国际英语新闻：U.S. House Democrats re-elect Pelosi as party leader in next Congress

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday retained her leadership in the House Democratic Caucus and will fill the post of House Minority Leader when the new Congress gathers in January.

In a closed-door vote among House Democrats, Pelosi defeated her only challenger Heath Shuler, a more moderate Democrat, by a margin of 150-43.

The 70-year-old Pelosi, the nation's first female House speaker, has been pressured by moderate and conservative Democrats to step down after Democrats suffered substantial losses in the midterm elections earlier this month. Democrats lost their House majority on Nov. 2, while retaining control of the Senate but with a much slimmer advantage.

Steny Hoyer kept the party's No. 2 post in the lower chamber and Jim Clyburn maintained his No. 3 position, with a new post that Pelosi created last week as the party's "assistant leader."

In a separate vote among House Republican Caucus, John Boehner, currently the House Minority Leader, was unanimously re-elected as party leader Wednesday, positioning him to become House Speaker in the new Congress.

Eric Cantor was elected majority leader, the second-ranking post in the House Republican Caucus.

The changing balance of power in Congress means that President Barack Obama would be confronted with greater resistance when pushing his policy agendas through Congress, particularly the House.

As the Congress reconvened in the lame-duck session, Republicans have shown little enthusiasm, at least at this point, to cooperate with Democrats on Obama's key legislative initiatives.

The White House said on Tuesday that Obama has postponed a planned meeting with bipartisan leaders of the Congress, citing scheduling conflicts on the Republican side. The meeting, originally scheduled on Thursday, will be delayed until Nov. 30.