therefore, the honorable john a. boehner of the state of ohio having received a majority of the votes cast is dually elected speaker of the house of representatives for the 113th congress. >> as you hear, the cheers going up. john boehner, definitely a divided vote. powell, colin powell. walker, david walker. you don't have to be a member of the house to be voted for for speaker. luke russert, when you look at that breakdown, it's clear that the democrats pretty much hung together behind nancy pelosi and there are there were a few other protest votes. >> they did, yeah. >> the leader is john boehner. >> the real story here is boehner, and while he is re-elected here, andrea, we have to tell you this was not necessarily easy. when all the votes were counted in the first role, it took, of all people, michelle bachman and marcia blackburn, two members of congress who had missed the first roll, who were not present but their names were called, to come down and vote for boehner. that ended up putting him over the top. conservativ

therefore the honorable john a. boehner of the state of ohio, having received a majority of the votes cast is duly elected speaker of the house of representatives for the 113th congress. the clerk appoints the following committee to escort the speaker-elect to the chair. the gentleman, mr. cantor, the gentlewoman from california, ms. pelosi, the gentleman mr. mccarthy, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, the gentlewoman mrs. mcmorris rodgers. the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, the gentleman from california, mr. becerra, the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. lankford, the gentleman from new york, mr. crowley, the gentlewoman from kansas, ms. jenkins, the gentleman from new york, mr. israel, the gentlewoman from north carolina, ms. foxx, the gentlewoman from connecticut, ms. the lauro. the gentlewoman from missouri, ms. wagner. the gentleman from new jersey, mr. andrews. the gentleman from texas, mr. sessions. the gentleman from maryland, mr. van hollen. the gentleman from illinois, mr. roskam. the gentlewoman from new mex

clerk karen haas gave the tally. >> total number of votes cast is 426 of which the honorable john a. boehner of the state of ohio has received 220. the honorable nancy pelosi of the state of california has received 192. >> eliot: while pelosi got solid support with five democrats voting against her a dozen conservative republicans either abstained or lined up against boehner casting votes instead or candidates including majority leader eric cantor of virginia and tea party firebrand allen west. perhaps nobody told them west lost his election. when pelosi handed boehner a symbolic people's gavel boehner resisted the temptation to use it on the rebels in his own caucus. he returned to his favorite topic, reducing the national debt. >> at $16 trillion and rising, our national debt is draining free enterprise and weakening. in our hearts, we know it is wrong to pass this debt on to our kids and grandkids. now we have to be willing truly willing to make this problem right. >> eliot: with rest of house conservatives threatening to hold the debt ceiling hostage to force cuts in social problems, gri

our elected officials and the speaker of the house in particular because just a short time ago representative john boehnere-elected as speaker of the house, which seems to be a classic case of rewarding an abject failure. speaker boehner has led the how many times during its most dysfunctional and disagreeable performance in recent history. this gallup survey reveals that speaker boehner has managed to take public approval of congress to record lows during his first term, scoring an approval rating of just 10% during the last year. and if that wasn't bad enough, the house speaker, according to one polling organization, now ranks as the most disliked member of the house leadership. 51% of likely voters

john boehner. john harwood joins us now with all the details. good evening, john. >> reporter: good evening, larry. it's been a rough couple of weeks for john boehner, trying to negotiate a deal with the president. that didn't work. he went to plan b, his own caucus rejected plan b. the senate sent over a bill that was worse than plan b from a republican point of view. the speaker had to accommodate the views of members of his caucus who didn't like the lack of spending cuts in that bill, so they went through the motions of considering an amended bill. they did a whip count and found that it wasn't going to work. then they had to vote on the senate bill. he voted for it. eric cantor, his deputy who had long been rumored to be after his job, voted the other way. and so john boehner has been in a tenuous position. and then you had the controversy over hurricane sandy. he decided in deference to the spending concerns of some of his members to put off that vote last night and was blasted today by chris christie, the governor of new jersey, by peter king and other members from northeastern states, so he's gotta ele

