4.43pm GMT

Two days after the bruising fiscal cliffhanger was resolved, the 112th Congress is dissolved at noon today, to be replaced by a new House and Senate – but with the same faces at the top, including that of John Boehner.

With 84 new members of the House of Representatives and 14 new senators, the 113th Congress gets underway with only the position of Speaker of the House in any sort of doubt.

Despite backing the controversial bill to ward off the fiscal cliff on Tuesday – only to see his Republican colleagues go against it by nearly two to one, including members of his own leadership team – Boehner's grip on the top job in the House seems secure.

For all the complaints about Boehner's leadership and his multiple failures to rally his own troops, no one in the Republican majority seems willing to challenge him for the speakership. And that may be in part because the fractures within the Republican party make it a job no-one wants.

All will be revealed shortly, when the new Congress takes its place, and with a new set of battles – on the debt ceiling and government spending – looming on the horizon.