It's the 'people's House,' but which 'people'?

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

What Do You Know? Nancy Pelosi Was A Historic Speaker!
This seems like the perfect punctuation mark to close out the reign of the hands-wodn worst Speaker of the House in our nation’s history. With 19 Democrats withholding support from Nancy Pelosi for House Speaker on Wednesday, it represented the largest defection from a party’s speaker nominee in nearly a century. The resistance in the Democratic Party to back now-former Speaker Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the ceremonial first vote of the 112th Congress registered higher than at any poi...

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 ...

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

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 ...

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...

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...

Conservative leader urges House to follow through on spending
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Influential conservative Dick Armey on Thursday urged the new House to take leadership in reducing the size of government and reining in spending by cutting "obnoxious programs" out of the Budget. Armey, a Republican and Veteran Washington insider who was the House Majority Leader in the late 1990's, has emerged as a force within the Tea Party movement. His FreedomWorks political action group has given direction, know-how, and financial support to many within Congress' rec...

Obama challenges Republicans on US debt
Newly empowered US Republicans faced stiff early challenges as President Barack Obama pressed them to raise the US Debt Limit and his Democratic Senate allies vowed to defend his policies. One day after Republicans took over the House of Representatives, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner formally asked politicians to let the US government to borrow more money, the opening shot in a political war over the giant US Debt. Geithner warned in a letter to senior members of Congress that failure to r...

Gingrich Launches Health Care Repeal Website
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's Advocacy Group American Solutions on Thursday launched a website to support congressional Republicans' fight to defund and Repeal the Health Care reform law. In an email to supporters, Gingrich described the new site, NoMoreObamaCare.com, as an "action center" for citizens who want to get involved in promoting efforts to Repeal President Obama's signature domestic achievement. The newly empowered Republican House intends to make Health Care Repeal a focal p...

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. ...

Bachmann intel post about politics?
The country has a new guardian for its National Security secrets: Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). The outspoken Minnesota congresswoman, and Tea Party favorite, has been tapped by House Speaker John Boehner for a coveted slot on the House Intelligence Committee, giving Bachmann a new role as overseer of the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community, her office confirmed today. The move comes at a time when Bachmann is seeking to burnish her national securit...

Exclusive: Polluter Billionaire David Koch Says Tea Party Rank And File Are Just Normal People Like Us
This is Part 1 of three-part installment of ThinkProgress’ interview with David Koch. Yesterday, David Koch — one of the Richest men in America, co-owner of the conglomerate Koch Industries, and a top financier of right-wing front groups — attended the swearing-in ceremony for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and also hosted a party for the new Republican majority he helped bankroll. Perhaps no one has been more aggressive in exposing Koch’s activities than ThinkProgress. We fi...

John Boehner Releases Statement On Debt Ceiling
G.I. Wood Shop Inc. Mrs. Peel Oh…My Valve! V The K’s Caption This! An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later. “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 canno...

Rep. Joe Heck will accept congressional health insurance
Rep. Joe Heck, in one of his first moves in Congress, opposed a measure that would have required members of Congress to disclose whether they will accept government Health Care. Heck, in fact, will take advantage of the Congressional Health Insurance plan, his aides said. "Just like millions of Americans, Dr. Heck will be receiving his Insurance through his employer -- in this case the House of Representatives," Grant Hewitt, Heck's transition director, told the Sun. Democrats (once again) are m...

Another House GOP Member Opts Out Of Congressional Health Plan
Another House GOP Member Opts Out Of Congressional Health Plan Moments ago, during a hearing in the Rules Committee, another Republican who supports repealing the Affordable Care Act announced that he would forgo the Federal Employers’ Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP) — the exchange that offers coverage at reduced rates to federal employees. Rep. Richard Nugent’s (R-FL) decision now brings the total number of Republicans who are staying out of Congressional coverage to seven, or...

The GOP's Health Care Repeal Problem: $230 Billion In Lost Revenue And Counting
Since taking the majority -- and even before that -- Republicans have been at pains to explain away a problem they've seen coming for months: the fact that CBO and most analysts find that repealing the Health Care law will cost money. Big money. But they have a separate, less appreciated problem. Today, CBO forecast that the 10-year cost of repealing Health Care reform is actually $230 billion. That's nearly $100 billion higher than one might have expected, given that just under a year ago, t...

Constitution reading goes bipartisan
The new Congress kicked off with a reading of the constitution on the floor of the House today, a first in the chamber’s history. Republicans proposed the reading, but it turned into a rare moment of true Bipartisanship on the floor. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) went first, followed by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). House Republicans made the reading a requirement as part of the new Congress’ rules. Initially, there were questi...

Men shave heads to spite genetics
Sandy Poirier, the owner of Shag salon, said he started shaving his head five years ago "when no one else was doing it," and he learned there are new obligations that come with the style. "You have to dress well, be more fashionable, or you're going to look like you don't care," Poirier said. "There should be a Moratorium on the word 'bald.' Everything else is politically correct, why not this?" he said. Santa Monica, Calif., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Actress Jaime Pressly was arrested in Santa Monica, C...

Congressional Hostages
One of the things new House Speaker John Boehner said he intended to do was to give up some of the power the majority holds in the House, to spread around some of the power he and his party holds. He didn't give out too many details, but the general idea was to make the House a bit less of a pure Democracy, and more of a republic -- majority rule, but recognition of the rights of the minority. Kind of like the Senate, in a sense, where a simple majority isn't enough to do much, but needs a sup...

sir john of orange
and Matt Taibbi's take on him over at Rolling Stone. John Boehner is the ultimate beltway hack, a man whose unmatched and self-serving skill at political survival has made him, after two decades in washington, the hairy blue mold on the american congressional sandwich. ....in the nineties, boehner started weekly meetings with a group of Lobbyists, originally known as "the thursday group," that helped him develop close ties to companies like Citigroup, millercoors, ups, goldman sachs, Google and ...