second of all, we're in a position that we're dealing with spending cuts -- >> didn't john boehner reject a better deal from his values, according to his principles, that he ended up -- he then ended up finally leading the house to vote for last night? >> no, because last night was not a final deal. last night was a debate over how much of the tax increase obama was going to take off the table, and he took it, it's bad for the economy and unfortunate he got that. but now that's past us, what do we do now? we have a fight for four years on how to reign in obama's overspending. republicans have three pressure points, the president has none. what happened, all the republicans in the house were mad. you saw 157 voted against the deal. were they against cutting taxes for almost everybody? no. they wanted to cut taxes for everybody. they are mad there was no spending restraint, taxes went up, their anger for half a day will be aimed at boehner and for the next four years will be aimed at obama and the democratic white house, and that's where obama has a problem. he's now got four years of peopl

a critique from left. >>> also the one guy you don't want to be is john boehner. he's under fire from both democrats and republicans for not helping victims of sandy. >>> plus secretary of state hillary clinton is expected to make a full recovery after suffering a blood clot near her brain. so much for her critics on the far right who suggested she was faking being sick to avoid testifying about benghazi. >>> and let me finish with the reason it's hard to avoid a fiscal cliff. we begin with whether anyone really won in the fiscal cliff standoff. howard fineman is the director for "the huffington post" media group, steven walsh with "the wall street journal." let's look at who came out the winner on this fight. on the right there's some significant disagreement. here's what bill kristol wrote just before the house vote. quote, politically republicans are escaping with a better outcome than they might have expected. and president obama has gotten relatively little at his moment of greatest strength. then there's conservative commentator charles krauthammer. >> in the

and of course, john boehner being sworn in again as speaker of the house. he got a little bit emotional, which is really john boehner's style. he is an emotional guy. he sees the importance of what he's doing, the magnitude, the significance, all that it represents. and joining me right now you nbc news capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. kelly with a welcome to you. you know, it's part of what people find endearing about john boehner. you have also got to wonder if it's partly the exhaustion of what he has recently gone through and perhaps the hope that the next two years will go a little bit better for this new congress. >> well, good afternoon, alex. it is true that people often note the emotion that seems to come very easily for speaker john boehner. he will say that he is sort of embarrassed by it and that he can't really control it. the emotion just brings near the surface, and it does come out, because he says he takes all of these things very seriously, the responsibility you can the historic moment, what it means to be, as he says, a regular guy wit

boehner. what does this mean? >> i think, connell, it has to do with a lot of that experience they have just been through. john boehner negotiating a deal with president barack obama. the base of the republican party became john boehner. the deal did not work out so well. i think boehner himself have said they will go through normal legislative process. that is a good idea. it is not a good idea for john boehner to pick up the face of the republican party. he is the speaker of the house. it is not really intended that he should be a spokesman for the party. what he needs to do is bring forward some of the younger members of the house. certainly, that a includes paul ryan and eric cantor. i would say that for the senate as well. mitch mcconnell should be relying on some of the younger members of the senate as well. connell: i was thinking the democrats controlled the white house. the democrats also controlled the senate. the only bridge controlled legislatively by the republicans is the house of representatives. >> i do not think he is succeeding as the face of the republican party. maybe two years from now. i

john a. >>> therefore, the honorable john a.. boehner of the state o ohio having received a majority of thevo votes cast is duly elected the speaker of the representatives for the 113th congress. >>> all right, good evening, everyone. i'm larry kudlow. this is "the kudlow report." the new sizzle, the republican john boehner. hung on to his speakership despite some challenges and some tense moments on the floor of the house. and he keeps his job as speaker. but where does he go from here? has the battle over the debt ceiling and a possible government shutdown are all around the corner. but the gop has nothing but fiscal problems ahead of itself. nothing but problems. a few moments ago, new texas senator ted cruise told me that a government shutdown should be on the negotiating table that's what cruise said. >>> plus, we go out to san francisco, the middle east backed news network al jazeera is buying al gore's current tv for a whopping 500 million bucks. many believe al jazeera is nothing but pro-terrorist and anti-american and should not

