Bam, Dems hit back at GOP's bid to repeal health care

The New Mr. Speaker Warns of "Tough Decisions"
New House Speaker John Boehner said “hard work and tough decisions” await the 112th Congress, which began today when outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi handed over a very large gavel (selected by Boehner) to the Ohio Republican. “Nearly one in 10 of our neighbors are looking for work,” Boehner said. “Health Care costs are rising for families and small businesses. Our spending has caught up with us, and our Debt will soon eclipse the size of our entire economy.” This Congress

A modest speaker not to be underestimated
The new speaker of the House, Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio, isn't the most brilliant statesman ever to hold the job ( Newt Gingrich beats him on that count), the most groundbreaking (that was Nancy Pelosi) or the most charismatic (speakers rarely score high on that scale). But he is among the most modest, an attribute rare among politicians — and one that should come in handy in the rough-and-tumble period of divided government that lies ahead. Ever since Boehner's Republicans won their ma...

Both sides prepare to battle over repeal of health-care law
As Congress members prepare to fight anew over the federal law overhauling the health-care system, Activists on both sides of the issue are gearing up for a sequel to last year's raucous debate. This Story Full coverage: Health Care overhaul Poll: Do you think the health care law is Unconstitutional? Dec. 17, 2010: Florida judge weighs health-care challenge by states Dec. 14, 2010: Federal Judge in Va. strikes down part of health-care law Both sides prepare to battle over Repeal of health-car...

A changing of the gavel as 112th Congress is sworn in
The House and the Senate have a split personality by design, but Wednesday's debut of the 112th Congress revealed a stark contrast between the two chambers that could define the direction of every major debate over the next two years. This Story A changing of the gavel as 112th Congress is sworn in John Boehner sets humble tone as he claims House gavel Boehner assumes speaker's gavel House Republicans adopt new rules for tax and spending Legislation For GOP freshmen, congressional swearing-in...

PROMISES, PROMISES: GOP drops some out of the gate
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio holds up the gavel during the first session of the 112th Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011. Republicans have already violated some of the vows they made in taking stewardship of the House. Their pledge to cut $100 billion from the Budget in one year won't be kept. And for a coming vote seeking to Repeal the Health Care overhaul, the first major initiative of the new Congress, lawmakers won't be allowed to propose changes to the l...

Speaker Boehner readies repeal of 'Obamacare' as HHS details impact on Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - Newly elected speaker of the U.S House John A. Boehner, the third Ohioan to hold this key Constitutional office, repeatedly railed against the Affordable Care Act on the Campaign Trail as a job-killer, and vowed Republicans would make Repeal of it job one if they were to win enough seats to take back the people's chamber from Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, who prior to handing an over-sized gavel to her successor touted it as one of her party's most important achievements...

House Republicans ready to show their thunder, challenge Obama
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, center, greets the family of Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, right, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, the first day of the 112th Congress. (Drew Angerer, The New York Times) WASHINGTON — Dozens of Tea Party-backed Republican lawmakers — including two new members from Colorado — helped the GOP take control of the House of Representatives on Wednesday as the 112th Congress convened in an era of economic uncertainty. Republican Congressman S...

Republicans retake US House, target expenses
A day after retaking the House of Representatives, US Republicans moved Thursday to make good on a campaign vow to slash spending with a mostly symbolic vote to cut lawmakers' office budgets. President Barack Obama's Democrats were expected to join Republicans to pass a bill to slice five percent from House expenses, a 35-million-dollar drop in the roughly 3.6-trillion-dollar bucket of annual US government outlays. Republicans also planned to read aloud from the US Constitution -- but omit secti...

Promises of civility, but it's short-lived
WASHINGTON — Even as the House's newly elected leaders made lofty calls for civility and Bipartisanship Wednesday, rank-and-file members engaged in sharp warfare over the federal Budget and Health Care. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, tried to set a new tone in his Acceptance Speech: "The American People have humbled us." With 10 of his 11 siblings looking on, Boehner, 61, became the 53rd House speaker, succeeding Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. He will lead a House with a 242-193 GOP majorit...

Obamacare Goes Under the Knife
In the nearly 10 months since the Democrats' Health Care bill became law, Bureaucrats have been feverishly writing new Regulations, and the first wave of reform has arrived. There are Tax Credits for small businesses to cover employees; kids can stay on their parents' policies until they are 26; co-pays for preventive care went away. But to most Americans, the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has felt less like the dawn of a new era and more like the start of a long ...

Taking charge, GOP overhauls rules in House
WASHINGTON -- Jubilant Republicans took control of the House on Wednesday and installed Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as the new speaker before pushing through an overhaul of House rules intended to ease their drive to dismantle the new Health Care law, cut federal spending and provide the Tax Cuts they see as a way to jump-start The Economy. In the Senate, tensions over the partisan stalemate that dominated the last session spilled over into the opening of the 112th Congress as a coalition of Demo...

God Bless You Speaker Boehner
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivering her seemingly never-ending exit Speech as she prepared to hand the gavel over to new House Speaker John Boehner. Pelosi seemed to use her remarks to boast about what she considered her accomplishments, sounding much more like a campaign Speech than a graceful stepping aside. Eventually, she got around to John Boehner, praising him as a “skilled legislator” and a servant of the people, and then handed him the gavel as Speaker of the House. There was vis...

St. Louis-area members of Congress get to work
WASHINGTON • Members of Congress sworn in from the St. Louis region on Wednesday expect plenty of scrutiny from a cranky electorate and punishment at the polls if they fail to meet expectations. "We as a party are not fooled that people voted for Republicans. They voted for Conservatives; they voted for conservative principles and we know that if we don't abide by conservative principles, we're not going to be here either," said Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth. In the Senate, wher...

