Boehner to leave as Congress confronts intractable issues

Conservatives are already pressing for a new speaker who is more responsive to their demands. I am honored that they would consider me, however, I have not yet come to a decision on what I will do. But he predicted that this would begin in “five minutes”.

1991: Was ringleader of the so-called Gang of Seven House freshmen who pressed for strict ethical behavior from then-majority Democrats and insisted on public disclosure of those who had overdrafts at the House bank.

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, another Chicago Democrat, praised Boehner for resisting more extreme Republican views, saying it couldn’t have been easy to be a decent man at the head of what he feels is becoming a party of anti-immigrant policies and intolerance.

During his press conference Friday afternoon, Boehner effectively endorsed McCarthy. By that time the GOP will have installed a new speaker, one that hard-liners hope will be more sympathetic to their tactical choices. But that’s up to the next members. And the pope grabbed my left arm, and said some very kind words to me about my commitment to kids and education. “I don’t understand. They get elected”.

“I’m not here to bash anyone”, Rubio said told the buzzing crowd, “but the time has come to turn the page”.

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., “has some of the same shortcomings”, Mulvaney said, predicting the conversatives’ problems with Boehner could arise in the Senate.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Friday that it was the ninth time since 2007 that Republicans have tried to defund the family planning organization.

“They wanted to run, but they didn’t want to primary him”, Becker said.

But McCarthy is expected to face a challenge for the speakership, though it’s unclear how serious that fight will be.

Among the lawmakers who could seek the majority leader spot are Reps.

Since 2005, McMorris Rodgers has represented Washington’s 5th congressional district, which includes Spokane and the eastern third of the state. Twelve Republicans refused to vote for Boehner, a rare level of protest from within a speaker’s own party. “Nobody else around here has an obligation like that”, Boehner told reporters.

Boehner’s exit also creates an opening for the more conservative wing of the House caucus.

Eager to keep the government open lest a shutdown hurt his party in the eyes of voters, Boehner was fashioning an alternative that would keep financing the government as is but allow conservatives a separate vote to cut off money for Planned Parenthood.

They’ve met resistance from tea party Republicans and outside groups that advocated for the 2013 partial government shutdown over implementation of Obama’s health care law.

Boehner’s decision removes the possibility of a damaging vote to strip him of his speakership, a scenario that grew more likely amid the clamor over a possible shutdown.

The latest attempt follows the release of a series of videos by an anti-abortion group purportedly showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing arrangements to provide fetal tissues to medical laboratories.

Tim Huelskamp of Kansas tweeted simply, “Today the establishment lost”.

Cincinnati Tea Party leader Ann Becker, also of West Chester, has criticized Boehner over such issues as national debt and the federal role in education. “We need new leadership”.

“Speaker Boehner was able to transform a broken and dispirited Republican minority into the largest Republican majority since the 1920s”.

“This was a pure act of selflessness”, said Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the party’s vice presidential nominee in 2012, in a statement.

“Let’s take a step back and acknowledge what this means”, her email said.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tweeted that the establishment in Washington needed to be “burned to the ground”.

But more mainstream Republicans said it would be a pyrrhic victory for the tea partyers.

But after hearing the pope’s address, “last night, I started to think about this”.

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., a Boehner ally, suggested the top post was a thankless job, asking, “who would want to be Speaker?”

Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas warned that Boehner stepping down, however, wasn’t likely to change much. “I think this is a great opportunity to set us up not just in the House, not just dealing with President Obama, but how do we want to race in 2016″.