john boehner. may god bless you. [applause]. >> jamie: john boehner was reelected to his post capping off a tumultuous we cannot to mention a bruising first term as house speaker. with another debt battle brewing, showdowns looming on tax and entitlement reform. can he take on an emboldened president obama while keeping his own party in line? so, steve, very difficult week. everybody's critical of john boehner, but yet, rehe elected as speaker. why is he reelected if everybody is so critical? >> yeah, boy, that must have been a tough speech for nancy pelosi to give, by the way. look, i have been a defender of john boehner. i think he did an exceptional job when he was minority leader in 2009 and 2010, paul, really giving very strong principled opposition to the kind of policies that barack obama was promoting at that time, the stimulus bill, obamacare, and so on, holding the republican caucus in line on principled grounds. i think where republicans need to go now is look, we know barack obama is looking at governing from the left. we've seen that just the last few weeks, i think that republicans have to be very principled

a strong, progressive voice took the oath of office. senator elizabeth warren now representing massachusetts and what was once ted kennedy's senate seat. in the house, republicans were voting on whether to keep john boehner as speaker. there were a few defections. >> the reading clerk will now call the roll. >> amash? brown broun of georgia? yoho? >> but, in the end, in the end, speaker boehner survived easily. >> the total number of votes cast is 426 of which the honorable john a. boehner of the state of ohio has received 220. >> that's right. the man who drove this country to the brink of default who repeatedly threatened to shut down the government. who can't even control his own party. he's their man-again. it's the same leadership with the same failed agenda. even before the vote, boehner was telling his fellow republicans that he's done negotiating with president obama one-on-one. maybe that's a good thing. >>> and the first move by the new congress, michelle bachmann introducing another bill to repeal obama care. something republicans tried to do more than 30 times in the last congress. and, in case there were any doubts about republican intentions, mitch mcconnell put an end today. in an article

that being said, this is not a diversion, this was a real cliff, a real problem, i think john boehnerfor having put so much into it. for having tried so hard to make a deal. for having herded his cats, it was not pretty, it was not the straightest line between a and b but it got done, he deserves a lot of credit even from his predecessors. >> another thing that's troubled me about how it all played out. that was president obama's handling of negotiations. john boehner took a lot of criticism and as ana said, he was able to herd his cats, it was like making sausage. he made some tough decisions. they knew how much john boehner wanted a great decision. mr. obama couldn't make a deal like that, even when it would have made the president look good, the grand bargain. did mr. obama miss a critical opportunity to extend an olive branch to the republicans, specifically john boehner as a gesture of conciliation. what's missing is a picture of the president with the speaker. that doesn't even exist. this is sort of a deal. >> i read peggy's peace, i think it's entitled there's no i in kumbaya.

mike emanuel on capitol hill with the latest. >> honorable john a. boehnerthe state of ohio received majority of the votes cast is duly elected speaker of the house of representatives for 113 time. >> and john boehner has been re-elected to serve another two years. there were nine g.o.p. defections including three members voting for majority leader cantor. though candor didn't encourage the split. >> hope for the future of our country. i present the people's gavel to the speaker of the house. john boehner. [ applause ] >> after winning the gavel an emotional boehner told members new and old the job ahead will be difficult. >> $16 trillion and rising, the national debt is draining free enterprise, and weakening the ship of state. >> but the speaker made it clear he intends to lead. >> public service was never meant to be easy living. extraordinary challenges demand extraordinary leadership. >> boehner hinted he intends to change the approach giving up one on one negotiation with president obama that failed to produce results and made members uneasy. he said h

gun, younger group, it's not a split with boehner, it's a split on how they decided to vote, but they know where the political clout is and that's with those conservatives. john boehner doesn't necessarily need to be there. he's someone who would be more of a pragmatist and would get something done. he is a pragmatist, but not able to have the flexibility and the white house knew that. >> let's talk about that. i think it's important. eric cantor comes out yesterday and says, i'm opposed to this bill. the political world sort of panics and says, the bill is going down, they're going to amend it, and then eric cantor comes out and says, we're going to have a straight up or down vote. we've built up this narrative that cantor is waiting for his moment to pounce on boehner. in truth, they were very united in all of this. they voted different ways, but united, really. cantor didn't look like he was undermining boehner. what's the governing dynamic between the two of them? is it cantor biding his time, making sure he plays nice with conservatives, but doesn't try to overthrow boehner? >> i think there was a little bit more to it, probably in 2010 or slightly befor

this should be a slam dunk for john boehner. he has no challenger among the republicans. ere has not been a second vote for the speakership since 1923. but there have been some comments from some conservative house republicans, some tea party members about boehner's handling of the fiscal cliff negotiations with the president, about his handling of in this vote on the hurricane sandy relief bill. a few republicans actually coming out and saying they might not vote for john boehner as speaker. not vote for nancy pelosi, but they might abstain. and we've heard some conservative tea party groups actually calling for john boehner to step down. so with 233 republicans, boehner can afford to lose just 17 of them on this vote, and, you know, we can tell you that there are a lot more than 17 who opposed his plan b proposal two weeks ago that would have raised taxes on millionaires. he had to pull that after 40 or 50 anti-tax conservatives opposed that. on his way into the chamber, you're right, he was asked by our colleague chad if he had any consterration about the vote for the s

a challenge against boehner? or is that just him being angry. >> well peter king's day-long revolt ended with a meter with john boehnerngressman king came away from that meeting somewhat more pleased hearing that the speaker was going to bring up at least part of that spending package this week. it's a bill to be voted on on friday, and congressman king said he would continue to support speaker boehner, and really this was all a publicity stunt or just congressman king sleep deprived and incredibly pissed off, trying to make a statement. >> jennifer: all i can say is you think $50 billion for hurricane sandy is going to be a problem, people need to consider what the cost is of all of these extreme water events that we're going to continue to see, because congress is the deep pocket that will continue to be asked for help. andy thank you so much for giving us a little bit of incite into the palace intrigue as you say. >>> coming up as the newtown tragedy fades from alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they kn

i guess we'll settle between $400,000 and a million >> a shocker on capitol hill last night as house speaker john boehner'slan-b backfired >> boehner pulled republicans into a meeting, tried to get the votes he needed but failed. >> jon: we just lost our brakes. all right. i forgot about the republicans. they hate trains and think trains have no business being involved in transportation. we're going over the cliff. unless... >> mcconnell called for help phoning vice president biden who came to the white house today and is now part of the talks. >> jon: oh, great. somebody called dr. feel-good to the house. that will work. hey, joey crest-strip get in here. he'll come in, flash the pearly whites, goose a couple of interns. good plan [bleep]. >> breaking news on the fiscal cliff. the senate approved a last-minute deal overnight >> jon: oh, my... i don't know why we're doing that. think we were doing a train analogy, were we not? first day back, people. not everything is going to match up. but we did it. we made a deal. i can't wait to hear about this amazing deal >> new higher rates would hit those earning a

john boehner has to do is reunify the party. if john boehner agrees to any new taxes i think this mini revolt will be a full-scaled revote. >> thanks to all of you, we have to take one more break. when we come back, hits and misses of the week. .so as yous customer satisfaction is at 97%. mmmm tasty. and cut! very good. people are always asking me how we make these geico adverts. so we're taking you behind the scenes. this coffee cup, for example, is computer animated. it's not real. geico's customer satisfaction is quite real though. this computer-animated coffee tastes dreadful. geico. 15 minutes could save you 15 % or more on car insurance. someone get me a latte will ya, please? >> time now for our hits and misses of the week. steve, first to you. >> shame on chris christie, the new jersey governor who ripped into the republican congress because they haven't approved the sandy disaster relief bill. paul, this is a bill that's filled with pork, 60 billion dollars, only about a third of that money goes directly to the victims. if chris christie wants to blame anyone he should blame chuck schumer the senator from new york who put

