The 112th Congress Begins

The 112th Congress Begins

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), Dean of the House, swore Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) into office as Speaker of the House minutes ago, and Speaker Boehner then collectively swore in the other members of the House. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was elected as Minority Leader as expected. In the Senate, Vice President Biden (who serves as President of the Senate) administered the oath of office to 31 Senators, 16 of whom are new.

The 112th Congress begins.

Excerpts from Speaker Boehner’s remarks as he assumed leadership of the House are available on the Speaker’s website.

Minority Leader Pelosi’s statement as she handed the gavel over to the new Speaker is available on the Democratic Leader’s website. She remarked that this year is the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration as President and quoted from one of his speeches, unfortunately (for the space policy community in any case) not the one where he committed America to landing a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. This year is also the 50th anniversary of that speech — May 25.

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