All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Earlier today, in an exclusive interview with House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who played a key role in pushing the nearly $800 billion stimulus package through Congress, Katie asked her whether Republicans were treated fairly over the stimulus.

You can see more of the interview tonight on the Evening News – and check back here for additional transcripts and footage.

Katie Couric: Madam Speaker, you know, looking back on how this unfolded, do you think you've reached across party lines enough? Because not one Republican voted for the House version.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi: Well, that's – yes, I do think we reached across party lines. We gave them what they wanted. They wanted certain provisions in the bill. They wanted committee hearings and markups, what we call markups to the bill. We gave them 26 hours of amendment process then on the floor more amendments and a legislative opportunity. So I think ... they were treated fairly in terms of process.

Couric: But did you include them enough in the conversation and the discussion?

Pelosi: Well, they are always – the conversation is a public one here. But you have to remember that we had an election and it was about a direction for our country. We have strong philosophical differences in the Congress. This isn't inter-party bickering. This is major differences of opinion on philosophy on how our country should go forward.

We reject the failed Bush administration economic policies which got us where we are today. The proposals that the Republicans put forth were more of the same. We will not go back. In fact, even some of the Republicans in the House voted against the Republican proposal.

Jill Jackson is a Capitol Hill field producer for CBS News.

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At 10 a.m., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tried in vain to leave the posh Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., after a speech on healthcare.

Reporters swarmed around the speaker in the lobby wanting confirmation that House Democrats, Republicans and the White House finally reached a deal on an economic stimulus package to give the economy a boost and avoid recession.

But Speaker Pelosi would not confirm.

Would she classify it as a tentative deal?

She would not.

Pelosi said when they're ready on a deal, she'd meet with the Democratic caucus. Presumably to get the Party on the same page and ease opponent's fears.

She said they were close and that she was hopeful when she finally reached the exit.

Then, Pelosi managed to break away from the pack, hopped into her black SUV and sped away.

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CBS Evening News writer Mary Alice Williams got a rare glimpse at history last week, through the eyes of her daughter. – Ed.

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So we now have a brand new Congress and a brand new opportunity to continue forming our more perfect union. But what are the chances the 110th Congress can accomplish any more than the 109th did? Just because control of both houses has switched from Republicans to Democrats doesn’t mean the process of getting bills passed into laws will be any easier. Just because there’s a woman in charge of the House of Representatives for the first time doesn’t ensure efficiency. But hey, it’s a start.

In fact, it’s a very big deal. Watching California Representative Nancy Pelosi take her place in history as the first woman Speaker of the House was a very big deal.

The picture alone demonstrated what a difference her leadership will make. Instead of a lone male gaveling Congress into session, here was a female surrounded by children. Women, in ways far different from men, represent families.

There were other women in the House of Representatives at that auspicious moment. A record 90 of them taking their place in the 110th Congress. And there were young women too: 26 girls from the Sacred Heart School in Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district were there as invited guests. And there was also a 16-year-old from New Jersey named Alice. She is my daughter, a student in the High School’s Civics and Government Institute, there to witness this great moment in women’s history at the invitation of our congressman. And here’s what amazed me. My mother, Alice Mary, was born before women had the right to vote. My daughter Alice was there on that special day, wearing her grandmother’s pearls.

Alice called in to the CBS Evening News throughout the day to tell us which famous politicians she’d spotted. To comment on the impressive surroundings. To remark on how very long it took for the vote. She thought that part was pretty boring. I’m not sure she fully understood what a watershed moment she was witnessing...

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Hi, everyone.

Noon today marked the beginning of the 110th Congress, led, of course, by the first woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

This Congress has already made history but the real test will be whether it can make progress.

The majority Democrats promise to pass their agenda in the first 100 hours of the new session --including ethics reform, lower prescription prices, higher minimum wage, reduced college costs, and implementing the 9/11 commission recommendations.

But the road from legislation to law of the land can be bumpy, and senators as well as the White House will determine whether Pelosi's policies succeed.

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Executive producer Rome Hartman and correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi look at what's in tonight's show. In the rundown, Nancy Pelosi takes the speaker's chair and the special series on strokes continues with a look at improvements in speech therapy.

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Capitol Hill correspondent Sharyl Attkisson was prowling the marble corridors of the Capitol today, while a political power struggle was underway. Was it arm-wrestling or arm-twisting? Read on. – Ed.

You have to wonder what was going on inside that room.

The House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi, the ultimate politico, had rankled some fellow Democrats by doing what some saw as a politically incorrect thing: she endorsed somebody else for House Majority Leader, her "number two." When I say somebody else, I mean somebody other than the man in the normal line of succession for the job: Congressman Steny Hoyer. A longtime rival, Pelosi went out on a limb and publicly opposed Hoyer's candidacy, encouraging fellow Democrats to vote instead for her friend Congressman John Murtha. Today, Pelosi's fellow Democrats sawed off the limb.

In a vote that wasn't even close, 149 to 86, in secret ballot voting, behind closed doors, Pelosi's team elected Hoyer... not Murtha.

A hundred members of the media waited outside for the news. A Congressional staffer emerged and announced the vote. In just a moment, we thought, the newly-elected Hoyer will come before the cameras with Speaker-elect Pelosi to make their speeches.

But we waited. And waited.

You have to wonder what was going on inside that room...

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Hi, everyone.

Remembering Ed Bradley, Byron Pitts put it better than any of us could. He saluted Ed as a father figure, and talked about how inspiring he was - as Byron put it - "for people who look like me."

It was a heartfelt reminder of how powerful television can be, in ways we don't even realize.

What we see can leave an indelible mark. Which is one reason why today's nomination of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House is important -- especially for young people.

Television shows kids what they can be. It's a window to the wider world. Millions of American girls are watching a woman rise higher in elected office than ever before.

The importance of this moment has nothing to do with politics. It's all about possibility.

I hope that my daughters and their friends will see Nancy Pelosi on TV and see a world of possibility opening up...just as Byron Pitts did, watching Ed Bradley.

That's a page from my notebook.

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A tidbit just filed from White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, about the Bush-Pelosi lunch today. -- Ed.

President Bush and Nancy Pelosi will be eating in the private dining room adjacent to the Oval Office.

They'll order off the menu from the White House Mess.

We're told Thursday is Tex-Mex Day.

Unrelated: The President-elect of Mexico comes calling at 1:35 pm. Too late for lunch.

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We just got another dispatch from Producer Nicolla Hewitt in Washington. The adventure down there continues. -- Ed.

There haven't been enough hours and minutes in this day that's for sure! As I said before, it's been a rollercoaster, and that hasn't stopped since Katie got to DC. She has anchored two network specials (the President's news conference and his statement with outgoing Secretary of Defense Rusmfeld and his newly nominated replacement Robert Gates). Then there was the interview with Speaker of the House-to-be Nancy Pelosi, and General John Batiste, one of the six Generals who'd been calling for Rumsfeld to be replaced.

We are working out of the 7th floor of a law office, and I think they are overwhelmed by all the computer equpiment, wires, and extra personnel taking up space (look here tomorrow for photos!) We literally have a bird's-eye view of the Capitol, and it couldn't be a better venue as the political power begins to shift following the election.

All of us in this business love a full-packed day of news, and it's certainly been that, with newsmakers including President Bush, Nancy Pelosi and Donald Rumsfeld. (A little factoid: Did you know he was both the youngest and oldest Secretary of Defense?) Anyway, time to get back to work to get the show on the air tonight. Tomorrow we'll bring you photos of Katie's trip and a glimpse "behind the scenes."

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Katie is headed to Washington today. One of her producers, Nicolla Hewitt, just dropped us this e-mail. -- Ed.

We are continuing to live and breathe the election. Katie is running on four hours sleep, but thriving on this political rollercoaster. As I type this, Katie is enroute to the airport to catch a flight to DC. We are hoping the flight makes it in time for Katie to anchor the President's press conferece at 1pm. If not, Harry Smith will be doing it from New York. [We have to plan for everything!] We have a fully packed day juggling correspondents, timing of the show, and Katie's interview with Nancy Pelosi, who will likely be the next Speaker of the House -- and the first woman to hold that job. Pelosi may run late, too, because her schedule is changing minute by minute. Speaking of minute by minute, it's time to run and continue planning the day. We'll send some photos along the way too if we can.

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