* First visit since GOP took House of Representatives
* U.S. troops must withdraw by year's end
(Recasts, updates with meetings, bombs, quotes)
By Patricia Zengerle
BAGHDAD, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden flew into Iraq on Thursday for his first visit since Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was reappointed for a second term and cost-cutting Republicans took over the House of Representatives.
Biden, picked by President Barack Obama as his point person for Iraq, met Maliki for talks as the U.S. military prepares for a full withdrawal eight years after ousting Saddam Hussein.
Fewer than 50,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, compared with 144,000 in January 2009, when Obama and Biden took office. They have been focused since the end of August on advising and assisting Iraqi forces as they take the lead in the fight against a weakened yet resilient insurgency.
As Biden prepared to set off for meetings, three roadside bombs planted near two Sunni and one Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Baghdad killed two people and wounded around 13.
A senior administration official said the United States was adhering to the agreed timetable for full withdrawal by Dec. 31, 2011. However, if Maliki asked the United States to stay, the Obama administration would be open to doing so in some form.
Maliki is under pressure not to extend the U.S. military presence beyond the end of the year even though Iraqi and U.S. officials say Iraq will not be able to defend its borders on its own. It will not have a fully functional air force by then.
The U.S. public does not appear to be in the mood for new or extended overseas military ventures, and U.S. Republicans, who won control of the House of Representatives in November, have promised to cut government spending and debt.
Biden's visit follows stops in Afghanistan and Pakistan and is his seventh to Iraq since January 2009.
POLITICAL LOGJAM
His last visit was in September, when he urged Iraq to overcome a political logjam that had prevented agreement on a new government months after a March election.
U.S. officials pushed for a government to include both the actual vote winner, former premier Iyad Allawi's Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, and Maliki's Shi'ite-led State of Law.
Iraqiya ended up controlling several key posts in the new Maliki government, including that of finance minister. Allawi himself will head a policy setting council.
Biden's meeting with Maliki began with a scuffle among journalists determined to get in to the audience chamber.
"It's very good to be back. I see your press is still healthy and good and strong," Biden said to Maliki.
The meeting took place in the same location where an Iraqi reporter threw a pair of shoes at former President George W. Bush just over two years ago and called him a "dog".
Biden was also expected to meet Allawi.
(Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by Jason Neely)
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