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FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. This week on our program, we look at the new Congress in Washington.
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FAITH LAPIDUS: The one hundred twelfth Congress opened last Wednesday. The new speaker of the House of Representatives is John Boehner. The Republican from Ohio replaces Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California.
Four years ago, Ms. Pelosi became the first woman ever elected speaker. She will now serve as the minority leader.
NANCY PELOSI: "We now engage in a strong symbol of American democracy -- the peaceful and respectful exchange of power."
STEVE EMBER: John Boehner is sixty-one years old. He grew up the second oldest of twelve children in his family in Ohio. His father owned a bar called Andy's Cafe that his grandfather started. He says working there when he was growing up taught him how to deal with all kinds of people.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio holds up the gavel during the first session of the 112th Congress
He also likes to say that his parents used what little money they had to send all their children to Catholic schools. The future House speaker worked nights as a cleaning man to pay for college.
He went on to become president of a plastics company and served in the Ohio state legislature for six years. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in nineteen ninety. He was among a group of first-term Republicans known as the "Gang of Seven" who fought to change Congress.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Last week, Mr. Boehner wiped tears from his eyes as he gave his first speech as House speaker. His new job puts him second in line to the presidency after the vice president.
JOHN BOEHNER: "The American people have humbled us. They have refreshed our memories as to just how temporary the privilege to serve is. They have reminded us that everything here is on loan from them."
FAITH LAPIDUS: And Speaker Boehner said voters sent a clear message that they are not happy with the situation in the country.
House Speaker John Boehner holds up the gavel after receiving it from outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
JOHN BOEHNER: "We gather here today at a time of great challenges. Nearly one in ten of our neighbors are looking for work. Health care costs are still rising for American families. Our spending has caught up with us, and our debt will soon eclipse the entire size of our entire economy.
"Hard work and tough decisions will be required of the one hundred twelfth Congress. No longer can we fall short. No longer can we kick the can down the road. The people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin carrying out their instructions."
STEVE EMBER: On the first day, House Republicans passed new rules that aim to cut government spending-- rules that Democrats criticized. The new rules say any proposed spending increases must be paid for with cuts in other areas.
Also, all legislation will have to be available for anyone to read online three days before a vote. And bills will have to list their basis in the United States Constitution.
This new attention to the Constitution included an eighty-four-minute reading of the document in the House last Thursday.
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STEVE EMBER: But members did not read the parts like those about slavery that were later amended out of the Constitution.
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FAITH LAPIDUS: This week, House Republicans plan a vote to repeal the new health care law. However, that effort to end the law faces opposition in the Senate where Democrats still hold a majority.
Republicans could also try to deny money to pay for the health law or vote against parts of it. But they would have to get enough votes in both houses to defeat a presidential veto.
The law is known as the Affordable Care Act. President Obama signed the bill last March. The aim is for most Americans to have health insurance by twenty fourteen. The law also faces a fight in the courts over whether the government can require people to buy coverage.
Still, the health care law represented one of a number of legislative victories for President Obama last year. That was while his Democratic Party controlled both houses of Congress. Mr. Obama also signed into law the biggest rewrite of financial rules since the nineteen thirties.
STEVE EMBER: But as the economy suffered, so did the president’s approval ratings. He was not alone.
Political experts say the last Congress was one of the most productive in American history. By December, however, only thirteen percent of Americans said they approved of the way Congress was handling its job. That was a new low in more than thirty years of public opinion findings by the Gallup organization.
By comparison, the president's approval rating was about forty-five percent after the congressional elections in November.
Those elections gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives for the first time in four years. Republicans also made gains in the Senate. President Obama took responsibility for the results.
BARACK OBAMA: "After what I’m sure was a long night for a lot of you -- and needless to say it was for me -- I can tell you that some election nights are more fun than others. Some are exhilarating; some are humbling."
FAITH LAPIDUS: Many of the new Republican members of the House are young Tea Party activists. They support tax and spending cuts and limited government.
Norman Ornstein is a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute. He says voters punished Democrats because unemployment remains high. He says the political climate may be even more divided now, since many moderate Democrats and Republicans have been replaced.
NORMAN ORNSTEIN: "We’ve had plenty of times when we have had enormous tension, with the impeachment of President Nixon. We had the impeachment of President Clinton, we had the Vietnam War, we had the Iran-Contra investigation, periods when the two parties had an enormously high level of tension. But this is simply worse."
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STEVE EMBER: Third-term Representative Michele Bachmann is a Republican from Minnesota and a favorite of the Tea Party movement. She talked about the trillion-dollar federal deficit on the CBS program "Face the Nation." She said Republicans have a simple message for the new Congress.
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