For our country. Surely we can be touched by the better angels of our nature. Surely we can be touched by the better angels of our nature. So beautifully expressed by president lincoln. This is the peoples house. This is the peoples gavel. It represents a sacred trust. May we all fulfill that trust and make real the ideals of democratic government. With respect for our constitution, with faith in the american people, with hope for the future of our country, i present the peoples gavel to the speaker of the house, john boehner. May god bless you. [ applause ] to Speaker Boehner, may god bless this congress, my god always bless the United States of america. My colleagues, the speaker of the house, john boehner. [ applause ] leader pelosi, thank you for your kind words. Members of the house and the senate and my wife debbie who is with us today, thankfully the girls are working. All of you and our fellow country men, we meet again at democracies great. Every two years, at this hour the constitution brings a new order to this house. Its an interlude for reflection. A glimpse of old truce. To our new members and families, let me say welcome. I know you are feeling a bit awe struck at this moment. History runs through this building. Now you are among a select few. For those of you returning who walked these aisles before, maybe its time we get a little awe struck again. The way our founders envisioned it, the republic would be led by citizens who recognize that the blessings that we receive by governing ourselves, it requires that we give something of ourselves. Everything depended on this. So that made each other and successors an oath of allegiance. In a few moments, i will take this oath for the 12th time as the representative from the eighth district of ohio. It is word for word the same oath we all take and note it makes no mention of party or faction or title. Contains no reference to agendas or platforms. Only to the constitution. The one in addition we make as George Washington did at the first inaugural is to invoke the assistance of our heavenly father. This makes the servants posterity and calls us to refuse the pull of passing interest and follow the fixed art of a more perfect union. Put simply, we are here not to be something, but to do something. Or as i like to call it, doing the right thing. Its a big job and it comes with big challenges. Our government has built up too much debt. Our economy is not producing enough jobs. These are not separate problems. At 16 trillion and rising, our National Debt is draining Free Enterprise. The American Dream is in peril and so long as its namesake is weighed down by this anchor of debt. Jobs will come home and confidence will come back. We do this not just to boost gdp or reduce unemployment, but to secure for our children a future of freedom and opportunity. Frankly nothing is more important. As washington wrote in his address we should not throw upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. That burden is ours and so is the opportunity. There is no substitute for the wisdom of the people. We here are their servants. As speaker, i pledge to listen and to do all i can to help all of you carry out your oath of office that we are all about to take. Because in our hearts we know its wrong to pass this debt on to our kids and grandkids. Now we have to be willing, truly willing to make this problem right. Public service was never meant to be an easy living. Extraordinary challenges to man, extraordinary leadership. If you have come here to see your name in the lights or pass off a political victory as accomplishment, you have come to the wrong place. The door is behind you. You come here humbled by the opportunity to serve. If you have come to be the determined voice of the people, you have come here to carry the standard of leadership not by constituents, but by the times, then you have come to the right place. There is a time for every purpose under heaven. For the 113th congress, it is a time to rise. When the day is over, the verdict is read. Maybe it said that we well and faithfully did our duty to ensure freedom and that freedom will endure and prevail, so help us god. I am now ready to take the oath of office and i will ask the honorable john dingle of michigan to administer the oath of office. Governor from ohio. Please raise his right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, that you will bear truth faith and allegiance to the same. That you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that you will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter so help you god . I do. Congratulations, mr. Speaker. According to precedent, the chair will swear in the members en masse so all members elect will rise and the chair will now administer the oath of office. If all memberselect will raise their right hands. Do you solemnly wear or affirm that you will support and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic and bear true faith and allegiance and take this obligation freely without mental reservation or purpose of evasion and you will faithfully discharge the duties on the office of which you are about to enter, so help you god. I do. You are now a member of the 113th congress. The house will be in order. The house will be in order. The chair recognizes the gentle lady from washington state. Mr. Speaker, as chair of the republican conference, i am directed by that conference to notify the house officially that the republican members have selected as majority leader the gentlemen from virginia, the honorable eric kantor. The chair recognizes the gentlemen from california, mr. Basera. As chairman of the democratic caucus, i have have been directed that the democratic members select said as