Ezra Klein: A very smart speech by Speaker Boehner
If you spent the afternoon watching C-SPAN, as I did, you heard applause. A lot of it. Over and over again. And when John Boehner took the podium to be sworn in as Speaker of the House of Representatives, it swelled back up, and stayed there. No one Republican member of Congress wants to be the first to stop applauding the new speaker. Luckily, Boehner did it for them. "It's still just me," he said with a smile. Traditionally, politicians overpromise in these moments. If you look b...

Texas' GOP freshmen plan to be aggressive in U.S. House
Texas' GOP freshmen plan to be aggressive in U.S. House 12:00 AM CST on Thursday, January 6, 2011 By TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News [email protected] WASHINGTON - Newly minted U.S. Rep. Bill Flores of Bryan is impatient. One of three Texas freshmen who ousted longtime Democrats as part of the Tea Party surge, he said Wednesday on his first day on the job that he can't wait to lop huge chunks of federal spending and overturn the president's Health Care plan, or at leas...

New Ballgame for Obama
Since Pres. Obama took office he’s been moving the Democratic Party rightward. With the completion of the midterms and the Tea Party House ensconced along with Speaker Boehner, he not only succeeded in getting the voters to move that way too, but now he’s actually got a Congress that fits his core more closely. Barack Obama we all know is not an ideologue. But where his roots are planted is also nowhere near the progressive pendulum, particularly on domestic issues. Now he’s go...

Boehner elected House speaker as 112th Congress convenes
Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), taking the gavel Wednesday as the new speaker of the House, promised to work for Fiscal Responsibility while offering "openness" to the chamber's Democratic minority. This Story A changing of the gavel as 112th Congress is sworn in John Boehner sets humble tone as he claims House gavel Boehner assumes speaker's gavel House Republicans adopt new rules for tax and spending Legislation For GOP freshmen, congressional swearing-in is 'game day' Ezra Klein: ...

Region's Republicans savor the swearing-in
WASHINGTON - Jon Runyan's broad shoulders barely squeezed into his chair. Mike Fitzpatrick fiddled with his BlackBerry in the back row. Pat Meehan, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he waited to vote for John A. Boehner, could barely suppress a grin. The region's Republicans had arrived. On the first day of the 112th Congress, the Philadelphia area's new and not-so-new representatives exemplified the change of power in Washington. Runyan, the hulking ex-Eagle from South Jersey, Fitzpatr...

PROMISES, PROMISES: GOP drops some out of the gate (AP)
WASHINGTON – Republicans have already violated some of the vows they made in taking stewardship of the House. Their pledge to cut $100 billion from the Budget in one year won't be kept. And for a coming vote seeking to Repeal the Health Care overhaul, the first major initiative of the new Congress, lawmakers won't be allowed to propose changes to the Legislation despite Republican promises to end such heavy-handed tactics from the days of Democratic control. Is business as usual really b...

PROMISES, PROMISES: GOP drops some out of the gate
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans have already violated some of the vows they made in taking stewardship of the House. Their pledge to cut $100 billion from the Budget in one year won’t be kept. And for a coming vote seeking to Repeal the Health Care overhaul, the first major initiative of the new Congress, lawmakers won’t be allowed to propose changes to the Legislation despite Republican promises to end such heavy-handed tactics from the days of Democratic control. Is business as...

House Speaker John Boehner Cries (Video)
Surprising absolutely no one, the new House Speaker John Boehner cries during his introduction to lead the brand new 112th Congress. Known for getting publicly teary on many recent occasions, he managed to hold it together in order to give a Speech, but had his handkerchief on standby just in case. Get the full story, plus pictures and video below! Crying political figures have had a hugely polarizing affect on the general populous ever since Glenn Beck started choking up on ...

The New Congress: ‘A voice at the table’
WASHINGTON — - South Carolina’s four new Republican congressmen took their oaths of office Wednesday and pledged to move quickly to slash federal spending, cut the Deficit and reduce the size of government. With more House freshmen than any other state save Florida and New York, the South Carolina congressional delegation took on a new look after the defeats of Incumbent Reps. John Spratt, a York Democrat, and Bob Inglis, a Travelers Rest Republican. Hundreds of friends and relati...

Boehner Becomes Speaker of the House, Cries
Photo: Getty Images According to the Washington Post, John Boehner "dabbed his eyes with a white handkerchief" and exchanged a glance with his family members in attendance -- his wife, two daughters, and 10 of his siblings -- all of whom were reportedly crying, too. Then Nancy Pelosi passed the oversize novelty gavel to Boehner, who is now officially third in line for the presidency. [WP] ...

Christie Starts Firing
Seven education chiefs for New Jersey counties have been dismissed. Gov. Chris Christie decided not to retain them when their contracts expired Monday. Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said the seven county superintendents affected were holdovers from the previous administration who would be replaced by Christie appointees. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress fr...

John Boehner sets humble tone as he claims House gavel
The clerk called his name twice to vote for speaker, but John Boehner wasn't on the House floor. He didn't have to be, of course. Once the tally was announced, the Republican from Ohio emerged, now officially speaker of the House. He looked up at his wife, two daughters and 10 of his 11 siblings in the gallery above. They were crying, and so was he. This Story A changing of the gavel as 112th Congress is sworn in John Boehner sets humble tone as he claims House gavel Boehner assumes speaker's...