Friday, September 25, 2015

About Damned Time!

House Speaker John Boehner to Resign
Republican, under pressure from other conservatives, to leave Congress next month
U.S. House Speaker John Boehner... plans to resign Oct. 30.


"WASHINGTON—House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), long under fire from conservatives within his own party, will resign Oct. 30, according to GOP lawmakers and aides.

Mr. Boehner announced his plans to step down as speaker and resign from Congress at the end of next month at a closed-door meeting of House Republicans Friday morning. The announcement came one day after the 65-year-old welcomed Pope Francis for the first papal visit to Capitol Hill, fulfilling a decadeslong ambition for the speaker.

Mr. Boehner declined to comment to reporters as he left the closed-door meeting Friday.

Mr. Boehner resigned at a time when he had come under increasing pressure from conservatives, who have criticized him for not doing enough to check President Barack Obama.

Mr. Obama has “run circles around this Congress since John Boehner’s been speaker,” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R., Kansas), who said his constituents wanted to see Mr. Boehner replaced. “We need a speaker who is going to be a conservative leader.”

Current Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) is a likely candidate to succeed Mr. Boehner as speaker, according to GOP lawmakers. But it isn’t clear if conservatives will rally behind Mr. McCarthy. Several conservative Republicans said they had not yet determined who should replace Mr. Boehner
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