Fired-up Obama foes take over US House

A tense era of political power-sharing dawned in Washington yesterday as a new US Congress convened with President Barack Obama’s Republican foes in control of the House of Representatives.

Incoming Republican House Speaker John Boehner warned lawmakers they faced “great challenges” as his party prepared a freshly invigorated assault on Mr Obama’s agenda with an eye on thwarting his 2012 re-election bid.

The White House’s foes also enjoyed a stronger Senate minority thanks to a pack of new conservative members who won office on November 2 when voters angry at the sputtering US economy and high unemployment routed Democrats.

“We gather here today at a time of great challenges,” Mr Boehner, Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s replacement, said in excerpts of inaugural speech. “Hard work and tough decisions will be required.”

Republicans have vowed to slash spending, scrap “job-killing” government regulations, overhaul the tax code, crack down on undocumented immigration, cut diplomatic and foreign aid funds, and investigate the administration.

And they have already scheduled a January 12 vote on repealing Obama’s signature overhaul of US health care – a purely symbolic step because the Democratic Senate majority can block it and the President can veto it.

But the move represents an effort by Mr Boehner, a two-decade veteran of Washington politics, to please the arch-conservative “Tea Party” activists who fuelled big Republican gains and view the legislation as Washington overreach.

“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,” Mr Boehner, 61, said in remarks released by his office.

Senate Democrats, captained by Majority Leader Harry Reid, planned to push ahead with rules changes that make it harder for the minority party to kill legislation by delaying it or anonymously block key nominees. And they warned Republicans would have to break their lockstep opposition to White House-backed initiatives over the past two years in favour of bipartisan compromise in order to deliver on their campaign pledges.

“The American people want common-sense solutions to help middle-class Americans make ends meet, not extremist political stunts,” Reid spokesman Jon Summers said Tuesday.