Mr. Speaker, my colleagues, and guest of the house, it has been traditional with a few notable exceptions since the founding of this institution for the vanquished to present to the house the victor, and i consider it a high privilege to condition continue in that privilege. May i make a few observations of my own . [laughter] may i express my profound thanks and appreciation to our republican conference for again honoring me and my family with their nomination for speaker of the house of representatives. [applause] unfortunately, mr. Speaker, as your president ial nominee well knows, its one thing to be nominated, its another thing to get elected. [laughter] obviously in this race, i was overwhelmed again by the numbers. Since this is the only time that i shall be in this lofty position during this congress with the possible exception of the day we adjourned this congress, let me say at the very outset, how pleased i am to see those 33 bright new republican faces out there. [applause] and let me also say to my democratic colleagues that i am fully cognizant of the fact that there are 71 more of you than there are of us. [applause] but now hearing that applause, i would urge you not to run roughshod over the minority. I think we have demonstrated in the past that as much as we dislike being fewer in number, we can be very constructive in this house of representatives. [applause] it might be well for all of us to keep in mind that there were nearly 73 Million People who cast their votes for members of this body in contested elections around the country. Of that total, there were only 40,000 more democratic votes cast than republican votes which suggests a much more evenly divided american sentiment out there then is actually represented here by the numbers. [applause] in this congress, like all the others, there will be times of serious confrontation and that is as it should be in a truly deliberative roddy were truly deliberative body where differences of opinion on the issues are expected to be thrashed out on their merits. There will be times of compromise, but ultimately there has to be a coming together any and a meeting of minds to craft legislation that will eventually pass both houses of the congress. We in the Minority Party welcome the opportunity to help move the process along and would urge you, mr. Speaker as the presiding officer of this distinguished body, to do everything you can during this congress to make it happen. Since you have said publicly that this is to be your last term serving in this body, it would be fitting it would be a fitting cap to your career to have the house complete its work at the end of this congress with accolades and showers of praise. You have it within your power, mr. Speaker, to help bring it about and we on the republican side of the aisle pledge our efforts to do likewise. Finally, on a more personal note, may i congratulate you again on winning all three of your contests against your good friend bob michaels. If only we could have waged this contest out there on the golf course, i think i could have made it. [laughter] ladies and gentlemen of the house come i have the pleasure of presenting to you that house speaker, thomas p. Oneill from the great commonwealth of massachusetts. [applause] thank you. Thank you. [applause] my fellow members, their families, friends, and guests and particularly my close personal friend, bob michael whom it is very wise of the Republican Party to present as their leader such an able and talented and respected individual. Bob and i get along except in a philosophical manner, which we dont always agree or seldom agree. You have presented to this body you have presented to this body a worthy a man as your candidate for the speakership. No question that bob gives me eight or 10 strokes on the golf course, but the interesting thing is often times, his statistics get a little shady. But thats quite all right. We figure we won about 53 of the vote and i dont know where you got your totals from. [laughter] im deeply honored to be elected speaker of the house for the fifth time. At the conclusion of this session, i believe i will have served longer than any individual. In the gallery is my wife millie and some of my family and daughters and sons and some of my grandchildren. I owe so much to millie and the family through the years for their faithful support in my lifetime of politics. [applause] last november, my constituents in the eighth district of massachusetts chose me to represent them for the 17th time. I want to thank them for the trust they have placed in me. The congress of the United States is the greatest legislature in the greatest nation on earth. The office of speaker is the highest elective state of office in our country. To serve as speaker is a very special honor which carries with it solemn responsibility. Today, i promise you g that i i promise you that i will wield this gavel fairly, firmly, and with responsibility, always respecting the rules and precedents of this house. Once again, congress is convening its two houses controlled by two political parties. The Founding Fathers set up a system of checks and balances that makes passing laws a very difficult process under the best of circumstances and even more difficult when the control of the congress is divided between the parties. Before 1981, when these things occurred, this partisan division promoted legislative inaction and stalemate. This has not been the case for most issues considered during the 97th and 98 congresses. There were many legislative fights, but there was almost always a