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Speaker Boehner: GOP Will Not Increase Debt Limit Without Spending Cuts
Shouldn't Obama be in 100% agreement with Boehner here? Didn't he promise to reduce the Deficit by going through the Federal Budget line by line and get rid of those programs that do not work? gatewaypundit reported Speaker John Boehner said that Republicans will not agree to increase the Debt Limit without Spending Cuts. Boehner released a statement: Washington (Jan 6) House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following statement on the Debt limit: “ I’ve been notified that the...

Boehner demands spending cuts along with debt hike
Now new House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is weighing in on the Debt ceiling -- and saying any increase needs to be accompanied by Spending Cuts. "The American People will not stand for such an increase (in Debt ceiling) unless it is accompanied by meaningful action by the President and Congress to cut spending and end the job-killing spending binge in Washington," Boehner said in a statement e-mailed to reporters. Congress is expected to vote on increasing the $14.3 Trillion Debt ceiling in ...

Underwhelmed by Speaker Boehner
Bill Daley: Is it about competence or ideology? Is Darrell Issa the new Joe McCarthy? Nancy Pelosi spoke of combating Climate Change, ensuring college affordability, expanding access to Health Care, ending the war in Iraq. Newt Gingrich envisioned a Balanced Budget amendment, welfare reform, Tax Cuts, Deregulation, term limits. John Boehner promised... well, not very much. The 112th Congress, he said, will not "kick the can" or "fall short." It will be "the people's House," a place where "we ca...

Boehner hedges on debt limit
Speaker John Boehner isn’t saying he will raise the Debt Limit, but he’s also hedging a bit on how he’ll go about the vote. The Ohio Republican, in a statement, said that he’s been notified that the White House will formally ask to increase the borrowing ability of the Federal Government. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 But he doesn’t exactly respond that he’ll hold a quick vote on the Debt limit. “The American People will not stan...

Boehner: Spending cuts must accompany debt limit
WASHINGTON—House Speaker John Boehner says any increase in the nation's Debt Limit must include steps to cut federal spending. The Ohio Republican says the country cannot default on its Debt, but neither can it continue to borrow recklessly. His statement comes after the Obama Administration notified lawmakers that the government will reach the current Debt Limit of $14.3 Trillion this spring. The Debt Limit sets a ceiling on the government's borrowing authority. Boehner says in his state...

GOP fundraises off specter of another term of 'Speaker Pelosi'
House Republicans' campaign arm sought on Thursday to raise money off of the possibility that Nancy Pelosi could become House Speaker again someday. In an email sent out to supporters, National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Executive Director Guy Harrison "urgently" warns readers about a comment Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) made on Wednesday. "The new Chairman of the DCCC, Rep. Steve Israel, has decided to take a page from the NRCC...

Boehner claims he'll hold debt limit hostage
Reuters: U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday that any move to increase the United States' $14.3 Trillion Debt Limit must be accompanied by Spending Cuts. "The American People will not stand for such an increase unless it is accompanied by meaningful action by the President and Congress to cut spending and end the job-killing spending binge in Washington," Boehner said in a prepared statement. Boehner is doing his best to pretend that he has a strong hand, but let's not forget, if ...

Ms. Magazine Pelosi Cover Takes A Dig At Time And Newsweek (PHOTOS)
Ms. magazine is hitting back at Time and Newsweek for putting John Boehner on their covers after he became the presumptive Speaker of the House in the wake of the 2010 Midterm Elections--and they're doing it by putting someone those magazines never featured on their covers during her four years as Speaker: Nancy Pelosi. The cover line? "The Woman Time and Newsweek Won't Put On Their Covers." PHOTO: Pelosi herself mentioned this discrepancy to the New York Times' Deborah Solomon in a November...

Republicans take control of the House
The results of the mid-term election became a reality for Democrats yesterday as Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, and more than 90 new members were seated. John Boehner (R-OH) defeated Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in the election for Speaker. In fact, 19 members of her own Caucus voted for someone else (11 voted for Heath Shuler), voted present or did not vote at all; the most members of a Caucus to vote against their party’s nominee since 1923. The power exchange wasn̵...

Baffled Vieira to Bachmann: Why Vote to Repeal Obamacare If It's Just Going to Get Vetoed?
NBC's Meredith Vieira seemed baffled by the concept of taking a principled stand against ObamaCare, as she repeatedly pressed Michele Bachmann, on Thursday's Today show, why Republicans would bother to vote to Repeal the Health Care bill in the House if it wasn't going to get passed in the Senate or signed by the President. Vieira's very first question to the Republican Minnesota Congresswoman set the aggressive tone for the entire interview as she demanded: "Given the fact ...

Democrats Turned Away From Pelosi in Record Numbers in Ceremonial Vote
The abandonment of Rep. Nancy Pelosi by 19 Democrats in the pro-forma vote for speaker of the House marked a breakdown in party loyalty of historic measure, according to the Washington Post. Not since 1913, when 23 Republicans bolted from the GOP's speaker nominee, has a Party Leader suffered so many defections, Congressional Research Service records show. Of the 19 Democrats who didn't support Pelosi, one voted "present" and the other 18 cast Protest ballots for some other Democratic House memb...

Brit Hume on Gavel Transfer: Pelosi Could Not Quite Believe that Today was Not About Her Video 1/5/11
Here is video of Brit Hume delivering a commentary last night on the first day of the 112th Congress. He summed it up perfectly when it comes to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “It was perhaps fitting that it took Nancy Pelosi longer to say her peace in surrendering her gavel to John Boehner than it took Boehner to say his. It was as if the nation’s first woman Speaker could not quite believe that today was not about her . . . “ Perfectly said. ...

