Republicans lead new US congress

New Republican majority in the House of Representatives likely to clash with president Obama over spending and policy. Last Modified: 05 Jan 2011 07:39 GMT

The Republican party will take charge of the US House of Representatives later on Wednesday, and with it the party plans to exercise its newfound power to challenge the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama. The party is set for head-to-head clashes with Obama as it promises an era of smaller government and less spending. They already plan to repeal Obama's landmark health care reform, a promise they made to the voters during their midterm election campaign. However, Democrats still control the Senate, where the repeal is expected to be killed. And the Democrats also have the government's spending plans in their sights. They intend to take a tough line of enquiry with key administration officials to explain how they are spending the public's money. Uptick in approval ratings But with the country still mired in an unsteady economic recovery and shaken by almost 10 per cent unemployment, Obama said he is counting on Republicans' hot ideological positions to cool as the congressional session moves forward. He hopes to build on the final session of the previous Congress late last year. In that session, the two parties reached compromise to prevent income taxes from rising, extended unemployment benefits and enacted a Social Security tax cut that came into effect on Saturday. And coincidentally, Obama's job approval rating has climbed to 50 per cent according to the latest Gallup Poll tracking survey. The president's approval number had been in the mid-40s for most of the last six months. He was last at the 50-per cent mark in late spring. With the change in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to hold the speaker's job will hand over her speaker's gavel to Republican John Boehner. Many politicians believe that Americans are hungering for a more bipartisan political climate. Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane has more.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies