whether this shooting will change anything. one big question for so many lawmakers right now, does this act of violence expose dangerous holes in america s gun laws and in security for government officials? i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. captions by vitac www.vitac.com 22-year-old jared loughner now seems fully aware of the heinous charges he faces in the mass shooting in arizona that killed six people and left a united states congresswoman fighting for her life. loughner appearing in an arizona courtroom, just a short while ago. doctors now say representative gabrielle giffords condition has stabilized but still is critical after a bullet store through her brain. president obama says americans are pulling together after the shooting. he led a moment of size today f silence today for the victims. jared loughner had not been talking to police but it appears he broke his silence in court today. cnn s ted rowlandles covered the court appearance in pho
provisions. the last speaker who lost the majority but stayed in congress, denny hastert, he left the leadership and then he was gone about midway through his term. i think nancy pelosi will stick it out and fight. she likes a good fight. you know, today there s going to be a verbal roll call on the election of speaker. and it s obviously something some republicans over at the campaign committee are looking forward to because they want to know how many democrats are either going to vote quote/unquote present for heath schuller, somebody else. how many democrats do we expect not to vote for nancy pelosi as speaker? after her election as minority leader, people said they wouldn t vote for her. they re going to vote for heath schuler, vote present. a lot of the people who were most resistant to her got defeated in the election. so her support is still strong in that caucus. and i think, you know, she ll,
i m savannah guthrie. earlier this morning, the speaker went to a prayer service at st. peter s catholic church here in washington. he ll be sworn in as speaker of the house. we have complete coverage of the day s events. this hour we ll be joined by congressman debbie wauserman schultz. senator lamar alexander and the incoming speaker s big brother bob boehner. we start with this new era in washington. divided government is back. republicans today take control of the house of representatives. and increase their numbers in the senate. john boehner becomes the 53rd speaker of the house today, presiding over 87 new republican faces and following his swearing in expected mid-afternoon, around 2:00, 2:30, he ll address thu new house. he s going to say, quote, the american people have humbled us. this is their congress. it s about them, not us. what they support a government that is honest, accountable and responsive to their needs. we will not always get it right. he will add
want to have a position on some of these decisions. but i think it shoes while they re trying to chart the legislation, they re also starting the 2012 campaign in earnest, and the top people who have always been obama s closest advisers aren t staying in the white house to help him govern. they re going outside. we ll have to talk about that whether it s advisable to run a re-election campaign from the white house rather than running from a fresh start. he s going to have to run on his record, run on his incumbent president. he can t come back to chicago and start it all over. if it s run by that record, maybe it s different. i think it would be deceptive to think you re not going to have to rarnging on oversight and government reporting. probably the most important of the committee assignments right now. congressman, thank you for joining us. you were on hardball last night, and the same question amys. how hoft is the game going to be defending this administrati
if should be managed with a plan that builds on what you already have. together we can create a personal safety net, a launching pad, for all those brilliant ifs in the middle of life. you can call on our expertise and get guarantees for the if in life. after all, we re metlife. guarantees for the if in life. issue one, political potpourri, item, speaker nancy pelosi, minority leader now. why did their leader after the disastrous results of the election two weeks ago? because i m an effective leader, because we got the job done on health care, wall street reform and consumer protection, the list goes on. because they know that i m the person that can attract sources, intellectual and otherwise, to take us to victory because i have done it before. democrat nancy pelosi speaker of the house of representatives until january, when republican john boehner takes over, has landed on her feet already, moving from house speaker to minority leader. she continues to be the number