Nancy Pelosi vows to protect Obamacare and DREAMers on first day of new Congress

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) vowed Tuesday to protect Obamacare and the Dream Act, Obama's partial amnesty for some illegal aliens by executive action, even as Republicans began the 115th session of Congress with both houses under their control.

Pelosi made the promise as Democrats applauded in her speech before Congress Tuesday:

"We will stand our ground wherever in good conscience we must," Rep. Nancy Pelosi says of House Democrats: https://t.co/J54RiABFFl pic.twitter.com/OGRwpYHsyU

— CBS News (@CBSNews) January 3, 2017

We will stand our ground wherever in good conscience we must. If there is an attempt to destroy the guarantee of Medicare, harm Medicare, Social Security or the Affordable Care Act, Democrats will stand our ground!

If there is an assault on clean air and clear water, on civil rights, women's rights or LGBT rights, if Dreamers and their immigrant families face the nightmare of deportation, Democrats will stand our ground!

The comments were clearly meant as a challenge to President-elect Donald Trump, who promised during his campaign to deport illegal aliens and repeal Obamacare.

She reiterated the fiery Democratic mantra on her official Twitter account:

Yet every American should know: if there's any attempt to destroy Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security or ACA, we will stand our ground.

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) January 3, 2017

We'll continue to protect clean air and clean water, women's rights, LGBT rights, civil rights, and our DREAMers & their immigrant families.

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) January 3, 2017

Pelosi starts this session in a weakened state — there were open calls to replace her, and although she defeated her opponent, there were many dissenting votes and voices. She has said the message of the Democratic Party will not change, and blamed a failure to articulate that message to Americans for their electoral failure, not any lack of support in their policies.

Democrats also face an uphill battle in keeping the Dream Act intact since it was instituted by Obama via an executive action that could be undone by Trump, who has indicated that he would deport illegal aliens who were brought to America as children, euphemistically called "DREAMers" by illegal immigration advocates. Congressional Republicans are divided on the issue: Some have drawn up plans to extend Obama's "deferred action" on deportations, and others demanded the executive action be rescinded.

Meanwhile Republicans have long pursued Social Security reform, but Trump seems aligned with Nancy Pelosi's newest statements on entitlements since he promised during the election that he would not cut Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.