a surprise move to some voted yes. standing by house speaker john boehner. ryan explained his yes vote this way saying, "i came to congress to make tough decisions, not to run away from them." rubio, the rising florida senator, had a different view on the matter saying, i appreciate all the hard work that went into avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff, nevertheless, i cannot support the arrangement they have arpg arrived at." it should also be noted that kentucky senator rahn paul who said he may run for president in the tradition of his father, also voted no. then, of course, you had a visibly angry chris christie yesterday who has no qualms about taking a few swipes at his own party when it benefits him politically. at a testy press conference, christie also reverted to tradition by chewing out a reporter, which was red meat for a base of republicans who might otherwise question his more moderate positions. all of which is to say the usual behind the scenes 2016 maneuvering is being put on stark display at the start of the 113th congress. so i have to go rig

we just saw a vote on the fiscal cliff where john boehner voted one way. his number two voted in another direction and number three. what we saw for the first time in that fiscal cliff vote for a long time is legislation got passed in the house without a majority of the majority. in other words, boehner's majority didn't vote for it overwhelmingly, yet legislation can get passed. we don't know whether the speaker would be willing to do that again, but we will have to wait and see if the speaker does speak for his caucus anymore or whether it continues to be divided because that is something the white house is of course looking at as they think the legislation they want to get through the congress. >> let me bring out jim acosta who has been looking at the new faces coming here to washington. new faces in the senate as well as the house of representatives. 84 house freshmen elected and three have been sworn in. 12 newly elected senators and eight democrats and three republicans and one independent from maine. 13 if you count tim scott and now former congress

it's a big step but i think they'll take it. >> david, looking at house speaker john boehner a lot of people thought he ended up looking bad when that plan b failed. does he have the votes for this and/or could his speakership be in trouble? >> i don't know that his speakership is in trouble. during a year and a half ago during the debt ceiling debate where house majority leader eric cantor acted up and acted as spokesman for the farther right wing of the caucus, but i think here there's not a lot of suggestions that his speakership could go down but i think it is important for john boehner to reestablish the idea he is somewhat in control of his membership and that they trust him and that he is the leader here. he sort of allowed the senate to take over here really sort of gave up in some ways a few days ago and said, hey. you guys come up with something and bring it back to us. so i think there is a lot of pressure and there is going to be a lot of calling, cajoling, and making sure that this thing is going to get the votes, at least enough of a combination of democrat and republica

headline -- a failed coup effort against john boehner highlights divisions. it goes on to say a group of dissident republicans failed to push representative boehner to a second ballot and potentially replace him. 12 house republicans broke from him in a tense roll-call vote, voting for somebody else or deliberately not voting at all. that was five short of what would have been needed to force a second ballot. a handful of democrats also did not vote for nancy pelosi, but she will remain the democratic leader with 192 votes. minority leader nancy pelosi and the house democratic women took a picture on the capitol steps today. the 113th congress has the most women serving in history. there are 81 women in the house and to 20 in the senate. [inaudible conversation] [applause] [inaudible conversatoiion] [inaudible conversation] x everybody smile. one, two, three. [laughter] right here. [laughter] [inaudible conversation] >> ok. >> everybody -- 1, 2, 3. last one. >> come on. >> let's go. ready. ok. [applause] >> the 113th congress has the most women serving in hist

