BBC: The 112th US Congress has convened in Washington, starting a new legislative session in which resurgent Republicans aim to cut the size of the US government and its spending.
The new Congress is being sworn in two months after mid-term elections which saw President Barack Obama's Democrats suffer heavy losses to the opposition.
Republican John Boehner has taken over the key role of House speaker.
A BBC correspondent says the stage is now set for ideological battle.
Mr Boehner, a Midwestern conservative, was confirmed as House speaker on Wednesday afternoon, replacing liberal San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
Ms Pelosi passed the speaker's gavel, which she called a "strong symbol of peaceful democracy", to Mr Boehner in an official exchange of power.
In his opening remarks, Mr Boehner said the objective of Republicans was to give government back to citizens of the US and provide honesty and accountability.
"No longer can we fall short, 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 said. (+video) >>> | Wednesday, January 05, 2011
BBC: One thing is not in doubt: there will be tears before it's over.The man who will be sworn in on Wednesday as speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner, cried when his party won in November, cried afterwards when he explained he had been at that moment thinking of his modest background, helping out in his dad's bar, and then cried again on TV when he was asked why he'd cried.
Whether he'll weep again now, I cannot say, but it may be a moment when all Republicans may feel like getting out the hanky. The scale of their achievement is enormous: two years after the election of Barack Obama on a huge wave of abstract ideals like hope and change, they won the mid-term election hands down. Today they take charge of one of the most important components of American government, the House of Representatives. They have cut the Democratic majority in the Senate too.
In this fluid mix comes not just tears, but tea.
There will be many new faces in Congress. Fresh faces, steeped in the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement. They really are different. Many of them took not the tired old route of a little light lawyering and then a stint in the city council or state government. Here are car salesmen, pizza restaurant owners, opticians - people who've never before been politicians.
They are filled with a sense of mission and mandate, a belief that they have been elected by the American people to overturn what they see as Mr Obama's socialist agenda. Read on and comment >>> Mark Mardell | Tuesday, January 04, 2011