decisive outcome. Consequently, i will continue to do all i can to expedite the nations business in this house for the next two years because the members of this house are elected every two years, we put a premium on action and results. We expect conflict, but i hope that we will reject any obstructionism. I am prepared to work with the leadership of the other 40, the president of the United States bob michael and republican members of this house to try to reduce the deficit, reduce unemployment rates, and reduce the threat of a nuclear war. As we meet today, there are many ambitious proposals to change the way we raise revenue for the federal government as well as to reduce the deficit. These proposals, i promise you will receive a full and fair hearing in this house. It is clear that something must be done to restore confidence in the fairness of our tax system. In addition, american confidence about the future is being tried by an annual 200 billion budget deficit. We ran a bigger deficit one month last fall than we did during the entire year of 1979. These deficits as we know will not take care of themselves. Its up to the president and the congress to act upon them and to take care of them. No doubt, the public will judge the success of this congress by our willingness to make the tough decisions to forget our fiscal to get our fiscal house in order. The latest economic figures seem to indicate that the recovery is continuing and thats good and welcome news. But these times are tough for farmers and minorities in many bluecollar workers, many banks are overextended and are our businessmen are fighting a flood tide of fallen input. In the case of our farmers, our direct involvement is inevitable. We have to reauthorize, during this congress, the farm bill. The case of the poor and unemployed is a matter of choice. I want them to know that here in the house, we will try to do all we can to ease their burdens and reduce their numbers over the next two years. The poor in this country come in the poor in this country, in my opinion, have already paid their share to reduce the budget. Its time we did our share to give them not only something to live for that is a real problem that we have here, giving the poor something to live for. We begin this session of a new congress in a year with a renewed sense of hope that the upcoming discussions with the soviet union will lead to an arms control agreement which will reduce the risk of Nuclear Conflict and take us a step back from the abyss of nuclear holocaust. I want to make it clear that as speaker, i welcome these discussions and am prepared to be as helpful as i can to the president of the United States and the secretary of state in their quest for an arms control agreement. We begin our new term today and the president will begin his new term and about two weeks from today. Let me say that my party in the house and i want to work with him. We want to meet the great challenges that face this nation. Of course, there will be disagreements. There always is in our twoparty system. We all have a common love of this country and a respect for democracy. The Founding Fathers referred to the house during their deliberations. As the first branch, they did so because it gave the people a direct share in the government by beginning anew every two years. And so it is today we begin a new. I hope that our actions will prove the correctness of Thomas Jeffersons observation that the government is founded not on the fears and follies of man but in his dreams and in his reason. Finally, i hope most of all that what we do here in this house over the next two years will result in increasing the respect and appreciation of our constituents for this congress and our own government. I want to thank my democratic colleagues. They put my name five times in nomination. To them, i owe a deep debt of thanks. From a deeply grateful heart, i say thank you to my democratic colleagues for the honor they have given me. May i thank the members of the house for the respect they have always treated this role of the speakership of the house. In conclusion, may i say with gods aid and gods might, may we pray to him that he will give to us the reason, the judgment the knowledge, the talent that he has given to this body all through the years that has been part and parcel of making our nation the greatest nation in the world. Thank you all. [applause] thank you. I am now ready to take the oath of office. As is the custom, i am delighted to see that the dean of the houses in the well and is ready the dean of the house is in the well and is ready to administer the oath. Mr. Speaker, will you raise your right hand . Do you solemnly swear you will support and defend the constitution of United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that he will and that you will faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about to enter, so help you god . I do, thank you. [applause] i appreciate that true custom, the minority leader, the republican leader does introduce business how are you, darling . [laughter] thats an oneill for you. I want to make this presentation. This is the gavel with which you open the session. We want it for your mementos. We always hope that you will be in the same position. [applause] that was not planned. [laughter] in a few minutes we will hear from Republican House speaker newt gingrich, speaking on the opening day of the 112th congress. What happened in the 1994 election . The 1994 election was a revolution in many ways, because it brought republicans to our in the house for the first time in