WASHINGTON— First came the tears. Then came the tough talk.
Ohio Republican John Boehner, sworn in Wednesday as the new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, vowed to restore fiscal austerity to American government as the 112th Congress opened with the GOP in control of the purse strings on Capitol Hill.
Wielding a white handkerchief at one moment and his Speaker’s gavel the next, an emotional Boehner fought to maintain composure before telling fellow lawmakers that Republicans plan to rein in spending that has driven the U.S. debt and deficit to record levels.
“Our spending has caught up with us, and our debt soon will eclipse the entire size of our national economy,” Mr. Boehner said. “No longer can we kick the can down the road. The people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin to carry out their instructions.”
Mr. Boehner’s remarks set the tone for what is expected to be a contentious final two years of President Barack Obama’s four-year White House term.
Already, House Republicans are promising legislation next week to repeal Mr. Obama’s $940-billion health-care reform package.
The move is a largely symbolic one since the repeal bill is certain to fail in the Senate, which is still controlled by Democrats, but it signals the GOP’s plan to confront the White House on a variety of fronts.
Mr. Boehner takes over as Speaker from outgoing Democrat Nancy Pelosi in the wake of last November’s midterm elections, which saw Republicans make their biggest congressional gains in six decades.
The swearing-in ceremony Wednesday marked a career triumph for Mr. Boehner, a 61-year-old lawmaker who hails from a working-class family in Cincinnati. The 10-term congressman’s first job was as a caretaker at his father’s blue-collar pub and restaurant; now he’s second in line to the presidency.
MR. Boehner’s emotions are never far from the surface — he wept during his midterm election victory speech last November and during a 60 Minutes interview last month — so it came as little surprise when the tears flowed Wednesday.
This time MR. Boehner welled up as Ms. Pelosi— for years his political arch-enemy — paid tribute to the Republican’s wife, Debbie, who was watching the ceremony from the House’s public gallery.
The new Speaker also wept as he entered the House chambers and received greetings from fellow members of Congress.
“He’s got things that he’s soft about — family, his job, things that move him,” Debbie Boehner told the New York Times. “He doesn’t cry when he cuts the grass. He doesn’t cry when he doesn’t get a (golf) putt.”
Beyond taking on the White House, Mr. Boehner’s biggest challenge as Speaker will be in keeping his own Republican House members happy.
Of the 85 new Republican members of Congress sworn in Wednesday, many are“constitutional” conservatives who owe their election to the anti-big-government Tea Party movement.
In a nod to the Tea Party’s influence, Mr. Boehner is pushing for new House rules aimed at increasing transparency and placing limits on congressional power.
They include a plan to post new legislation online for three days prior to any vote and to require that new bills specify the particular section of the U.S. Constitution that authorizes Congress to pass the legislation.
“Our aim will be to give the government back to the American people,” Mr. Boehner said. “Openness — once a tradition of this institution, but increasingly scarce in recent decades — will be the new standard.”
He was less specific about precisely where the budget axe would fall, citing only a plan to cut the budget of Congress by a nominal $35-million.
During the 2010 midterm campaign, Republicans pledged $100-billion in cuts. But several Republican leaders are already backing off that commitment, suggesting they may only be able to find about $50-billion in savings.
Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan, who will chair the House budget committee, said deeper cuts can’t be made because the federal government is already well into the new fiscal year, which started in October.
“The problem is half the spending cats are already out of the bag, and that is why that ($100-billion) number has become compromised,” Mr. Ryan said. “The savings you achieve from doing so halfway through the fiscal year isn’t as great as it was when we were talking about this a year ago.”
Mr. Boehner, for his part, took personal steps to signal the new belt-tightening ethic by declining to attend a swearing-in party held on his behalf.
An entourage of family members— including 10 of his 11 siblings — also drove to Washington from Ohio for Wednesday’s ceremony in tour buses instead of flying to the capital for the event.
“The American people have humbled us,” Mr. Boehner said of the message sent by voters last November. “They have refreshed our memories as to just how temporary the privilege to serve is.”
The changes afoot on Capitol Hill are coming in tandem with a shakeup at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Robert Gibbs, Obama’s press secretary for the past two years, announced Wednesday, he’ll be leaving the position to work in the private sector and on the president’s re-election campaign.
Mr. Gibbs’ decision follows the departure last fall of former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and the pending resignation of senior White House adviser David Axelrod.
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