Another look at the political week that was…

●      Happy New Year and a huge welcome to the brand new Congress!  The 113th has the very easy challenge of being better than the 112th which is by most accounts the 2nd worst in American history.  The last Congress almost shut down the government, forced a lowering of the country’s credit rating during the debt ceiling debacle, and voted 33 times to repeal Obamacare just for show.  Good riddance.

●      House Republicans allow the Violence Against Women Act to die without a vote to re-authorize for the first time since 1994, all because they oppose expanding the law to cover Native Americans, LGBT folks, and immigrants.

●      Republican John Boehner (R-OH) limped his way to re-election as Speaker of the House.

●      We went over the fiscal cliff for a few hours but in the end taxes were raised on high income earners as promised by President Obama during the campaign.

●      The next fight over raising the debt ceiling again is just a few months away.

●      The Obama administration will begin to allow some undocumented spouses and children to stay in the country with their families who are American citizens.

●      The proposal to reform the filibuster in the Senate has stalled.

●      The House Republicans’ failure to pass a Hurricane Sandy relief package has New Jersey Governor Chris Christie fuming.

●      After a concussion and a serious blood clot in her brain, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was finally released from the hospital.