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After weeks of drama, House Republicans have abandoned efforts to tie Homeland Security funding to a provision blocking a presidential executive order on immigration. Analysts and even some Republican lawmakers are questioning what this political defeat is likely to mean for the new Republican majority's ability to govern.

Things were not supposed to work out this way.

Republicans won big in Novembers midterm elections, boosting their majority in the House of Representatives to the largest in decades and winning control of the Senate. New Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky proclaimed it was now time for Republicans to show Americans that they can govern, ahead of presidential elections in 2016.

But two months into the 114th Congress, Republicans hit a low point last Friday. Fifty-two conservative House Republicans staged a revolt against House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, voting against a three-week bill to keep the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funded.

Boehner had to turn to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, to supply the votes for a one-week extension to avoid a politically devastating lapse in funding. Just a few days later, in a humiliating defeat, the House approved DHS funding without any measures blocking immigration reform for the rest of this fiscal year, relying on Democratic votes.

House Freedom Caucus

A passionate group of about 50 House Republicans has often been referred to as the Tea Party faction. Some of that group are now calling themselves the House Freedom Caucus, led by Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio. They staunchly oppose President Barack Obamas executive action to shield up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, and other executive orders by the president.

At a conservative policy luncheon last month, Republican Representative Raul Labrador of Idaho called it a constitutional crisis and complained that McConnell was effectively letting Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada run the Senate.

Several conservative congressmen faulted McConnell and Boehner for getting them into another budget showdown, alleging that their leaders postpone standing up to the president until the next crisis.

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Republican Majority in Congress Off to Rough Start

The Republican-controlled Congress cleared a bill Wednesday to construct the Keystone XL oil pipeline, setting up a confrontation with President Barack Obama, who has threatened to veto the measure.

The House passed the bill on a 270-152 vote, endorsing changes made by the Senate that stated climate change was real and not a hoax, and oil sands should no longer be exempt from a tax used to cleanup oil spills.

Only one Republican, Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, voted against the measure, while 29 Democrats backed it. But neither the House nor the Senate has enough votes to overcome a veto, the first of many skirmishes between the Democratic White House and Congress on energy and environmental policy.

Supporters were already strategizing on how to secure the pipeline's approval using other legislative means.

"The evidence is in. The case ought to be closed," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, the chief Republican sponsor of the bill, said in a statement "we will continue to press for approval by attaching an approval measure to another bill, perhaps an energy bill or must-pass appropriations legislation."

Obama "needs to work with Congress in a bipartisan way and approve the Keystone XL pipeline project for the American people," he said.

For Republicans, the bill's passage capped weeks of debate on a top priority after they took control of Congress last month. Hours before the vote, they prodded

Democrats who did not take their side. House Republicans, who have debated and passed numerous measures on the pipeline only to have them dead end in the Senate, claimed victory.

Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said she was a having a "holy cow" moment.

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Congress clears Keystone XL pipeline bill, setting up veto

Republican military veteran Paul Chabot, who narrowly lost an open Inland Empire congressional district seat to then-Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar last fall, said Tuesday that he would run again for the seat in 2016.

Aguilar won the fall race to succeed Rep. Gary Miller (R-Rancho Cucamonga) by three percentage points after narrowly surviving a crowded June primary. Miller retired and did not seek re-election in a district that has been growing increasingly Democratic.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee recently put Aguilar on a list of its most vulnerable House members.

Still, Aguilar will be seeking re-election in a presidential election year, which typically boosts Democratic turnout significantly.

Chabot noted in a statement announcing his candidacy that he came close to winning despite being heavily outspent by the Aguilar campaign and despite help that Aguilar got from President Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden.

Chabot, a combat veteran who served in Iraq, is a reserve sheriff's deputy in San Bernardino County. He lives in Rancho Cucamonga with his wife, Brenda, and their four children.

Follow @jeanmerl for the latest in Southern California politics news.

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Republican Paul Chabot says he'll run against Rep. Pete Aguilar again

Republican Leaders Test Waters At CPAC - The Kelly File
Republican Leaders Test Waters At CPAC - The Kelly File =========================================== **Please Click Below to SUBSCRIBE for More "MTP" Video...

By: MTPAmerica

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Republican Leaders Test Waters At CPAC - The Kelly File - Video

Will CPAC produce Republican frontrunner for 2016?
Carson, Christie, Cruz make case for possible presidential runs Watch Dana Perino, Eric Bolling, Greg Gutfeld, Juan Williams, and Kimberly Guilfoyle talk abo...

By: Fox News

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Will CPAC produce Republican frontrunner for 2016? - Video