Obama foes face debt balancing act (AFP)

Republicans take over House, dilute cuts
By Thomas Ferraro and Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON | Wed Jan 5, 2011 12:45pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans scaled back plans for deep cuts in Government Spending as they took power in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, diluting a key promise that helped them to victory in November's election. A senior Republican also signaled the party could work with the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, to avert a Debt crisis in the coming months. "Our spending has caught up...

House adopts new rules
WASHINGTON, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Lively, partisan debate Wednesday gave way to a vote along party lines, 240-191, to accept new rules for the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives. The new rules of the U.S. House of Representatives either make the legislative process more transparent or obfuscate it, depending on the party speaking in the well. The new rules "establish a Constitution-focused House of Representatives," said Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and sends "a credible signal to families, ...

Dean Criticizes Tea Party, Fears Obama Could Lose Youth Vote
Editorial: ‘Adult’ Congress? Editorial: ‘Adult’ Congress? Howard Dean says the Tea Party movement is not fundamentally Racist. But in pointed remarks Wednesday morning, the former Vermont Governor and Democratic National Committee chairman said he believes the movement is driven in large part by fear of diversity. Tea party supporters are “almost entirely over 55 and white,” Dean said when reporters asked about the Tea Party at a breakfast hosted by the Christian ...

WaPo temporarily upset at GOP deficit chicken-hawks
On Sunday, the WaPo editorial pages finally woke up and realized that the GOP isn't serious about cutting the Deficit.. On Monday, Jason Linkins at HuffPo took notice of the belated realization: WaPo Editors Finally Realize The GOP Isn't Serious About The Debt First Posted: 01- 3-11 12:37 PM | Updated: 01- 3-11 08:45 PM For the better part of the past year, the editors of the Washington Post have been generically a-screech with worry over the deficits, and their insistence that the Obama ad...

Will He Say He Has No Choice or Will He Use Seigniorage?
The media and much of the blogosphere are framing the coming Debt ceiling decision as one in which the Republican-majority House may refuse to extend the Federal Debt ceiling, thus forcing both a Government shut-down, and also a possible default of the US in paying its Debt obligations to its creditors. Republicans saying they will not vote to extend the ceiling see this as an opportunity to force Spending Cuts out of the Democrats and the Obama Administration. This second round of hostage-takin...

New GOP member doesn't "know" what will happen if debt ceiling isn't raised
Speaking of clueless Republicans in the House that Teabaggers built, here's part of the new brain trust entering office today: Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC). Yesterday, newly-elected Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) appeared on Fox Business to talk about his own intention to vote against raising the Debt ceiling. The host asked Muvlaney if he was willing to “risk the possibility of a default on our debt.” Mulvaney responded that he has “no difficulty in” voting against raising the ...

Boehner elected speaker of 112th Congress
WASHINGTON — Newly elected speaker John Boehner hailed the Republican Party's return to control of the House Wednesday, vowing a more open legislative process but acknowledging that "a great deal of scar tissue has built up on both sides of the aisle." GOP lawmakers, who picked up 64 House seats in the November Elections, cheered loudly when Boehner defeated Democrat Nancy Pelosi in the roll call for speaker. The Veteran Ohio lawmaker's rise to the speakership was virtually guarantee...

Political Quote of the Day
From former Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us. It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go.”A little context from Fox Nation: The numbers tell a different story. When the Pelosi Democrats took control of Congress on January 4, 2007, the National Debt stood at $8,670,596,242,973.04. The last day of the 111th Congress and Pelosi’s Speakership on December 22, 2010 the National Debt was $13,858,529,371,601.09 - a roughly $5.2 Trillion increase in j...

Democrat Blames Reagan, Bushes For Deficits
(CNSNews.com) - In his last day as House Majority Leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) put much of the blame for America’s growing Debt on past Republican administrations, including former President Ronald Reagan. “Ronald Reagan came in and adopted an economic program that created $1.4 Trillion in Deficits over the next eight years,” Hoyer said in a Capitol Hill Press Conference on Tuesday, where he appeared with other members of the Democratic House Leadership. “George...

Republicans warn of 'tough decisions' as they formally take control of the House of Representatives
Congressman John Boehner, the new Republican Speaker of America's House of Representatives, has warned that the United States faced 'tough decisions' on mounting federal Debt as the party sought to promote its Small Government Legislation....

Republicans warn of 'tough decisions' as they formally take control of the House of Representatives
Congressman John Boehner, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday gave warning that the United States faced "tough decisions" on The Economy and mounting federal Debt, striving to avoid a triumphant tone as the Republican Party formally regained control of one of the major branches of government....

Cantor asks Obama to work together on earmarks, spending
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) called President Obama on Wednesday and said he hopes to find common ground on spending issues, Cantor's office said. Cantor and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) were officially calling Obama to inform him that the House had chosen its speaker, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio). "And I know that many members of our conference are particularly hopeful that we can work together given some of your remarks about Spending Cuts, that you’ll be propos...

Obama on the Debt Limit: Then and Now
Yahoo! Buzz In 2006, Sen. Barack Obama voted against raising the Debt ceiling to allow the U.S. to borrow more money, saying Washington was saddling future generations with its out-of-control spending. Now, his administration is implying that those who say the same are irresponsible. Asked on Wednesday about the seeming contradiction, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that in 2006, the outcome of the vote to raise the legal borrowing authority was not in doubt, and therefore the ...

