Some Louisiana lawmaker praised Boehner for his years of service in Congress. They were threatening to oust him as speaker if he didn’t push through a spending bill defunding Planned Parenthood – a bill that would go nowhere in the Senate and trigger a government shutdown.
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One of the names mentioned as Boehner’s possible successor is the current House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican who has been in office for less than a decade.
McCarthy did not immediately announce any plans to run for speaker but would be expected to. “We’re not likely to elect a Republican president if a Republican Congress can’t demonstrate that we can govern effectively”.
Duffy said many people showed love and affection for Boehner after the conference.
It wasn’t the first revolt Boehner faced from within GOP ranks and, at a news conference Thursday, he said it had become clear that “this prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution”.
Senator Rob Portman said he respects the job Boehner did in his chair as speaker of the house.
Some political experts say his resignation has a direct effect on Ohio because the congressman put a spotlight on the Buckeye State.
Costello now sits on the transportation and veterans committees in the House, and said its unlikely that committee assignments would change mid-term, “but you may see those sort of considerations creep in as people work to try to secure votes for Speaker”.
“I am amazed that he hung in there as long as he did”, Hibbing said. “As simple as that”, Boehner said Friday at an emotional Capitol Hill press conference. Most recently, tea party members thought Boehner wasn’t fighting hard enough to strip Planned Parenthood of government funds.
While Boehner has few fans on the left, he was a moderate voice in a Republican House that has proved increasingly extremist. And everyone should understand that his successor will have exactly the same challenges and responsibilities that he has had – and that is to demonstrate that Republicans can vote, stick to our conservative principles and govern at the same time.
Meeting Pope Francis the day before and the Pope’s address to a joint session of Congress was something Boehner a devout Catholic had been working for 20 years profoundly affected the Speaker’s decision to resign. His tenure has been defined by his early struggles to reach budget agreements with President Barack Obama and his wrestling with the expectations of tea party conservatives who abhorred his tendencies toward deal-making.
Both make him unsuitable to lead today’s Republican Party, which believes Democrats are the enemy, not the other party in government, and that the Congress is corrupt and feckless, as is government more broadly.
The tactic was unsuccessful.
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Boehner announced Friday he would be resigning in a move that surprised almost everyone.
