to leave
publican Sen. John Mc- their political differences
Cain, R-Ariz., globe-trotted at water’s edge. During
the world has a U.S. law- a trip to Africa, Pelosi sur-
maker emerged with such prised some when she de-
a presence, as a protector clined to answer questions
of long-held American val- about Trump’s racist tweets
ues, as Pelosi. against members of Con-
“This is what diplomacy gress.
looks like,” said Rep. Jim Sometimes more can be
McGovern, D-Mass., who said diplomatically by say-
traveled with Pelosi this ing little.
month to Guatemala, El At the Munich security con-
Salvador and Honduras ference this year, Pelosi
as the migrant crisis at the was embraced by Europe-
U.S.-Mexico border played an leaders at a time when
out. Trump’s attacks on NATO
Trump has not been were threatening the de-
pleased with some of Pe- cades-old alliance of West-
losi’s trips. ern nations.
In a stunning move this year, “She was greeted like a
the president abruptly or- rock star,” said Wendy
dered the grounding of the Sherman, an Obama-era
military aircraft that was set ambassador and former
to take lawmakers to Bel- State Department counsel-
gium and Afghanistan to or under Albright. Around
visit troops. The move was that time, Pelosi and Mc-
in retaliation for Pelosi’s de- Connell invited the NATO
cision to postpone Trump’s secretary-general address
State of the Union address to Congress.q