Boehner moved to tears as he moves to speakership
WASHINGTON (AP) — The chin started trembling partway down the center aisle as the applause rose to a roar. John Boehner, the emotional Ohioan about to become the House’s new speaker, took his time, shaking hands with colleagues and their Children on his way to the rostrum. At its foot, the hankie came out. “It’s still just me,” he told the House after departing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, dry-eyed, handed Boehner his outsized “gavel of choice.” It is known to ...

Republicans take over House, dilute cuts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans scaled back plans for deep cuts in Government Spending as they took power in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, diluting a key promise that helped them to victory in November's election. A senior Republican also signaled the party could work with the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, to avert a Debt crisis in the coming months. "Our spending has caught up with us, and our Debt will soon eclipse the size of our entire economy. Hard wo...

Rep. Ross criticizes Republican rules package related to pay-go rules
Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), co-chairman of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, criticized the Republicans' rules package for letting Trillions of dollars be added to the Debt.  "This rules package, while there are a lot of good things in it, threatens to undermine all of the hard work we have done by allowing nearly $5 trillion in Government Spending to go unpaid for," Ross said Wednesday in a statement. "That’s $5 trillion the Republicans want to add to the National Debt....

Eric Cantor's Top 12 False and Misleading Statements in the Last 24 Hours on Twitter
6. "This is going to be a results-driven Congress." EXTREMELY UNLIKELY (It's already started out with a bunch of made-for-TV gimmicks, like voting to "Repeal" Health Care reform, reading the Constitution out loud, etc. How is that "results-driven?") 7. "Government for too long has operated under the flawed assumption that growing bigger & controlling more is necessarily better" WILDLY MISLEADING (Who made that argument? In fact, government for too long has operated under supply siders and Repub...

Send in Your Transpo Questions for the 112th Congress
The new Congress has been sworn in and John Boehner has been elected Speaker of the House, 241-173. Nancy Pelosi has handed him the (strangely over-sized) gavel and he just took the oath of office. In his Acceptance Speech, he stressed fiscal discipline and Spending Cuts. The first vote the new Congress will take will be on new rules governing the Congress, including the one we told you about Monday that would allow Congress to withhold transportation funds. By holding the money in the bank, law...

Republicans Back Off Pledge To Cut Budget By $100 Billion
If we’ve learned anything over the last two years, it’s that we cannot spend our way to prosperity. We offer a plan to stop out-of control spending and reduce the size of government. With common-sense exceptions for seniors, Veterans, and our Troops, we will roll back Government Spending to pre-stimulus, prebailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone and putting us on a path to balance the Budget and pay down the Debt. But that’s not working out so w...

Gibbs defends Obama 2006 vote against raising debt ceiling
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today defended a 2006 vote by then-senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) against raising the nation’s Debt ceiling. The vote to raise the Debt ceiling will be a major battle next year because Tea Party-backed Conservatives have vowed to let the government default on its debts rather than authorize a raising of the $14.3 Trillion limit. Republican leadership is expected to use the situation to force deep Spending Cuts to the 2012 Budget. White House economic ...

American Sauce: Three things missed about the new Congress
Senate Attic, Capitol Hill (CNN) - The GOP has taken over the U.S. House and the headlines. But there are other, significant stories of the 112th Congress. Here are three you shouldn't miss: the largest class of new members in decades, the Democrat divide and a rare, serious push to change Senate Filibuster rules. The 112th Congress has, believe it or not, 112 new members. That's if you include the three senators and two House members who won special Elections and were sworn in last Novemb...

Meet the New Boss
The deal is done: With a wave of his new, huge wooden gavel, John Boehner seized control of the House of Representatives. The gavel is an outsized block of wood that looks like the sawed-off top of a sledgehammer, far bigger than the medium-sized one Boehner handed to Pelosi four years ago, made by one of Boehner's constituents in western Ohio and given to the new Speaker as a gift. The symbol of Boehner's new power fits well with his straightforward, old-boy demeanor, which the outgoing Speak...

Boehner Commits To Open Process As GOP Moves Towards Adopting Closed Rule On Health Repeal
Boehner Commits To ‘Open’ Process As GOP Moves Towards Adopting Closed Rule On Health Repeal In a widely televised Inaugural Speech this afternoon, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) reiterated his commitment to “openness” and fair debate in the 112th Congress, even as his new majority prepares to bar Democrats from offering any amendments to the Health Care repeal Legislation and is forgoing the normal process of debating the measures in committee before they’re ...

New Congress and the Spending Thicket
The 112th Congress, convening today, promises to be one of the most politically charged sessions in recent memory--and one in which Government Spending will dominate the agenda. Barring a sudden crisis, Foreign Policy will be an afterthought amid an intensifying debate over the Debt and the Deficit. Both parties have taken one potentially explosive National Security issue--cuts in defense spending--off the table. Obama is unlikely to demand a vote on any Controversial treaties after his bruisi...

Marco Rubio Sworn In as U.S. Senator
Shortly after 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, and according to tradition, Marco Rubio walked down the aisle of the Senate floor with Senator Bill Nelson, D-FL on his left and retired Sen. Mel Martinez on  his right. After reaching Vice President Joe Biden at the right of the Senate President's desk, Rubio stepped up, took the oath, and became Florida's newest senator. "I'm here to be the United States senator from Florida and the best senator I can. I mean that," Rubio told reporters earlier that mor...