The 354-67 vote came days after Northeast Republicans erupted over House Speaker John Boehner's decision to delay a vote earlier in the week; all of the no votes were cast by Republicans. The Senate was expected to pass the bill later in the day.

"It's the right step," said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

The bill gives more borrowing authority to the National Flood Insurance Program to pay about 115,000 pending Sandy-related claims as well as about 5,000 claims unrelated to Sandy.

Northeast lawmakers say the money is urgently needed for victims of one of the worst storms ever to strike the region. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had warned that the National Flood Insurance Program would run out of money next week if Congress didn't provide additional borrowing authority to pay out claims. Congress created the FEMA-run program in 1968 because few private insurers cover flood damage.

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This would be the same Christie who, in September 2012, headlined a fundraiser for Iowa congressman Steve King, who is not just one of the craziest members of the GOP crazy wing, but who also announced a month later that he probably wouldn't vote for relief money for Sandy victims for the same reason he refused to vote for federal aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina: Because he was pretty sure people spent the relief money on "Gucci bags and massage parlors." This is a man Christie wanted to win reelection, in order to help Republicans maintain control of the House of Representatives, so that they could continue ignoring the priorities and desperate needs of liberal, urban coastal states like New Jersey.

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Writing in the Washington Post, Ornstein theorizes that "If 17 Republicans vote for someone other than Boehner, and he falls short of an absolute majority of all the votes cast, the House will be thrown into turmoil — no elected speaker, and the prospect of additional ballots and a whole lot of intrigue before the new speaker is chosen and sworn in."

Citing Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, he argues that the Constitution does not say specifically that the speaker must be a member of the House.

Fromt the Post:

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(Here’s a chart comparing 2010 and 2012.)

Analysts and others have identified redistricting as a key to the disparity. Republicans had a years-long strategy of winning state houses in order to control each state's once-a-decade redistricting process. (Confused about redistricting? Check out our song.)

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Asetoyer was talking about the loophole that prevents tribal authorities, who have jurisdiction over crimes committed on Indian territory by Indians, from having any authority over non-Indian male abusers. That's despite the fact that non-Indian men account for an estimated 80 percent of rapes of Indian women, and that the astronomical rate of abuse of Indian women is well documented by the federal government.

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The letter, posted by conservative columnist Morton Blackwell on RedState.com, urges lawmakers to be strong against the liberals' "current power grabs."

"If Republicans cave in now, when it really counts, next time you will be weaker, because your conservative base will be outraged," the letter says. "Many who worked hard to elect you in the past will never lift a finger for you again."

The letter concludes:

So it’s in the interest of the country and in your personal interest for you to use the power you unquestionably have now to stand firm and not surrender your conservative principles, no matter how loud the clamor of people whose central interest is to advance the left’s agenda.

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Without a doubt, Republicans have been dealt the weaker hand here, as a look at poll numbers from the past few weeks demonstrates. "[We're in] a terrible position because by default the Democrats get what they want," Oklahoma Republican Rep. James Langford told NPR. And if there were ever a time in John Boehner's tenure as House speaker to concede big, now is it. Rank-and-file members seem to have recognized the bind they're in and are ready to back Boehner, even if he cuts a deal they're not thrilled with. Here's the story, in numbers:

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Reps. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Justin Amash of Michigan will lose their seats on the House Budget Committee chaired by Rep. Paul Ryan next year. And Reps. Walter Jones of North Carolina and David Schweikert of Arizona are losing their seats on the House Financial Services Committee.

The move is underscoring a divide in the Republican Party between tea party-supported conservatives and the House GOP leadership.

"This is a clear attempt on the part of Republican leadership to punish those in Washington who vote the way they promised their constituents they would — on principle — instead of mindlessly rubber-stamping trillion dollar deficits and the bankrupting of America," said Matt Kibbe, president of the tea party group FreedomWorks. "This is establishment thinking, circling the wagons around yes-men and punishing anyone that dares to take a stand for good public policy."

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Texas Republican Rep. Mike McCaul edged out Michigan Rep. Candice Miller -- who was the GOP’s best hope of getting a female major committee head -- and Mike Rodgers in a close private vote this week. King’s tenure as chairman drew controversy for the series of hearings he held on the radicalization of Muslims in America. Critics didn’t discount the threat of homegrown terror but said King should have expanded the hearings to include all kinds of violent radicalism, including right-wing extremism.

