In an abrupt and stunning move, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner announced Friday that he will resign from Congress, amid rising pressure from his right flank.
The move likely avoids a government shutdown next week because Boehner will be free from political repercussions for allowing a short-term spending bill to pass with Democratic votes and sidestepping a showdown over abortion. In the long term, it’s unclear whether any speaker can unite the fractured caucus, and the droll Ohioan decided he was done trying.
Boehner, who took over the speakership in January 2011 after Republicans captured the majority, told reporters that he had initially planned to retire at the end of the year and only decided for sure Friday morning that he would do it Oct. 30 instead.
“It had become clear to me that this prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution,” Boehner said.
Boehner’s departure was cheered in the tea party movement and conservative grass roots in Georgia, where activists had pressured members of Congress to depose Boehner.
“One word: hallelujah,” said Conrad Quagliaroli, a tea party leader in Cherokee County.
Boehner dropped the news the day after hosting Pope Francis for the first-ever papal address to Congress. Boehner, a devout Catholic, had long pushed and hoped for such a visit. He recounted for reporters a moment the two shared as Francis was about to leave, when the pope asked Boehner to pray for him, and Boehner choked up.
The speaker broke the news that he was stepping down to a stunned GOP caucus at an emotional Friday morning meeting. Among those who stood up to praise him was U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Cassville Republican.
“This was probably the classiest and boldest act of leadership I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Loudermilk told Boehner.
Loudermilk had not supported Boehner for speaker in a closed-door voice vote last year, but the Georgia congressman backed the speaker on the floor in January — when more than a dozen of Republicans voted for someone else in an embarrassment for Boehner.
Conservatives had threatened a vote of no confidence if Boehner went ahead next week, as he plans, with a bill to fund the government as-is through mid-December without changes such as stripping funding from Planned Parenthood. He almost certainly would have survived, but it would have been ugly.
“It’s something that had to happen,” Loudermilk said of the resignation. “No one wanted to go through what happened Jan. 6 again.”
Competition begins for leadership posts
The announcement set off an immediate scramble for leadership posts, with the most likely successor for Boehner being Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. U.S. Rep. Tom Price, a Roswell Republican, made swift moves to rally support for a run for majority leader, in what is shaping up to be a wide-open contest.
A Speaker McCarthy would not satisfy the “Fire Boehner” crowd. Quagliaroli said the push now is to get “real change” in the speaker’s office, meaning someone more conservative than McCarthy. The Woodstock-based Tea Party Patriots quickly sent out an email asking for money to “rally” activists. The subject line: “Boehner’s OUT — The fight for a conservative Speaker is ON!”
But it’s unclear how much any leader could change the gridlocked dynamic in Washington.
In the Senate, the Democratic minority has held together to filibuster most Republican priorities, while a band of restive conservatives in the House has made it difficult to keep the GOP united. President Barack Obama — who praised Boehner as “a patriot” Friday — has issued veto threats on Republican priorities such as stripping federal funding from Planned Parenthood, and Republicans complain that he is unwilling to negotiate on anything.
“I think the outcome’s the same” under a new speaker, said U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Coweta County Republican, who swiftly endorsed McCarthy. “It’s a dead end. It’s really kind of a cul-de-sac.”
House Democrats agreed that new leadership will not change much.
“The speaker’s basically a good man who has tried to lead during trying times with his caucus, with his caucus just imploding under the weight of extremism, which produced gridlock, and he wasn’t able to accomplish anything,” said U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Lithonia Democrat.
‘It has to be ready, aim, fire’
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia said on Fox News that the situation was similar to one he faced when he resigned the speakership under pressure in late 1998.
“In my case, and to some extent in John’s case, what happens is part of your party has demands that are not reachable and they view your failure to reach them as a sign they need somebody new who is somehow magically going to get what they want,” Gingrich said.
“I think in both of our cases a bloc grew up that basically said: ‘We want somebody who will do exactly what we want.’ In my case, by the way, they did not get that when it was over.”
Some Georgia members see new leadership as an opportunity to right the ship.
“It has to be a ready, aim, fire approach,” said U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, a Tifton Republican. “And I think the frustration quite honestly right now is that it’s ready, aim and then we’re not pulling the trigger on issues.”
For example, Scott said that in the wake the controversy over videos claiming to show Planned Parenthood selling aborted fetal tissue, conservatives should have trained their ire not on one organization but on outlawing certain abortion procedures. While Republicans launched investigations into Planned Parenthood, Senate Democrats this week blocked a bill that would have outlawed abortions after 20 weeks.
House-Senate tensions have been frequent this year with Republicans newly in control of both chambers. But many senators got along well with Boehner.
Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, who served with Boehner in the House, said he’ll miss Boehner but “I understand where he’s coming from” in leaving.
“He’s putting the country ahead of himself,” Isakson said.
The meeting where Boehner broke the news lasted more than an hour and a half. Boehner emerged into a hallway in the bowels of the Capitol. Mobbed by reporters lobbing questions, he only quoted from the song “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” in reply.
“What a wonderful day.”
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