minority leader the gentle woman from the state of california, the honorable nancy pelosi. We recognize the lady from washington state. As chair of the republican conference, i am directed by that conference to notify the house officially that the republican members have selected as majority the gentlemen from california, the honorable kevin mccarthy. The chair recognizes the gentlemen from california, mr. Basera. As chairman of the democratic caucus, i have been directed to report the democratic members selected as minority assistant democratic leader, the gentlemen from South Carolina, the honorable james clyburn. Recognizes the gentle lady from washington state. Mr. Speaker, i offer a privileged resolution and asked for immediate consideration. The clerk will report the resolution. House resolution one resolved. Karen l. Hoss of the state of maryland will be and chosen the clerk of the house of representatives and paul d. Irving is chosen. The 113th congress are officially beginning their business and getting ready for two years of activity and the new speaker is the old speaker. There was never much doubt that john boehner would be reelected speaker of the house and no doubt that nancy pelosi would be reelected the minority leader of the house of representatives. Our senior congressional correspondent, a historic day for the United States of america. An important day and you saw john boehner once again over the past hour or so as usual gets very emotional on these momentous occasions. Here sure does. As gar an teed as the sunrising in the morning that he will break down when he gives a gives a major address. There were a couple of interesting points that we should talk about. One is he talked about the fact that perhaps people should be a little more awe struck about where they are here. A clear message to everybody that you have to take what you are doing here seriously. He understands how tough it has been not just for him but for the country to watch this congress and washington come to the brink over the past week or so on the fiscal cliff issue. The other thing is you should come here to do something and not to be something. That is part of a nod that he gave to the many conservatives who do very much stand on principal and dont care about whether or not they are going to get reelected. Dont care about whether or not they are going to be seen as bad guys by some portion of the country. They want to do what they came to do here. Which is for the most part cut federal spending and keep taxes low. There were a couple of messages in the speech. Let me bring in gloria borger. As we watch, not a lot of new faces among the leadership right there. You saw the Republican Leadership basically remaining the same with eric kantor and the majority leader. Its the same leadership and there is a new question and the new question is who is going to speak for the Republican Party in this next session of congress. 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, boehners majority didnt vote for it overwhelmingly, yet legislation can get passed. We dont 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 congressman and u. S. Senator from South Carolina taking over and jim demint giving up his seat to be a head of the Heritage Foundation in washington, d. C. Its an interesting mix on both the house and the senate side. Thats right, wolf. Just about an hour ago we saw something that wrapped up over here that was very interesting. Elizabeth warren who was the senator from massachusetts, she is replacing scott brown who she beat last november. They had a very boisterous swearing in for her here in the Office Building on the capital. I have to tell you, she was coming out feisty today. I had a chance to interaction as she was heading in and asked her, will you be working across party lines and see both sides working together . She would only say i hope so. Then she came out and gave a very feisty speech to a big cheering group of supporters. I had a chance to talk to David Axelrod who was a former top adviser to president obama as Reelection Campaign and he was attending this ceremony and saying its ironic how a lot of them tried to stop her from making her way not only into the senate, but regulating the Banking Industry and he said they will have to yield the floor. Thats on one side of the aisle. On the other side, i had a chance to catch up with ted cruz, the incoming senator from texas and a conservative republican and asked him will be you compromising and working on compromise . He didnt answer that question and he hopes to solve problems and he went on to call the fiscal cliff agreement a lousy deal. While we are seeing much more diversity up here, 100 women members of congress, it may be getting more partisan as well. It probably will be. The next two years will be lively. Lets go back to dana. The vote for john boehner was pretty lopsided. A few and a little bit of grumbling. Explain to our viewers what happened. Obviously he was reelected as speaker, but there were about a dozen republicans and we are still trying to make sure we have the final count right. About a dozen republican who is did not vote for him. Protest votes. Some voted for eric kantor and other members of the caucus. So that was definitely a symbolic way for them to say we dont think john boehner has done a good job and done the job that they expect him to do. A couple of the votes for somebody else came from members who had not been sworn in yet. Brandnew republican members. From oklahoma, for example and from northern florida. Both of them are very, very conservative. One primaries and at least in one case they won against a long time incumbent republican. Those are some of the voices that really have been giving