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Earlier this week, various news outlets pointed out that Republicans had tapped 19 white men to head up the committees in the next session. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., is currently the only female Republican committee chair, and she'll be stepping down from her post.

The Washington Post reports:

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House Republicans, with the help of a minority of Democrats, are expected to prevail in passing the bill, which would provide up to 55,000 green cards a year to foreign students graduating from U.S. colleges and universities with masters and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

But the bill is unlikely to go anywhere this year in the Senate, and the White House opposes it. Democrats say it offsets the increase in visas for highly educated foreigners by ending a program allotting visas for Africa and other areas with low immigration rates.

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North Carolina Rep. Mike McIntyre will return to Congress in 2013 after barely surviving a challenge from David Rouzer. The Republican conceded to McIntyre on Wednesday night after a recount showed the Democrat maintaining a small lead.

With McIntyre's race decided, only two House seats in next year's Congress remain up for grabs. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., an Illinois Democrat, won re-election but resigned last week, citing ongoing health issues and acknowledging he's the subject of a federal investigation. Special primary elections to nominate candidates to replace him will be held in February.

And in Louisiana, which held its primary election for Congress on Nov. 6, there will be a run-off between two Republicans next month for the other seat.

House Republicans will stay in the majority, although their ranks will drop from 240 this Congress to 234 next year. Two hundred Democratic members will make up the minority in the House, up from 190 Democrats this year. There are currently five vacancies in the House.

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Overriding those changes, though, is a thinning of pragmatic, centrist veterans in both parties. Among those leaving are some of the Senate's most pragmatic lawmakers, nearly half the House's centrist Blue Dog Democrats and several moderate House Republicans.

That could leave the parties more polarized even as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders talk up the cooperation needed to tackle complex, vexing problems such as curbing deficits, revamping tax laws and culling savings from Medicare and other costly, popular programs.

"This movement away from the center, at a time when issues have to be resolved from the middle, makes it much more difficult to find solutions to major problems," said William Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a private group advocating compromise.

In the Senate, moderate Scott Brown, R-Mass., lost to Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who will be one of the most liberal members. Another GOP moderate, Richard Lugar of Indiana, fell in the primary election. Two others, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Olympia Snowe of Maine, are retiring.

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Rep. Allen West, the Florida Republican best known for his impressive innovations in congressional crazy, has finally conceded to his Democratic challenger, Patrick Murphy, two weeks after Election Day. When early results showed him narrowly behind Murphy, West demanded a recount, alleging a conspiracy to steal the election from him. He had no legal right to a recount under state law -- Murphy's lead was outside the percent margin stipulated by Florida election law -- but a recount went ahead anyway. Unfortunately for West, the recount only put the Tea Partyer further behind Murphy.

And so, finally this: "While many questions remain unanswered, today I am announcing that I will take no further action to contest the outcome of this election," West said in a statement to Politico. “I pray he will serve his constituents with honor and integrity, and put the interests of our nation before his own," West added of Murphy.

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This official said the 72-year-old Pelosi made the decision to remain at the helm of the party’s House leadership even though Democrats failed to win the necessary 25 additional seats to become the majority party again.

The official, who is close to Pelosi, revealed her decision on condition of anonymity because she hadn’t yet publicly announced it.

Pelosi’s quarter-century of service in Congress representing a San Francisco area district in the House includes becoming the first woman in history to serve as speaker. The tea party-fueled political wave of 2010 forced the gavel from her hand to Rep. John Boehner, an Ohio Republican.

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In protest, 4,000 voters in Athens-Clarke County wrote in the name of English naturalist Charles Darwin, making the pro-science opposition account for nearly one-fifth of all ballots registered in the county. Broun, who also believes that the earth is 9,000 years old, currently serves on the House Science Committee (alongside Rep. Todd Akin).

With mounting opposition brewing in his district, many anticipate someone will step up to challenge Broun in 2014. But -- as witty as the Darwin protest vote was -- perhaps they can choose someone living next time?

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And while it's extremists like Richard Mourdock, Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., and Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who received progressives’ derision for saying (and voting for) completely off-the-wall stuff, plenty of Democrats got in on the rape-denying, gun-loving, science-hating action, too. While these Blue Dogs might not want to repeal health care reform (well, except when they do), their records should still give you pause. Here are eight conservative Democrats who are hurting their party and their country -- but still want your vote.

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