Good morning.
As Korva said earlier, the day's big story is the opening of the 112th Congress -- an event marked by the hand-off of control in the House of Representatives from the Democrats to the Republicans and a narrower majority for Democrats in the Senate.
On Morning Edition, NPR's Andrea Seabrook profiled the new speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio. She reports that "Boehner's mantra -- words you'll hear often in the coming year — is 'smaller, less costly and more accountable government' ":
Also on Morning Edition, NPR's David Welna looked at the effort some Senate Democrats plan to mount to "change the rules for two Senate practices they say have gotten out of hand: filibusters, which block bills from coming to a vote, and secret holds, which are anonymous threats to carry out a filibuster":
Other stories about the new Congress:
-- The New York Times: "Republicans Lower Goal For Cuts To Budget."
-- Politico: "GOP Freshmen Step Onto Tightrope."
--The Wall Street Journal: " Battle Lines Form Over Government's Role."
Over at It's All Politics, Frank will have more about the Congress throughout the day. As he's previously reported, one of the highlights will be the reading of the Constitution ( tomorrow, not today, as we mistakenly said earlier).
And before we move on, here's a photo that NPR Newscast producer Claudine Ebeid snapped as the sun role on Capitol Hill this morning:
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDAxNDQ2NDAxMDEyNzU2NzM2ODA3ZGI1ZA001))