him a hard time and made it very difficult for him to rally republicans and rally the caucus for some kind of deal whether the one he was trying to do with the president most recently on the fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling am. All in all, the speaker had a large support from his members and it is not unusual for speakers, republicans and democrats to have dissent within. Nancy pelosi had several democrats not vote for her. Gabby giffords voted for john lewis not so much as a protest, but a way as saying she didnt support the liberal speaker. It is an unusual thing, but the buzz and the discussion about boehner had to do with the fact that he has not had a great couple of weeks. The deal dying and the package blowing up when he pulled it forward. He did get it passed and voted along with the majority and it was a minority and a lot more republicans voted and allowed the fiscal cliff to be passed. He was with the minority and the majority if you will on the republican side. That was embarrassing for a speaker of the house. As you pointed out, he made a point of voting and advertising the vote and the speakers dont necessarily have to vote. They do so when they think there is a powerful message they want to send and he sent that powerful message. He was not about to see 98 percent per of families, people earning 450,000 a year to see taxes going up and he wanted to make that point and has been reelected speaker of the house. We will have highlights of this historic day in washington. We will take a quick break and much more of the breaking news after this. Dad. Listen, were gonna go broke unless we figure out a way to divvy up this shared data plan. Fairly. So, um, whoevers fathered the most children, gets the most data. Lets just do it by hair. Body hair . Most dental work. What . [ phones buzzing and beeping ] stop downloading, and stop liking everything. It should be by who has the least amount of cartilage in their left knee. [ mom ] i just want to take a bath. [ male announcer ] say no to sharing. Say yes to sprint. With truly unlimited data, text and calling. We are here in washington watching an historic day indeed starting the 113th congress. Members of the senate and members of the house of representatives. They have been sworn in and the speaker of the house, john boehner is reelected. Nancy pelosi is reelected. The minority leader and the house have begun the business of the u. S. Senate and house of representatives. Freshman lawmakers did the paperwork and pounded the pavements to get to their seats and recognized one member who overcame bigger hurdles to reach the capital. Senator mark kirk, the republican from illinois suffered a severe stroke a year ago. He spent this past year in physical therapy learning to walk again. Vice President Joe Biden was there to welcome senator kirk as he climbed the steps of the u. S. Capital. What a dramatic moment indeed with the Vice President. He is doing it one step at a time. It has been a very, very tough difficult year. He is managing to move forward. We congratulate him and all the members of the house. The new congress will have to take one step at a time. They have major issues. They have a deal on the sequestration and thats the mandatory domestic and security spending cuts that members hate and they have a deal with the whole issue issue of moving forward. The United States does not go into default and make sure the government continues to operate. Thats before they get to the agenda. They have crisis after crisis. Thats before they get to the agenda like Immigration Reform and gun control and Energy Policy so they have got to get through all of these speed bumps before they can even get to the topics that are part of the president s second term. A couple of things have happened that we ought to take note of. The fiscal cliff was messy and didnt produce an awful lot of out come. What we did see is some republicans could actually vote for tax increase. Even if it was only on the wealthiest individuals, they had sworn up and down they would never do that. They did it and lived another day. The tax rate on the wealthiest income earners went from 35 to 39. 6 . Off the table now. Done. That was the big topic in the campaign. The next big topic is more republican surf. This is more comfortable and reducing the size of government and cutting spending and looking at entitlement programs like medicare and Social Security and finding ways to make sure they dont go bust and keep them from spiraling out of control. The big question is who is going to lead the Republican Party in the conversations with the white house and the democrats on this. We dont know. John boehner hadnt had such a good couple of weeks. Will it be senator mcconnell again who managed to kind of deal with joe biden . Dont forget senator connell is up for reelection and is afraid of republicans running to his right will it be eric kantor . We see the same leadership, but we are not actually sure who is going to be cutting these deals if deals are going to be cut. Another name is paul ryan voted for the fiscal cliff deal to the disappointment of many conservatives. He now becomes somebody as chairman of the Budget Committee who can cut these. You have to give mitch connell. He may be up for reelection and worried about a primary. He stood firm and worked out the deal with joe biden, the Vice President of the United States and delivered an 898 lopsided majority. It took him less than a week. Today he had an op ed he wrote talking about the spending cuts saying we are not going to give and didnt do that tax deal. He kind of comes to us. The tax increases we are talking about spending cuts. Woo will have more later in the situation room. We will