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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbwyjtV-oKc Lou Dobbs calls out the House for a surprise vote for House Leadership next week in lame duck session. Rep Collins says in interview with Dobbs that the Republicans called to 'get leadership elected starting Monday'.

Loving the state you represent is not a unique phenomenon in Congress. But, as Texas Republicans are just dying to tell you, everything is bigger in the Lone Star State. Republican House members punctuate their $300 suits with gimmicky $3 Texas-themed ties. They sit together on the House floor during votes as a sign of solidarity. And they hold weekly lunches to socialize and celebrate just how Texan they are. Texas Republicans talk about the state like it’s a different country — it was, they’ll be happy to remind you, once an independent republic. (Rep. John Culberson, the Republican who...

The pressure is on. House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy has sent a letter to Attorney and Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa have sent a letter directly to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding "full cooperation with the ongoing investigation into the 'Fast and Furious' operation and the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry." The letter, as past letters from Issa have, points out that the Obama Justice Department and Holder in particular, has not complied with a congressional subpoena asking for information and documents about the lethal program. Here is...

I've heard from a couple of different Hill sources that Murtha is ahead; that newly elected Democrats favor Hoyer by a 2:1 margin, but that Murtha is ahead by about 25 votes overall, which has come about from the standing members after Nancy Pelosi's letter. The vote is Thursday.

Top House Republicans knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues, Republican lawmakers said Saturday. The exchanges began with what Republicans now describe as an “overfriendly” e-mail message from Mr. Foley to the unidentified teenager. But news reports about the exchanges have led to the disclosure of e-mail correspondence with other former pages in which the discussions became more and more sexually explicit. Shortly after he was confronted by ABC News on Friday about...

In 1994, idealistic Republicans took control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years, promising to clean up Democrat corruption and fulfill their own widely-publicized "Contract with America." 12 years later, the postmortem on the effort can be summarized in these words from a promotion of a candid new book by Sen. Tom Coburn--one of the idealistic congressmen swept into office in 1994: Coburn started his career in Congress as part of the much-vaunted Class of '94, the new slate of GOP freshman ushered into office as a reaction against President Clinton's expansionist schemes and led...

WASHINGTON--As readers of this page know all too well, excessive government regulation, taxation and spending strangle economic growth as frequently as runaway litigation and soaring health-care and energy costs do. What politicians say about these issues does not matter much, but what we do about them does. I'm proud of what House Republicans have accomplished on this front over the last several years, but I know that much remains to be done. House Republicans have cut the tax rate on capital gains and dividends, substantially lowered personal tax rates, and set in motion a plan to eliminate the death tax...

Since John Shadegg got into the House majority-leader race Friday, his supporters have been wondering, "Where is Mike Pence?" Pence heads the Republican Study Committee, the conservative caucus once led by Shadegg. Pence became a hero for conservatives around the country with his Operation Offset that called for spending cuts along with the massive new federal spending associated with Katrina, and his endorsement of Shadegg would be a significant boost for the underdog candidate. But Pence has been mum. National Review Online spoke to him yesterday in what he says is his first interview since Shadegg's entry. Even though Shadegg...

HH [Hugh Hewitt]: One of the men who would replace Tom Delay is the Congressman from the 3rd District in Arizona, John Shadegg, originally elected in the landslide year of 1994. He is now contending with Roy Blunt of Missouri, and John Boehner of Ohio, to be the new majority leader. I'm pleased to welcome John Shadegg to the Hugh Hewitt Show. Congressman, great to have you on. JS [John Shadegg]: It's great to be on. Thank you for the opportunity. Great to be with you. HH: Congressman, I want to start with Abramoff, because it matters so much, and...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, announced his candidacy Friday for a spot in the House Republican leadership being vacated by one of the contenders to replace Tom DeLay as majority leader. Issa said he will seek the post of Republican Policy Committee chairman, among the lower spots in the eight-member GOP leadership team but one that would give him a seat in meetings with the House speaker, majority leader, whip and others. "I think California needs to be represented in the national policy debate," Issa said in an interview. "So much of what needs to be heard in...

WASHINGTON — The race is under way to replace Rep. Tom DeLay as House majority leader, the No. 2 position in the House of Representatives, one day after the Texas Republican announced he would step down to turn attention away from his legal troubles and back toward the Republican agenda. Speaking to FOX News on Sunday in his first television interview since announcing his decision, DeLay said he was being railroaded by a "runaway district attorney" motivated purely by partisan politics. "Republicans, not the Democrats, have a rule that says if you're indicted you have to step aside from your...

DeLay Assembles Defense Team For Ethics Complaint, Texas Probe Wed Jul 07 2004 10:14:42 ET Facing legal challenges in Washington and Austin, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has retained lawyers to defend him in both a Congressional ethics probe and an ongoing investigation into Texas' 2002 legislative races, ROLL CALL reported today. DeLay has rehired former Rep. Ed Bethune (R-Ark.), currently a lawyer with the firm Bracewell & Patterson, to represent him against an ethics complaint filed by Rep. Chris Bell (D-Texas), DeLay aides said. Meanwhile, in Austin, sources close to the Texas Republican said DeLay has hired two...