Opening
Sound: “3…2…1 boosters and ignition, and liftoff of Artimus one!”
Jonathan: “America is on our way back to the moon. Plus…”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House: “The hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect.”
Jonathan: “Our country’s first female Speaker of the House just made a major announcement. those stories and more today on… NOTICE News.”
Nancy Pelosi Steps Down From House Leadership
Jonathan: “Hey guys it’s Jonathan here in Brooklyn at NOTICE HQ and it’s so good to be with you. Our top story today: Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi just announced she’s retiring as speaker of the House after 35 years in Congress. Our correspondent Angie is in Washington with more, Angie?”
Angie: “Hey Jonathan, that’s right. The only woman to ever hold the office of speaker of the house announced yesterday she’s stepping down from that position. It’s the end of an era…”
Pelosi: “With great confidence in our caucus, I will not seek reelection to democratic leadership in the next congress.”
Angie: “In January, for the first time in two decades, Nancy Pelosi won’t be leading Democrats in the House of Representatives. The 82-year-old congresswoman was first elected leader of House Democrats in 2002 as an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. She was elevated to Speaker, the top job in the House of Representatives, when democrats won a majority of seats in the 2006 midterm elections. She’s the first—and so far only— woman to hold that job.”
Pelosi: “When I first came to the floor at six years old, I never would have thought that someday I would go from homemaker to House speaker.”
Angie: “It put her third in line for the presidency—right after the vice president. As speaker and leader she championed women’s rights and Obamacare, and has been a key ally of President Biden’s, helping to get signature spending and climate bills passed. She’s being called one of the most effective speakers in U.S. history, leading the opposition against former President Donald Trump, famously tearing up his state of the union address. Her step back comes just days after Republicans secured a slim majority in the House, which means they will pick the next Speake. She says her decision paves the way for younger Democrats to step into leadership positions, like this guy, Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York who could become the first Black person to lead a party in Congress. But this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Nancy Pelosi. She says she’ll stay in Congress continuing to represent the people of San Francisco.”
NASA Launches It’s Artemis One Rocket
Jonathan: “Next month will mark the 50th anniversary of the space mission Apollo 17, which was the last time humans walked on the moon. But just yesterday, America took its first steps to going back with this… the launch of a rocket called Artemis one.”
Sound: “We rise together, back to the moon and beyond”
Jonathan: “Its NASA’s most powerful rocket ever, and it will get within 60 miles of the moon’s surface. But there’s a catch… there are no astronauts onboard… at least yet. This is just a test flight that will orbit the moon and then come back to earth, to help determine if the rocket’s safe for humans to fly in. If it is, the next step is to send humans to orbit the moon in 2024, and then to finally land on the moon in 2025. NASA has promised that they will land the first woman and person of color on the moon this time around, something that didn’t happen 50 years ago, even though Black women were instrumental in helping man get to the moon. But that’s not all.”
Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator: “Why are we going back? We’re going back to the moon not just for the sake of going to the moon, but to learn how to live on the moon in order to prepare to send humans all the way to mars.”
Jonathan: “NASA hopes to launch astronauts towards the red planet by the late 2030’s… which if you think about it, isn’t all that far away. That’s it for today but you can learn more about Speaker Pelosi’s career and NASA’s launch to the moon on our website, noticenews.com. Maeve will be back tomorrow with more from us, NOTICE News.”