Hurrah! Speaker John Boehner Will Resign From Congress
Speaker John Boehner Will Resign From Congress
By JENNIFER STEINHAUERSEPT. 25, 2015
Photo http://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/...-master675.jpg
Speaker John A. Boehner at a news conference on Capitol Hill in June. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times
Breaking News Alerts
WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner, under intense pressure from conservatives in his party, will resign one of the most powerful positions in government and give up his House seat at the end of October, throwing Congress into chaos it tries to avert a government shutdown.
Mr. Boehner made the announcement in an emotional meeting with his fellow Republicans Friday morning.
The Republican from Ohio had struggled from almost the moment he took the speaker’s gavel in 2011 to manage the challenges of divided government and the hold together his fractious and increasingly conservative Republican members.
Most recently, Mr. Boehner was trying to craft a solution to keep the government open through the rest of the year, but was under pressure from a growing base of conservatives who told him they would not vote for a bill that did not defund Planned Parenthood. Several of those members were on a path to remove Mr. Boehner though their ability to do so was far from certain.
Mr. Boehner’s surprise announcement came just a day after Pope Francis visited the Capitol, the fulfillment of a 20-year dream of Mr. Boehner of having a pontif address members of Congress. He had a private audience with Francis before the pope’s address to a joint meeting of Congress.