>> no, i think there's a lot of respect for john boehner and his caucus. it's a develvery difficult caul us lead, especially the way john is doing it today, a lot more open communication with his caucus. it's a less forceful speakership than we've seen from some speakerships in the past but john boehner having come through the ranks sees that as a virtue and i think over time the caucus will respect that. he's going to lose some members here and there, they're going to have some battles but i think there's great respect for him to try to lead all of the disparate factions in the republican party in the house right now and he has done that and he's getting the respect of people like peter king. >> going forward, and you mentioned these three big things, not to mention gun control and immigration that will be on the agenda, there's a suggestion certainly by some democrats that now speaker boehner is going to be more marginalized. the reason is they believe they have a path by going first to the senate, which is not the tradition, go to the senate, get them to

dole to act as speaker in temporary on this day, signed john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. >> the prayer will be offered by our chaplain father conroy. >> let us pray. eternal god, we give you thanks for giving us another day, a new year. the political struggles of the past year have revealed the divisions that exist in our nation. there are many american citizens who are angry, frustrated, and anxious for the future. this day is a day of history. send your spirit upon the members of the people's house. may an imperfect compromise when viewed from the perspective of our differences not be undermined by a desire for political victory. this is difficult for all. give each member the grace of courage to forge a constructive solution for the good of the nation and all americans. help us to trust that no matter what you will not abandon us. all that is done this day, may it be for your greater honor and glory. amen. >> announces to the house's approval thereof. pursuant to clause one of rule one, the journal stands approved. >> so busine

obama miss a critical opportunity to extend an olive branch to the republicans, specifically john boehner, as a gesture of conciliation? what's missing is a picture of the president with the speaker. that doesn't exist. this was sort of a deal. >> i read peggy's piece entitled. there is no "i" in kumbayya. it is not about extending olive branches but about doing your job. i was sick and tired of seeing both sides talk about how brave and how courageous they were. no one else in america is brave and courageous as much as these politicians for doing the very basics of their job. this whole conversation we had in terms of not raising taxes on the middle class was something that was resolved in the senate months ago. if she wants to talk about parties not doing what they should have been doing, the senate voted for a bill to not allow the taxes to go up on the middle class back in the fall. the reason why it went this long was because of boehner, because of his party, and because of this sort of distraction politics they have been doing, the obstructionist. >> very quickly, ana, do you think

i mean, there is chris christie saying you know, i mean, john boehner is a liar of some kind.nd then it is eric, it is first name eric, with eric cantor. everyone thinks that chris christie wants to be a republican presidential candidate. it is getting stranger and stranger, imagining chris christie on a republican primary stage with all of this bashing of republicans he is willing to do. >> yeah, it is amazing, palace intrigue at its worst. eric cantor is now the new jersey and new york's politician's best friend when it comes to sandy relief. the worse, he is a terrible speaker and doesn't know what he is doing. but 85 members had to walk the plank, vote for tax cuts with no spending cuts. he didn't feel like he could make them walk the blank again. he is in a bind, john boehner is in an impossible situation and has this deputy, eric cantor, in an impossible situation. >> and you're from staten island. i don't think everybody understands that the new york delegation normally sends exactly one republican to the house of representatives, that is your congressman, michael grim,

john boehner couldn't corral them even up to the very very end. the only thing he finally was forced into holding ayeah 85 republicans abandoned the tea party, abandoned john boehner and ended up voting for the bill so we have got a broken congress more than ever, and we got a bad deal. 866-55-press, let's talk about it here on the "full court press" this wednesday morning, january 2nd. happy new year. >> announcer: radio meets television. the "bill press show," now on current tv. ♪ converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. alright, in 15 minutes we're going to do the young turks. i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they know that i'm not bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his

he is representing two wings of the house. >> they disagree on what kind of a speaker john mccormick was. john boehnerrangling with his own party, michael crowley explains why we are poised to become a nation of cliff we w l dwellers, like the hobbit or something. meet the 5-passenger ford c-max hybrid. when you're carrying a lot of weight, c-max has a nice little trait, you see, c-max helps you load your freight, with its foot-activated lift gate. but that's not all you'll see, cause c-max also beats prius v, with better mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid. >>> so after the fiscal cliff roller coaster, we have some positive economic news. >> what? >> the new adp jobs report shows more than 200,000 private sector jobs added between november and december, leading to some cautious optimism for tomorrow's big jobs report and we will have our dynamic jobs duo of mauricecy and bernstein, get excited for that. >> i already am. >> before we get too thrilled, we know there are more cliffs on the horizon. we have got a huge debt ceiling fight looming next month and after that there are clif

