January 20, 2013 ( WASHINGTON) — Vice President Joe Biden has been sworn in to a second term.
The 70-year-old Biden took the oath of office from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotamayor during a private ceremony Sunday at the U.S. Naval Observatory, the vice president’s residence.
Biden and President Barack Obama will take the oath of office again on Monday during a public ceremony at the Capitol.
h/t Inquirer News
The President used his weekly address to double down on some of the measures he spoke about on Tuesday. Proposals that “grew out of meetings Vice President Biden and his task force held over the last month with more than 200 different groups – from parents and teachers; to law enforcement and sportsmen; to religious leaders and mental health professionals.”
He spoke about the limited steps he can do on his own and called on Congress to do their part to help cut down on gun violence.
My administration is taking a series of actions right away – from strengthening our background check system, to helping schools hire more resource officers if they want them, to directing the Centers for Disease Control to study the best ways to reduce gun violence.
But the truth is, making a real and lasting difference also requires Congress to act – and act soon
And he again called on the American people to get involved, making sure that their member of Congress is in favor of sensible laws to curb gun violence.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – House Republicans appeared to be coming to grips with a stark realization as they returned to Washington from a three-day retreat here — they have a majority in name only.
The party begins the 113th Congress with reduced numbers and confronting a popular president and an increased Democratic majority in the Senate.
Preparing for a cascade of fiscal battles and a presidential push on guns and immigration, the House GOP is adopting a minority posture, hoping to achieve modest goals incrementally while serving as a check on Obama’s ambitious second-term agenda.
Republicans “have to recognize the realities of the divided government that we have,” said Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the party’s budget chief and 2012 vice presidential nominee.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his aides have taken to referring to the “Democrat majority in Washington” in statements in recent weeks.
The stance is a significant shift from the party’s mantra in the immediate aftermath of the November election, when Boehner and other leaders claimed one half of a dual mandate from voters who had reelected both Obama and the House Republican majority.
It also represents a resetting of expectations for Republican lawmakers and voters alike.
h/t The Hill
When President Obama won his first term in 2008, millions showed up to witness history in the making. Now, with his second term inauguration on January 20th, the expectation is that the crowds will be a lot less than the 2008 figures.
We are here to help.
President Obama just released the Official Inauguration Playlist on Spotify. So to bring you as close to the events as we possibly can, here is the playlist. And if you have a Spotify account, you can even listen to the Official music below.
WASHINGTON — Backing down from their hard-line stance, House Republicans said Friday that they would agree to lift the federal government’s statutory borrowing limit for three months, with a requirement that both chambers of Congress pass a budget in that time to clear the way for negotiations on long-term deficit reduction.
The new proposal, which came out of closed-door party negotiations at a retreat in Williamsburg, Va., seemed to significantly reduce the threat of a default by the federal government in coming weeks. The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said he was encouraged by the offer; Senate Democrats, while bristling at the demand for a budget, were also reassured and viewed it as a de-escalation of the debt fight.
The change in tack represented a retreat for House Republicans, who were increasingly isolated in their refusal to lift the debt ceiling. Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio had previously said he would raise it only if it were paired with immediate spending cuts of equivalent value. The new strategy is designed to start a more orderly negotiation with President Obama and Senate Democrats on ways to shrink the trillion-dollar deficit.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie blasted the National Rifle Association for an ad that pointed out President Barack Obama’s daughters have armed protection, calling it “reprehensible” and saying elected officials’ kids should be off-limits.
“I think any of us who are public figures, you see that kind of ad and you cringe,” he said during a news conference at which he announced a task force on guns and mental health.
Christie, a potential 2016 presidential contender, is the most prominent Republican to voice displeasure with the ad.
The spot calls Obama an “elitist hypocrite” for being skeptical of having armed guards at schools even though his daughters get Secret Service protection.
There’s growing angst among Republicans that the party’s House majority could be at risk in 2014 if the deep GOP divisions that emerged during the recent “fiscal cliff” negotiations persist in looming negotiations over a slew of budgetary issues.
Even as Republican officials maintain the GOP majority is safe, several lawmakers and longtime activists warn of far-reaching political ramifications if voters perceive Republicans as botching consequential talks on the debt ceiling, sequestration and a possible government shutdown.
“Majorities are elected to do things, and if they become dysfunctional, the American people will change what the majority is,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a House deputy majority whip and a former National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, told The Hill.
Don’t look! This is something Republicans don’t want you to know. As far as they’re concerned, things are worse now under Obama than they were under Bush.
But as usual, the facts say something completely different.
First-time claims for unemployment benefits plummeted by 37,000 in just one week, falling to 335,000 from 372,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s the lowest since January 2008.
The weekly number is much lower than economists had expected. Forecasts had predicted a total of 370,000 in the week ended Jan. 12, according to a consensus compiled by Briefing.com…
The weekly tally of jobless claims has improved dramatically over the last four years. Initial claims surged above 600,000 during the height of the recession, but by the end of 2011, had fallen below 400,000.
Last year, initial claims tended to stay in the range of 350,000 to 400,000, aside from a temporary bump due to Superstorm Sandy.
Former Chairman of the RNC Michael Steele and David Corn went on MSNBC’s The Ed Show on Wednesday and spoke about the unbelievable position Republicans and their leaders are taking in the gun debate. Responding to a statement from David Corn where he said that he was “looking for a Republican who will call out this portion of the Republican party who have gone over the edge,” Michael began by saying that he is a supporter of the Second Amendment. And he reassured the audience that he supports the NRA, although he was not a member.
He went on;
“It is time for Republicans across the spectrum and particular on issues like this to stop doing stupid. This is one of those moments where, yea, be concerned about a power grab by the government to come after your guns. I understand that argument completely. But at the same time Ed and David, in the front of your mind are the images of twenty caskets of six year old kids. And you’ve got to say at some point this is not about emotionalism, this is about that reality.
And the leaders of the party have to recognize that we have 85, 90% of the American people solidified behind an issue to begin an honest discussion, not a debate necessarily, a discussion about how do we proceed to keep our kids safe. We should be at the forefront of that.”
When Ed pointed out that the Republican party is not at the forefront of that discussion, Michael Steele chimed in, “I agree with that!”
Ed then spoke about a fund-raising letter that the NRA sent out claiming that they are prepared to do “the battle of the century.” He read from the letter where the NRA told its supporters that “Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and their gun ban allies in Congress only want to blame you, vilify you, bully you and strip you of your Second Amendment freedoms.” Ed then asked Michael if “this is where the Republican party want to go.”
Michael Steele responded that this is not where the party wanted to go. He then said, “this is certainly not the party I joined when I was a young man and it is certainly not the party I want to be a part of in the future if that’s where the party is going.”
Steele ended the segment by saying that he believes there are Republicans in Congress who will vote for sensible gun laws because that is what a majority of Americans want.
David Corn concluded that the only GOP voices being heard now on this issue are the crazy ones. He said that they are the ones framing the case for the Republican leaders in Congress.
In case you missed it, President Obama and Vice President Biden introduced their plan today to help curb gun violence. Watch as the President discussed the legislative and executive actions needed to close background check loopholes, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
His plan included signing an Executive Order on 23 issues relating to guns.
