Josh Green: “Every few days, some Businessweek editor suggests that I write a post about why John Boehner would possibly want the job of House Speaker, to which he was reelected on Thursday. I always decline, because I don’t have the foggiest idea why anyone would want the job. But I do know why he keeps it. He keeps it because the misfit band of Tea Partiers who tried, and failed, to dislodge him are utterly hapless. Not mildly or endearingly hapless like Betty White on Golden Girls, but Three Stooges hapless.”

“It’s a little bit like being the head caretaker of the cemetery. There are a lot of people under you, but nobody listens.”

— Rep. Hal Rodgers (R-KY), quoted by the New York Times, describing House Speaker John Boehner’s grip on power.

Politico:
“Chastened by the debacle over Hurricane Sandy aid, House Republicans
are moving quickly to win approval this week of a $9.7 billion increase
in financing to pay flood insurance claims arising from the October
storm… The Senate approved the same flood insurance increase last week
as part of a larger $60.4 billion disaster aid package backed by the
White House.”

“Friday’s vote is a first step to try to begin to
reconstruct it now in the 113th Congress. And Boehner has promised
Northeast lawmakers a second series of votes on Jan. 15 on additional
aid, but more immediate action was needed on the flood insurance
request.”

“Intimidating is going up to a growling Rottweiler and having to squeeze his anal glands, or going up to a stallion that weighs 1,200 pounds and telling him you’re going to take his testicles off. That’s intimidating. I think I can handle Congress.”

— Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL), quoted by National Journal, saying his days as a large animal veterinarian prepared him for his new job,

A group of dissident Republicans failed to push Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) to a second ballot in his election as Speaker and potentially replace him as leader of the House, The Hill reports.

“Twelve House Republicans broke from Boehner in a tense public roll-call vote, either by voting for someone else or deliberately not voting at all — five short of what would have been needed to force a second ballot.”

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) was re-elected Speaker of the House after a week of rumors of a possible Republican revolt, The Hill reports.

Boehner won a bare majority in a vote that saw eight Republicans vote for other GOP members, and several others who abstained from voting or voted “present.” Two years ago, Boehner won all available 241 GOP votes.

The Washington Post profiles Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ).

“Sinema is a bracingly unfiltered talker, a precocious achiever, a high-energy persuader, an adjunct professor, a lawyer, a marathon runner, a lover of designer clothes. She is a holder of many, many degrees — this she’s happy to tell you in a humble-braggy sort of way. And she can be a lot of fun to hang out with, a rambling, kind of kooky monologist who can pivot from whimsical and wacky to substantive and earnest without a pause.”

“Krysten Sinema is also — and it irks her to no end that this is such an object of fascination — an openly bisexual woman. And not just any openly bisexual woman, but the first openly bisexual person to be elected to Congress, an undoubtedly historic figure whose very presence on Capitol Hill could serve as an inspiration when she is sworn in Thursday and joins six openly gay and lesbian members in the most demographically diverse Congress in U.S. history.”

“Maybe you can do it once, maybe you can do it twice, but when start
making deals, when you have to get Democrats to pass the legislation,
you are not in power anymore.”

— Former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL, in an interview on Fox News radio, defending the “Hastert Rule.”

After passage of the fiscal-cliff deal and the House’s inability to
pass a Hurricane Sandy relief package, First Read notes House Speaker John Boehner “finds himself boxed in
like never before.”

Roll Call:
“Over the past few weeks, the Ohio lawmaker has been raked over the
coals by members of all stripes within his own party — first by those
seeking less spending in exchange for tax rate hikes, then by those
seeking more spending for disaster aid. The public thrashing came to a
head Wednesday when New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie … blatantly accused
Boehner of political cowardice for pulling a supplemental aid package
for those affected by Superstorm Sandy.”

That said, it’s still likely that Boehner will be re-elected as speaker later today as the 113th Congress kicks off.

Ezra Klein: “What’s the record of the 112th Congress? Well, it almost shut down the government and almost breached the debt ceiling. It almost went over the fiscal cliff (which it had designed in the first place). It cut a trillion dollars of discretionary spending in the Budget Control Act and scheduled another trillion in spending cuts through an automatic sequester, which everyone agrees is terrible policy. It achieved nothing of note on housing, energy, stimulus, immigration, guns, tax reform, infrastructure, climate change or, really, anything. It’s hard to identify a single significant problem that existed prior to the 112th Congress that was in any way improved by its two years of rule.”

The Hill: “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a joint statement saying it was ‘inexcusable’ that the House wasn’t voting on a bill. The Senate has already approved a bill providing the states hit by Sandy with $60.4 billion. Just before noon, the White House weighed in with a statement from President Obama… In response to the pressure, Boehner will meet Wednesday afternoon with GOP lawmakers from the effected states.”

Said Obama: “When tragedy strikes, Americans come together to support those in need. I urge Republicans in the House of Representatives to do the same, bring this important request to a vote today, and pass it without delay for our fellow Americans.”