. >> let me ask you on a senate issue. john boehner issued a statement critical of the senate saying your body has not passed a budget in for years and it is time to produce a budget that cut spending. >> we did pass one. we did the so-called sequestration legislation. i realize he has to play to his base. this poor guy could not get sandy relief at the end of the last congress. they finally got through part of it after some local members of his party said do not give any more campaign contributions to republicans until you do. i would like to see the house to some of that. i do not believe i should tell them what to do. we passed a bipartisan farm bill. we worked very hard on it. it passed overwhelmingly. it got to the house they were afraid to even vote one way or another. we passed the violence against women act. how could anyone be in favor of violence against women? it passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan support. if it goes to the house, we cannot do anything on this. we passed the sandy relief. they would not take that on. my m

a bit jammed by the senate. did mitch mcconnell jam john boehner and force boehner's hand? >> he didn't force boehner's hand, but he did step up in a way that boehner didn't. people will tell you on capitol hill boehner's nerve never looked weaker, here's why. for most of the day yesterday we were not sure there would be a vote, and if there was a vote it could include new spending measures. this bill is all tax increases and very little spending cuts. when the republicans got together yesterday afternoon, there was a rebellion among house republicans. they all wanted spending cuts, both boehner and his number two, eric cantor put out a statement saying there was near unanimous concern about spending. the debate for much of the day is what do we tack on to this turkey the senate sent us? do cuts that we know kill it as the poison pill or there was some conversation about attaching cuts that democrats might find acceptable that the president has been for in the past. in the end, mark, republicans decided they couldn't be stuck with the idea of a middle class tax cut that they

bill but have expanded into a mass movement 01/04/13 01/04/13 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> the honorable john boehner from the state of ohio, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly collected speaker of the house of representatives. >> a new congress is sworn in, the most diverse in the nation's history, but not the most aggressive. who is in and who is out, with john nichols. then a debate on fracking. >> energy self-sufficient and can ensure -- >> coming from an area that is tougher from the legacy of industrial pollution, there are all saying, dear governor cuomo, we need you to make sure this is an adequate, comprehensive, and it must be completed before any other step in the process moves forward. >> as new york weighs whether to lift a moratorium on fracking, we will host a debate. all that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s. congress opened its 113th session thursday, swearing in a record number of women and people of color. new members include the only african-american now serving in the senate, tim

a bit of added drama as well on the house side. speaker john boehner hoping to hold john to his leadership position. he has lost some support from some republicans that were outraged he delayed a vote on hurricane sandy relief. boehner and nancy pelosi are officially nominated in about 40 minutes or so. then the voting begins. we want to bring in our team keeping a close eye on history being made. of course, wolf blitzer and gloria borger are in washington and dana bash live on capitol hill. wolf, we'll start off with you. you've probably lost count on the number of times you have covered this event and watched this take place. we'll talk about boehner in a minute, but talk a little bit about the diversity we see in this congress. never the liking before. record number of women in the senate, record number of latinos in the house. how will this impact whether or not the president can get more done in the second term? >> well, as important as it is to have a congress, a house and a senate that looked like the united states of america and there will be 2

group of republicans failed to push john boehner -- 12 broke from boehner in a tense public roll-call vote either by voting for someone else are not voting at all. it was five short of what would have been needed to force a second ballot. after electing mr. boehner as speaker, republicans announced their other leadership positions. eric cantor and kevin mccarthy work reelected as majority leader and minority whip. cathy mcmorris rodgers takes over as conference chairman and craddick walton becomes -- greg walden becomes chairman of the nrc see. joe crowley is the new caucus vice chair. after the formal swearing-in of the group, speaker boehner met with members and their families for a mock swearing-in selected have their picture taken. -- so they could have their picture taken. >> how are you? thank you all. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> thank you. thank you all. >> thank you, sir. i am proud of you. >> stand right there. there we go. >> thank you, mr. speaker. >> raise your right hand. >> you are in the middle. you can hold that. >> thank you very much.

john boehner. true. i think, for president obama to spend one more minute, one minute talking with john boehner is just a. >> it sounds like that might not happen. it sounds like john boehner is finished negotiating with obama as well. >> bill: i think it is the other way around. rebecca berg is with us here. she covers congress for "buzzfeed." buzzfeed.com. so should the president have accepted this deal? 1-866-55-press. and are you satisfied with john boehner's late minute compromise on the relief to hurricane sandy? >> announcer: on your radio and on current tv, this is the "bill press show." >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking? (vo) current tv gets the converstion started next. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "b

. >> john is a voice of reason in our conference, despite when things i said yesterday, i do consider john boehner friend, which is what really hurt the other day. lou: king reversing himself after boehner agreed to hold a vote on a scaled back version of sandy relief, and new jersey governor chris christie, saying as governor he has actual responsibilities unlike the people in congress, but the truth is that boehner's critics, owe the speaker an apology, the aim of pure political pork stuffed into the relief bill is the reason for boehner's delay, here are just a few of the most aagreemeneeexamples. >> nearly 60s million for forest restoring a on private land, and 150 to noaa to help fisheries in alaska. tonight fox news senior political analyst brit hume will join us, congressman jame lang ford with us. and the eventual reelection of speaker boehner and what lies ahead for this 113th congress. israel racing to reinforce its border with syria as assad continues his assaulted on his people, knesset speaker is joining us tonight. resolving to cut taxes, and reform with a cast of characters, leading

john boehner and eric cantor had their chance to actually come up with a more reasonable package and i thought that john boehner showed a little courage there. he was almost -- if you will, going against so many republicans and saying you know what? there aren't a whole lot of spending cut, but the country cannot go over this fiscal cliff because tens of millions of americans could see their taxes going up. he did the right thing in terms of wanting to prek so many. >> at the end of the day, the speaker's job is to be the most reasonable person in the house and the person has to figure out how to move things forward, even if you're not satisfied with everything. that's the burden of being the speaker. you don't have this liberty some have to just vote on your own knowledge. there were democrats who voted against the bill. i don't think they did it for pure crass politics or because they might run for something one day. they did it because of ideology. cutting spending is important. wolf, you're right about the speaker, he had a difficult role to play. he played it as best he could. i

what a moment for john boehner, like a moment from hell.er, leading almost every newscast. the speaker of the house sounds more like the satan of spending, crueling holds up the vote on the much needed sandy aid. easier to push the bad boehner argument, i guess, not true though. because, reality, the sandy bucks are not going just to the victims, far from it millions doled out to fisheries in alaska, and roof repairs in washington d.c., not one sandy related. speaker wanted to keep the aid package clean. they are good at throwing good money after bad in washington. and pork if goodies for themselves, forgetting the folks who don't have much for themselves. greedy politicians are taking their money, and john boehner gets fried, look there are no saints in washington did you beplannedding accountability -- demanding accountability, john boehner deserves better. they got them scared now, he was being reasonable and looking out for the victims who were getting screwed. leave it to mainstream media to sell the notion, he is the bad guy, he found

i don't think there's a clear alternative to john boehner. also the good of the sewage of anybody else really wants. melissa: right? [laughter] you're right, you're right. it is a terrible job. >> it is not like eric cantor or somebody else could make everybody republican caucus lineup and democrats are not particularly cooperative. it is a difficult job and i don't think there's a logical alternative, eric cantor the number two republican in the house would be the next best guess. but he is not campaigning for the job as far as anybody can tell, and there is respect for speaker john boehner even if there is unhappiness. melissa: nancy pelosi just voted for herself. always a pleasure, thank you for coming on. lori: enjoyed that description of john boehner, do you think even he wants the job next? he just had to be at his wits end with harry reid because what do i have to lose at this point. melissa: you can imagine how exhausted and frustrated they all are. lori: it is kind of nice to know that they are passion and fired up. melissa: human. co