The GOP is mobilizing to make some big changes over the next two years, including but not limited to the following: taking down health care reform, cutting the budget and attempting to oust President Obama from the White House in 2012. –KA

The Guardian:

When the Senate and House convene at noon, both will be awash with Republican members elected in November’s crushing victories over the Democrats, many of them backed by the Tea Party movement.

In a political shift comparable to the Republican takeover of Congress in 1995 and the Democrats in 2007, the Republicans have a strong platform to harry Obama, having won control of the House and reduced the Democratic majority in the Senate.

The handover of power in the House will take place on Wednesday after a bipartisan prayer service at St Peter’s Catholic church. Members will vote in the House for a new Speaker, and Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold that post, will pass the gavel to the Republican leader, John Boehner.

Read more