John Boehner has said newly empowered Republicans will listen to the American people Republicans will take control of the US House of Representatives when the US Congress meets shortly, vowing to cut spending and repeal health reform.
The new Congress is being sworn in two months after mid-term elections which saw President Obama’s Democrats suffer heavy losses to the opposition.
Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi will turn over the speaker’s gavel to John Boehner, a Midwestern conservative.
A BBC correspondent says the stage is now set for ideological battle.
The Republicans control the House for the first time in more than four years, while the Democrats have only a slim lead in the Senate.
The BBC’s Paul Adams, in Washington, says there are tough fights ahead as the president, determined to press ahead with his reform agenda, locks horns with a Republican Party emboldened by its successes in November.
Republican leaders have vowed to slash spending by as much as $100bn, scrap “job-killing” government regulations, overhaul the tax code, crack down on undocumented immigration, cut diplomatic and foreign aid funds, and investigate the administration.
As soon as next week, the Republicans will launch what is being seen as a symbolic move to repeal President Obama’s most ambitious legislative effort so far: the reform of America’s healthcare system.
The move is expected to pass in the House, but fail in the Senate, but will be followed by a protracted attempt to pick the reform to pieces, our correspondent says.
Add to this a series of bitter debates over spending and how to control the country’s budget deficits, and the scene is set for a tempestuous political season, our correspondent adds.
On Thursday, the Republicans will have the US Constitution read aloud in the House chamber, a gesture in line with many conservatives’ view that Democrats have overstepped their authority in passing sweeping regulations.
“Some Democrats are rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of being the opposition in the House”
The Republican Party seized control of the House in the November mid-term elections thanks in part to the anti-government Tea Party movement, which sprang to life in 2009 in protest against Mr Obama’s economic stimulus effort and bid to reform healthcare.
Speaking as he flew back from holiday in Hawaii on Tuesday, Mr Obama said he expected Republicans “to play to their base for a certain period of time”.
He added: “I’m pretty confident that they’re going to recognise that our job is to govern and make sure that we are delivering jobs for the American people and that we’re creating a competitive economy for the 21st Century; not just for this generation but the next one.”
But AB Stoddard, a columnist with the congressional newspaper, The Hill, told the BBC Congress was more polarised than ever.
“We have a different makeup in a new Congress controlled on the House side by Republicans, a lot more conservative, Tea Party backed freshmen coming in.
“They are not in the mood to help President Obama and the Democrats with any of their initiatives, so the dynamic will shift dramatically.”
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