Could John Boehner be a Great Speaker?
I have long been Bullish on the man who is now Speaker of the House.  Perhaps, it’s that John Boehner and I grew up not far from one another, he in the Working Class Cincinnati suburb of Reading, I in the more affluent enclave Wyoming just west of the Republican leader’s hometown. Cincinnati folk have always struck me as hard-working, decent Americans, largely respectful of their peers and generally treating people from different backgrounds with dignity.  It is no wonder that th...

Playing Chicken with the Nation's IOUs
This morning the Treasury officially requested that Congress raise the Debt ceiling. This has been a long-anticipated move and Congress cannot fail to act as the consequences would be catastrophic: think downgrading our AAA credit status - in other words, sorry China, we will not be able to pay our debts. But, the prospect of raising the Debt ceiling presents the first big hurdle for Speaker John Boehner. The Tea Party wing of his Caucus will most certainly not vote for what they deem more...

Speaker Boehner: GOP Will Not Increase Debt Limit Without Spending Cuts
Speaker John Boehner said that Republicans will not agree to increase the Debt Limit without Spending Cuts. Boehner released a statement moments ago. “I’ve been notified that the Obama Administration intends to formally request an increase in the Debt limit. The American People will not stand for such an increase unless it is accompanied by meaningful action by the President and Congress to cut spending and end the job-killing spending binge in Washington. While America cannot defaul...

Speaker Boehner Dismisses CBOs Report Health Care Repeal Increases Deficit
ABC News’ John R. Parkinson reports:  Speaker of the House John Boehner dismissed a report by the Congressional Budget Office that found that repealing the Health Care law would increase the federal Deficit and warned that the “best Health Care system in the world is going to go down the drain” if Congress fails to Repeal the law. Earlier Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office released a preliminary analysis that the Repeal of the Health Care Reform law, including reduced spend

DCCC chair: Our 2012 agenda will be making Pelosi Speaker again
The reknowned political satirist Tom Lehrer once declared that Henry Kissinger’s Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 made political satire redundant.  After reading about the DCCC’s new strategy to win back the House in 2012, I must admit that for the first time in my life I feel a bit of sympathy with the general sentiment.  Guess who Rep. Steve Israel, the DCCC chair, wants to make as his poster girl for 2012? House Democrats’ goal is to make Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) the Speaker of ...

Congress to Tackle Healthcare, Filibuster Rules
On Wednesday, congressional observers were treated to a spectacle which used to be rare—a changeover in power at the House of Representatives. Both the House and the Senate swore in new members, and the new 242-seat Republican majority in the House handily elected Ohio Representative John Boehner to become Speaker of the House. In between raucous cheers and some campaign-style Rhetoric from both sides, now-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi handed Boehner the gavel and watched him give h...

Democrat to challenge Rep. McIntyre from the left
A North Carolina Democratic Activist is set to challenge Rep. Mike Mcintyre (D-N.C.) from the left in 2012. Citing McIntyre's Centrist voting record and opposition to the healthcare law, Democrat Del Pietro announced the primary challenge Wednesday.  "Democrats are just furious with McIntyre and I really think this is going to be his last term," said Pietro, who accused McIntyre of abandoning the core principles of his party. "A lot of Democrats in this state are furious with the Blue Dogs in...

A Day Later, House Swears-in DeFazio
A rather bizarre scene unfolded Thursday morning in the Capitol as the House of Representatives interrupted its live quorum call to swear-in Rep. Peter Defazio, D-Ore. DeFazio was nowhere to be found Wednesday when the House came to order for the 112th Congress. Multiple calls, emails and a visit to his office failed to yield any explanation as to why he was absent. Now that DeFazio has been sworn-in, the House is now at full membership with 435 members. It was an uncommon move when House Speake...

Geithner Warns Congress: Don't Play Games on Debt Limit
(Credit: Vince Bucci) Facing a new Congress in which Republicans are more dead-set than ever on reducing Government Spending, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner served notice that the U.S. government could hit the statutory Debt Limit as early as March 31 and no later than May 16. "Never in our history has Congress failed to increase the Debt Limit when necessary," warned Geithner in his letter urging the House and Senate to take action no later than the end of March. He said a failure to raise ...

Is Congress Listening to the American People?
Elected representatives are clearly talking more and more these days about listening to the American People. This is particularly true for the new Speaker of the House, John Boehner. As Politico put it in their Wednesday morning edition: “John Boehner will take the Speaker’s gavel with a commitment to restoring the House as an institution focused on listening to the American People.” The Washington Post reported that Boehner told reporters outside his apartment on Wednesday ...

CBS: House Republicans 'Begin Their Assault On Health Care Reform'
On Thursday's CBS Early Show, congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes derided Republican efforts to Repeal ObamaCare: "On Friday, they begin their assault on Health Care reform, with a vote to Repeal the law scheduled for next week." Cordes noted how Repeal "will hit a wall in the Senate," observing: "That legislative reality will force both sides to work together on some issues, something Speaker Boehner promised to Democrats." However, moments later she tout...

It May Be Time to Get Rid of the RNC and the DNC
The GOP is currently in the midst of a pitched battle that will determine who the next chairman of the Republican National Committee will be. The current chairman, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, wants the job for another two years, but the criticism leveled against him by some members of the committee over what they perceive as his unsteady, even rocky, leadership makes his re-election unlikely, say those who are counting votes. The field challenging Steele includes several former st...

The 112th Congress convenes: In discord assembled
THE first act of the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives, which took control of the chamber this week after four years of Democratic rule, was to order the constitution to be read aloud on the House floor. This crash course in civics was intended chiefly as a gesture of fealty to the tea-party Activists, or “constitutional Conservatives”, who helped propel the Republicans to power in November’s election. But the reading also serves as a stark reminder of the...