GOP primes for fight with Obama

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...

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: ...

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...

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...

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

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 ...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

GOP bends its own new House rules
Just hours after taking control of the House, Republicans passed a sweeping set of rules promising transparency and reform. But the new majority is already showing these promises aren’t exactly set in stone. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 After calling for bills to go through a regular committee process, the bill that would Repeal the Health Care law will not go through a single committee. Despite promising a more open amendment process for bills, amendments for the ...

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...

Owens votes against 'cut as you go'
WASHINGTON — Rep. William L. Owens said Wednesday he sees new opportunities for Bipartisanship in the Republican-led Congress — but the first major business before the House wasn't one of them. Mr. Owens joined Democratic colleagues in opposition to a GOP rules package that changes how Legislation comes before the House and gives the Republican leadership more leeway to cut spending. Although Mr. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, said he agrees with some of the proposals' goals, such a...

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 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 ...

Cantor says GOP, Democrats should work together
WASHINGTON Rep. Eric Cantor ascended to House Majority Leader on Wednesday, buoyed by a new balance of power in the 112th Congress that gives him one of the most influential positions in American politics. The GOP Caucus elected Cantor, R-7th, to the post in November, but he formally assumed it on Wednesday after the chamber’s members elected Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, speaker of the House, to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. A day draped in ceremony ushered in a new Congress and a n...

Congress kicks off session by tweaking chamber rules
Washington — After four years playing heavy defense, Republicans have a chance to drive their policy through Congress. But before they hit the ground running on their rollback agenda, they’re rewriting the rules of the game. The new GOP-led House opened its session Wednesday by adopting a new set of “cut-go” rules for the 112th Congress: requiring Congress to pay for every mandatory spending increase through cuts elsewhere to the Budget, as opposed to Tax Increases, which were permiss

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...

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...

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...

Heck joins 112th Congress; veterans take the oath again
Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., sits next to his 13-year-old son, Joey, during the first day of the 112th Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. » Buy this photo A clerk handles the tally sheet during the vote for speaker of the House on Wednesday, the first day of the 112th Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. PHOTOS By LAUREN VICTORIA BURKE/SPECIAL TO THE Las Vegas REVIEW-JOURNAL » Buy this photo WASHINGTON -- Fresh from church service and accompanied by his wife and three Children, Joe H...

The 2012 Republican Cabinet
Thursday, January 06, 2011 By Ben Shapiro While Republicans celebrate their newfound majority in the House of Representatives, Americans await the true political turning point: the 2012 Elections. Will President Obama perform enough political payoffs to purchase a pass to the presidency yet again? Or will he be stopped by a populace unwilling to tread down the same dark path as Greece, Spain and Ireland? If Obama is to be stopped, Republicans will need to run a powerhouse Candidate in 2012....

Playing Chicken With Debt Limits: Obama As A Senator Versus Obama As President
Email Sent! You have successfully emailed the post. Mike "Mish" Shedlock Mish is an investment advisor at Sitka Pacific Capital. He writes the widely read Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis. Playing Chicken with Debt Limits: Obama as a Senator vs. Obama the Hypocrite President Today President Obama is very concerned that Republicans might "Play Chicken" with the Debt ceiling. The president is so concerned his aids are sending out dire warnings about dollar defaults and "catastroph...

Out With the Old
Posted by Nichole Hungerford on Jan 6th, 2011 and filed under Daily Mailer, FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. With Trademark lachrymosity, Congressman John A. Boehner accepted the gavel of the House of Representatives Wednesday from outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Presiding over his maiden session in the “people’s House,” Boehner aptly expounded on “the ...