IT'S NOT AN ACCEPTANCE SPEECH: IT'S A CHECK-LIST!"Our pride and our prayers are united behind our men and women in uniform... In this Congress we must work together to build a future worthy of their sacrifice...
Hope -- That is what America is about... By electing me speaker you have brought us closer to the ideal of equality that is America's heritage and America's hope... It's an historic moment for the Congress... for the women of America. It is a moment for which we have waited over 200 years. Never losing faith, we waited through the many years of struggle to achieve our rights... Never losing faith, we worked to redeem the promise of America, that all men and women are created equal. For our daughters and our granddaughters today we have broken the marble ceiling... now the sky is the limit...
The election of 2006 was a call to change, not merely to change the control of Congress but for a new direction for our country. Nowhere were the American people more clear about the need for a new direction than in the war in Iraq. The American people rejected an open-ended obligation to a war without end. It is the responsibility of the president to articulate a new plan for Iraq that makes it clear to the Iraqis that they must defend their own streets and their own security, a plan that promotes stability in the region and a plan that allows us to responsibly redeploy our troops...
The American people also spoke clearly for a new direction here at home. They desire a new vision, a new America built on the values that have made our country great. Our founders envisioned a new America driven by optimism, opportunity and strength... They envisioned America as a just and good place, as a fair and efficient society, and as a source of opportunity for all.
Now it is our responsibility to carry forth that vision of a new America into the 21st century.
A new America that seizes the future and forges 21st-century solutions through discovery, creativity and innovation, sustaining our economic leadership and ensuring our national security.
A new America with a vibrant and strengthened middle class for whom college is affordable, health care is accessible and retirement reliable... that declares our energy independence, promotes domestic sources of renewable energy and combats climate change... that is strong, secure and a respected leader among the community of nations...
After years of historic deficits this 110th Congress will commit itself to a higher standard: Pay as you go; no new deficit spending. Our new America will provide unlimited opportunity for future generations, not burden them with mountains of debt. In order to achieve our new America for the 21st century we must return this House to the American people. So our first order of business is passing the toughest congressional ethics reform in history.
This new Congress doesn't have two years or 200 days. Let us join together in the first 100 hours to make this Congress the most honest and open Congress in history.
One hundred hours.
This openness requires respect for every voice in the Congress. As Thomas Jefferson said, every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.
My colleagues elected me to be speaker of the House, the entire House. Respectful of division of our founders, the expectations of our people and the great challenges that we face, we have an obligation to reach beyond partisanship to work for all America.
Let us stand together to move our country forward, seeking common ground for the common good.
We have made history. Now, let us make progress for the American people.
May God bless our work, and may God bless America."
U.S. House Approves Cut in Interest Rates on Student LoansBy Karin Crompton
The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly today to approve a bill that would cut in half interest rates on federally subsidized student loans over the next five years.
The vote was 356-71, according to a spokesman for U.S. Rep Joe Courtney, D-2nd District.
"Today's bipartisan vote to cut the interest rate in half on federally subsidized student loans over the next five years will help make a college education more affordable and more accessible for our next generation of leaders and innovators," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a press release issued soon after the vote.
"At a time when college tuition continues to skyrocket, this crucial legislation will help remove some of the barriers to a higher education," Pelosi said.
Senate Panel Adds Tax Cuts, Deferred-Pay Rule to Minimum WageJan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate Finance Committee voted to add $8.3 billion in tax breaks for small businesses to legislation that would increase the minimum wage... by $2.10, to $7.25, over two years, the first such increase in a decade.
Other tax cuts include an increase to $112,000 the amount of equipment businesses can expect on their tax returns in a single year rather than depreciate over time... allowing restaurants and retailers to deduct improvements to buildings over 15 years, rather than the 39-year schedule under current law.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ajR...House passes 9/11 security billJanuary 10, 2007
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The first item on the House Democrats' "100 hours" legislative agenda, a measure to implement some of the recommendations of the 9/11 commission, passed on Tuesday evening.
The vote was 299-128.
Nearly 70 Republicans crossed party lines to vote for the package. It mandates full inspection of air and sea cargo entering the United States and shifts more homeland security funding to communities with high-risk terror targets.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/09/house.agenda/ind...House passes MORE ethics reform, budget ruleBy Richard Cowan
Fri Jan 5, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new Democrat-led House of Representatives on Friday passed a second batch of ethics reforms in as many days and resurrected controls they said would help end deficit spending.
One day after taking over the House after Republicans' 12-year rule, Democrats won rules changes they claimed would restore civility to the badly tarnished chamber and curb "earmarks" -- special-interest money and tax breaks often secretly inserted into legislation.
The move won applause from some of the most conservative House Republicans, including Rep. Jeff Flake (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona, who said Democrats "had more guts than we did to tackle earmark reform in a meaningful way. I compliment them for that."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070105/pl_nm/usa_congress_... washingtonpost.com
House Passes Medicare Drug BillMeasure Would Require Government to Seek Lower Prices
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 13, 2007;
The House voted yesterday to require the government to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. But the measure faces an uncertain future in the Senate, a veto threat from President Bush, and considerable doubts from experts about whether it would save elderly and disabled Americans much money.
The vote was 255 to 170, with 24 Republicans joining 231 Democrats in approving the legislation.
The bill overturns a provision of the 2003 law pushed through by a Republican-controlled Congress that left drug-price negotiations under the new Medicare drug benefit to the private insurers that offer government-subsidized drug plans for seniors in each state.
A link to a new, more open approach to leadership in the House of Representatives:
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http://speaker.house.gov / 
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