House Speaker John A. Boehner, faced with a constant conservative rebellion, announced Friday he will step down at the end of October, a move that shocked Capitol Hill and exposed the deep tensions within the Republican Party over how to use its congressional majority.
Boehner’s nearly five-year hold on the speaker’s gavel had grown increasingly unsteady amid threats from more than 30 Republicans that they would force a no-confidence vote in his speaker’s position, which would have forced him to rely on Democratic votes in order to remain in charge.
[What John Boehner told me the night before he said he was quitting]
Conservatives have pushed Boehner (R-Ohio) and his leadership team to take a more confrontational approach with President Obama over issues such as government spending, abortion, immigration and Obamacare, a stance that more moderate Republicans argue is completely unrealistic in a divided government.
The tensions only grew in recent weeks with the need to fund to government by month’s end drawing closer and Boehner said at an afternoon news conference that he made the decision to resign Friday morning. He informed his colleagues at a meeting of the House Republican conference shortly thereafter.
“Last night I started thinking about this,” he told reporters. “I woke up, I said my prayers, and decided today was the day I’ll do that. Simple as that.”
Pope Francis’s visit to Capitol Hill Thursday was a milestone moment in Boehner’s career, one he described as “emotional” while tearing up as he recalled the pope asking him to pray for him in a private moment in the Capitol. But Boehner, a devout Catholic, dismissed speculation that the papal visit inspired his decision to retire saying he had long contemplated stepping down — planning at one point to announce his retirement on his birthday in November.
“I don’t want my members to go through this, and I certainly don’t want the institution to go through this,” he said of the expected challenge to his leadership from conservatives.
Read More >>
0 comments:
Post a Comment