WASHINGTON (AP) — The House and Senate ushered in a new Congress Thursday, re-electing embattled Republican John Boehner speaker and hailing one of their own who returned a year after being felled by a stroke.
The 113th Congress convened at 12 noon EST, the constitutionally mandated time, with pomp, pageantry and politics on both sides of the Capitol.
Boehner, bruised after weeks with his fractious caucus and negotiations with the White House on the fiscal cliff, won a second, two-year term as leader with 220 votes. Despite grumbling in the GOP ranks, just 10 Republicans voted for someone other than Boehner.
Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi got 192 votes.
In a chamber packed with members and their children, Pelosi delivered a generous introduction to her rival and handed the gavel to Boehner, who struggled to hold back tears.
Boehner alluded to the continuing fight over government spending that was far from settled by the tax deal with President Barack Obama. Fierce battles loom in the coming weeks over automatic spending cuts and increasing the nation's borrowing authority.
"The American Dream is in peril so long as its namesake is weighed down by this anchor of debt. Break its hold, and we begin to set our economy free. Jobs will come home. Confidence will come back," Boehner said.
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