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) “went to war with his Republican colleagues on Wednesday after leaders spiked a Hurricane Sandy relief bill, calling on New Yorkers to stop all donations to GOP House members,” Politico reports.

Said King: “These Republicans have no problem finding New York when they’re out raising millions of dollars. They’re in New York all the time filling their pockets with money from New Yorkers. I’m saying right now, anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans is out of their minds. Because what they did last night was put a knife in the back of New Yorkers and New Jerseyans. It was an absolute disgrace.”

He added: “As far as I’m concerned, I’m on my own. They’re going to have to go a long way to get my vote on anything.”

Breitbart News claims at least 20 House Republicans have banded together in an effort to unseat House Speaker John Boehner from his position when it comes up for a vote tomorrow.

Joshua Spivak: “Boehner will probably be burning up the phone lines this weekend, as he works to solidify the votes for his re-election as speaker. Despite his recent legislative failure and his perceived shaky hold over his caucus, Boehner seems to be in a strong position to retain his job. But, if he’s thinking at all about history, he would be right to take any ouster attempt seriously.”

“House Republicans abruptly pulled the plug Tuesday night on their promise to take up this week an emergency supplemental disaster aid bill for Northeast states damaged by Hurricane Sandy,” Politico reports.

“The decision is a stunning reversal since just hours before New Jersey lawmakers were preparing for floor debate Wednesday as outlined under a strategy promoted by no less than Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) … Absent a change of heart, the upshot now is that the Senate bill will die with this Congress on Thursday at noon. And the whole affair is sure to bring back memories of the famous Daily News headline in 1975 — Ford to City: Drop Dead.”

Most interesting: Democratic and Republican members from states affected by the storm took to the floor late Tuesday after the fiscal cliff vote to protest the decision, urging the leadership to reconsider. When a motion to adjourn for the night was put forth, the nos far outnumbered the ayes, but the presiding member adjourned anyway.

First Read: “Regardless of what happens today, the 112th Congress is going to wind up as the least popular and least productive Congress (in terms of legislation becoming law) in the modern era. For starters, Congress’ approval rating the last time the NBC/WSJ poll measured it (in August 2012) was just 12%, and a whopping 82% disapproved of Congress — the highest percentage in the history of our NBC/WSJ poll. In addition, just 219 bills have been passed into law — the lowest number since Congress began tracking this number in the 1940s. (And many of these bills were naming courthouses or post offices.) The previous low was 333 in the 104th Congress (1995-1996).”

“Throughout its history, of course, Congress has always been a dysfunctional place; in fact, the Founding Fathers ensured it that way (with the federal government’s checks and balances). But this particular Congress, which comes to an end on Jan. 3, has been uniquely dysfunctional. Just consider: the current fiscal-cliff debate, the debt-ceiling standoff of 2011 that resulted in an S&P credit downgrade, the Super Committee’s failure, the near government shutdown in the spring of 2011, the defeat of the U.N. Disabilities treaty, etc. With the debt ceiling, the fiscal cliff, and the near government shutdown, it’s hard not to conclude that Congress has been an active player in the sluggishness of the U.S. economy.”

Huffington Post: “As 2012 comes to a close, the 112th Congress is set to go down in American history as the most unproductive session since the 1940s… Obama has signed 219 bills passed by the 112th Congress into law. With less than a week to go in the year, there are currently another 20 bills pending presidential action. In comparison, the last Congress passed 383 bills, while the one before it passed 460.”

“The 104th Congress (1995-1996) currently holds the ignominious distinction of being the least productive session of Congress … Just 333 bills became law during that two-year period, meaning the 112th Congress needs to send nearly 100 more bills to Obama’s desk in the next few days if it wants to avoid going down in history — an unlikely prospect, considering that both chambers are squarely focused on averting the ‘fiscal cliff’ before the new year.”

Harry Enten looks at statistics that rank members of Congress on a scale from -1 for most liberal to 1 for most conservative and finds Senate and House Democrats have been fairly stable at -0.4 since 1992.

“There has, however, been an increase in partisanship in the House, and it truly is ‘asymmetrical’. The Republican House caucus has been becoming more conservative every year since 1977, whether or not House Republicans are winning or losing elections. Republicans have climbed from 0.4 on the DW nominate scales after the 1992 elections to near 0.7 in the last congress. That type of charge towards polarization is historically unusual over data that stretches back 130 years.”

Likewise, Senate Republicans “have slowly and become more conservative in their roll call votes by moving from about 0.3 to 0.5 on the scale.”

“I couldn’t believe the kind of people who had come and taken power. Many of them had never had any government experience. They had no respect as it were for government per se. I mean, I don’t know why you run for government office with the intent to close up government.”

— Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), quoted by Southern California Public Radio, on leaving Congress to become Mayor of San Diego.