Area Congressman John Boehner becomes speaker of the House

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...

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...

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...

Conservative leader urges House to follow through on spending
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' recent wave of rookie conservative members. "Reduce the size of the government," he urged the new Congress. "It's big. It's obnoxious. It's counterproductive. Being in control of this monster that has been out of control, ...

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...

Change in Congress Looks Awfully Familiar
Players may change, and the party which controls the chambers of Congress may change, but one thing stays distressingly consistent: the House is run by an iron-handed majority, and the Senate is run by the minority. The House this week adopted its rules for the 112th Congress, and unsurprisingly, they heavily favor the majority Republicans. (The Democrats, it should be noted, also used the rules to their advantage, especially through the powerful Rules Committee, which is hyper-weighted toward...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

An Open House or Not? Boehner Explains
Like the Democrats did before him, Speaker John A. Boehner has promised to run a much more open House and to give the Democratic minority plenty of room to offer amendments on floor. But that always seems easier in the abstract. Democrats and plenty of other people are quickly noting that on the first big bill Mr. Boehner is bringing to the floor - the Repeal of the Health Care law - he is not allowing Democrats any amendments. The speaker had an explanation for that Thursday. “I promised

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...

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...

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 defends GOP against charges it's backtracking on promises
Washington (CNN) - Under fire for already backtracking on promises for more openness, House Speaker John Boehner admitted Thursday there are limits. "I promised a more open process. I didn't promise that every single bill was going to be an open bill," said Boehner during his first news conference as the new House Speaker. "There will be many open rules in this Congress, just watch," he said. Boehner was responding to a question from CNN about the fact that House Republicans plan to bring a hea...

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 ...

Repeal of healthcare law would add to federal deficit, Congressional Budget Office warns
Reporting from Washington — As Republicans began the process of trying to Repeal the Healthcare Reform law, the Congressional Budget Office warned Thursday morning that doing so would add to the federal Deficit and expand the ranks of Uninsured Americans. On the second day of the 112th Congress, Republicans moved to fulfill a campaign promise as the House Rules Committee, chaired by Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas), held a hearing on HR 2, the proposed "Repealing the Job-Killing Health C...

Senate Democrats contend Republicans adding $1 trillion to deficit
A trio of Senate Democrats on Thursday argued that House Republicans are piling more than $1 Trillion onto the federal Deficit through a new rules package approved on the first day of the new Congress. At a Capitol Press Conference, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) accused Republicans of "replacing pay-as-you-go with pretend-as-you-go," Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said the GOP is practicing "voodoo economics" and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Democrats "are calling [Republicans]...

MSNBC Chyron Falsely States That House Republicans Will Require All Bills Be Paid For
MSNBC Chyron Falsely States That House Republicans Will Require ‘All Bills Be Paid For’ As one of its first acts, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives decided to do away with the “pay-go” rule instituted by House Democrats, in favor of something called “cut-go.” Under pay-go, Legislation that added to the Deficit needed to be offset with either Spending Cuts or revenue increases elsewhere. Under cut-go, however, new spending can only ...

Boehner lays down his marker on debt ceiling
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 default on its Debt, we also cannot continue to borrow recklessly, dig ourselves deeper into this hole, and Mortgage the future of our Children and Grandchildren. Spendi...

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 ...

In House Constitutional Reading, Some Inconsistencies
Updated: 1:35PM ET House Representatives participated this morning in a full reading of the Constitution of the United States, marking the first such occasion in American history -- though the version of the Constitution that was read varied from the original document. (Watch video of the proceedings at left.) Following initial questions regarding which Constitutional document was being read - the amended or original Constitution - Rep. Bob Goodlatte, of Virginia, who is leading the proceedi...

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...

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...