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Launched by the 2014 midterm elections, the new GOP majority is setting out to build the Keystone XL pipeline, expand trade and tinker with the health-care law–serious goals but more like a to-do list than a manifesto. Indeed, more than any particular policy aim, Republicans’ overriding goal for this year is about confidence-building: Restoring voters’ trust in Congress and in the GOP. (Hook, 1/7)

The White House threatened more vetoes Wednesday against top-priority legislation of the two-day-old Republican-controlled Congress, and GOP leaders said they intend to keep challenging President Barack Obama to sign early measures that demonstrate bipartisan support. "We're calling on the president to ignore the voices of reaction and join us," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said as he and Speaker John Boehner lined up legislation to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, make changes to the health care law they also have vowed to repeal, and delay a key provision of a 2010 financial regulation law. (1/7)