After more than 100 votes in four days, the lesson from last week’s spending debate in the House is that nobody’s pet projects are safe anymore.

House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, watched lawmakers vote to defund a military project that pumps millions of dollars into his district, and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, saw her colleagues vote to end federal funding for a park in her San Francisco congressional district.

President Obama also took some shots to the chin in the bill known as a continuing resolution — or “CR” in Capitol Hill-speak. Lawmakers opposed his environmental agenda and an overwhelming bipartisan majority vote to block his administration’s rules designed to clamp down on for-profit schools...

"Read my lips. We will cut spending."

Those were the closing remarks from House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, at his Thursday news conference.

Boehner said he did not know when the House would pass a funding bill for the rest of the fiscal year, but once it passes, he hopes the Senate will take it up and he said he would not consider a short term continuing resolution funding the government at current levels if the two bodies can't come to an agreement...

Republicans in the U.S. House say they are following through on another commitment they made to voters in November -- a ban on federal funding of abortions.

Three House Republicans -- Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Virginia), and Congressman Chris Smith (New Jersey) -- held a press conference today to announce the introduction of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (H.R. 3).

In his opening remarks, Boehner referred to the commitments made by the GOP majority in the House to cut their own budget and repeal President Obama's signature healthcare reform law -- both of which have already been done by the House...

Count Bill Cosby as a big fan of school choice.

With Congress and the White House gearing up for a major battle over the future of education policy, the comedian who famously criticized academic failings in the black community added his voice Wednesday to that of House Speaker John A. Boehner and others who want to give parents a bigger say in their children's education.

The debate over reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which was renamed the No Child Left Behind Act by the Bush administration, is expected to be resurrected during the 112th Congress. Congressional leaders and Obama administration officials are searching for common ground on charter schools and partnering with institutions of higher learning to improve student achievement.

Mr. Cosby zeroed in on that particular issue Wednesday...

House Republicans, toning down their rhetoric slightly, plan to reset the debate over the health law repeal Tuesday on Capitol Hill, building a strictly economic case against "Obamacare" after pausing for a week out of respect for the victims of the Tucson shooting.

GOP leaders are in unison in arguing that they cannot wait any longer to resume debate on the health care overhaul. While the repeal stands scant chance of clearing Congress or withstanding a presidential veto, Republicans say the public demands Washington start early chipping away at the law.

Both sides, though, may try a little harder to keep the debate from becoming overheated. President Obama and Republicans alike reject claims that political rhetoric contributed to the shooting last Saturday in Arizona. But the president urged Congress to keep the discourse "worthy" of the victims.

(CNSNews.com) - Because of the mass shooting in Arizona, House Republicans have postponed all legislation to be considered on the House floor in the coming week, including a vote to repeal the Democrats' health care legislation.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) was quoted as saying that lawmakers need to “take whatever actions may be necessary in light of today’s tragedy.”

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords voted for the health care bill and reportedly received threats for doing so. According to the Associated Press, someone kicked in or shot out a glass door and side window at Giffords' office in Tucson a few hours after the House passed the health care measure last March...

WASHINGTON -- In power scarcely a day, House Republicans bluntly told the White House on Thursday its request to raise the nation's $14.3 trillion debt limit will require federal spending cuts to win their approval, laying down an early marker in a new era of divided government.

Speaker John Boehner made the challenge as the new GOP majority voted to cut funding for House members' own offices and committee operations by $35 million. Rank and file Republicans described that vote as a mere down payment on a much more ambitious assault on record federal deficits.

"It's not massive," first-term Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said of Thursday's cut. "But it is monumental"...

The national pro-abortion group NARAL has launched a new campaign designed to build opposition to newly-elected pro-life Speaker John Boehner.

NARAL is urging its activists to take an oath to protect abortion as Boehner, who told Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest, he wants to be the most “pro-life speaker in history,” begins his tenure as the leader of the House of Representatives.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL, said in a statement that Boehner is set to the launch the “fiercest attacks” on abortion “in decades”...

The 112th Congress gaveled open Wednesday with Republicans taking control of the House and immediately rewriting the chamber's rules, making it easier to cut spending and taxes, harder to add new spending, and more open to voters who want to keep tabs on what lawmakers are doing.

The rules changes, spearheaded by newly elected Speaker John A. Boehner, mark a sharp departure from recent years, and pave the way for the Republicans to pass bills that extend the Bush-era tax cuts, slash government spending and repeal Democrats' health care law - at least in the House.

"Hard work and tough decisions will be required of the 112th Congress. 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," said the Ohio Republican, who leads his party's biggest House majority in decades by a margin of 242-to-193...

John Boehner of Ohio became the 61st House speaker shortly after noon Wednesday as the 112th Congress was called to order with a benediction, the Pledge of Allegiance and a record of everyone's presence was ordered.

Lawmakers voted for Boehner as House speaker with 241 of 242 Republican votes. However, outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi faced a minor revolt from several of the 193 Democrats now in the minority.

While it's traditional for the minority to vote its leader as speaker, even on the assumption the leader will lose, Pelosi was not the choice of 19 lawmakers. It was the largest number of defections for any formal candidate for speaker since January 1997 when nine Republicans voted against House Speaker Newt Gingrich. At that time, four voted for another member and five members voted present...