John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current
Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
. A member of the
Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, he is the
U.S. RepresentativeThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from , serving since 1991. The district includes several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and
DaytonDayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
, and a small portion of Dayton itself.
Boehner previously served as the
House Minority LeaderThe House Minority Leader is one of the party leaders of the United States House of Representatives. This title is currently held by Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi of California....
from 2007 until 2011, and House Majority Leader from 2006 until 2007.
As Speaker of the House, Boehner is second in
line to the presidency of the United StatesThe United States presidential line of succession defines who may become or act as President of the United States upon the incapacity, death, resignation, or removal from office of a sitting president or a president-elect.- Current order :This is a list of the current presidential line of...
following the
Vice PresidentThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
in accordance with the
Presidential Succession ActThe Presidential Succession Act establishes the line of succession to the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States in the event that neither a President nor Vice President is able to "discharge the powers and duties of the office." The current Presidential Succession Act...
.
Early life, education and career
Boehner was born in
Reading, OhioReading is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 11,292 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Cincinnati. Reading is also the Home of 2003 Division 3 State Boys Basketball Champions...
, the son of Mary Anne (née Hall) and Earl Henry Boehner, the second of twelve children in a family of
GermanGerman Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
and
IrishIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
descent. He grew up in modest circumstances, having shared one bathroom with his eleven siblings in a two-bedroom house in Cincinnati. His parents slept on a pull-out couch. He started working at his family's bar at age 8, a business founded by their grandfather Andy Boehner in 1938. He has lived in Southwest Ohio his entire life. All but two of his siblings still live within a few miles of each other; two are unemployed and most of the others have blue-collar jobs.
Boehner attended Cincinnati's
Moeller High SchoolArchbishop Moeller High School , known as Moeller, is a private, all-male, college-preparatory high school in the suburbs of Cincinnati, in Hamilton County, Ohio...
and was a
linebackerA linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
on the school's football team, where he was coached by future
Notre DameNotre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...
coach
Gerry FaustGerard Anthony "Gerry" Faust is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame from 1981 to 1985 and at the University of Akron from 1986 to 1994, compiling a career college football record of 73–79–4...
. Graduating from Moeller in 1968, when U.S. involvement in the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
was at its peak, Boehner enlisted in the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
but was honorably discharged after eight weeks because of a bad back. He earned his
B.A.A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in business administration from
Xavier UniversityXavier University is a co-educational Jesuit university in the United States located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The University is the sixth-oldest Catholic university in the nation and has an undergraduate enrollment of about 4,000 students and graduate enrollment of 2,600 students. Xavier is primarily...
in 1977, becoming the first person in his family to attend college, taking seven years as he held several jobs to pay for his education.
Shortly after his graduation in 1977, Boehner accepted a position with Nucite Sales, a small sales business in the packaging and plastics industry. He was steadily promoted and eventually became president of the firm, resigning in 1990 when he was elected to Congress.
Early political career
From 1982 to 1984, Boehner served on the board of trustees of Union Township, Butler County, Ohio. He then served as an
Ohio state representativeThe Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....
from 1985 to 1990.
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1990, Boehner ran against incumbent congressman
Buz LukensDonald Edgar "Buz" Lukens was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. His political career ended in scandal.-Early years:...
, who was under fire for having a sexual relationship with a minor. He trounced Lukens in the primary, taking 49 percent of the vote. This was tantamount to election in the heavily Republican 8th District. He has been reelected 10 times with no substantial opposition, and even ran unopposed in 1994.
Gang of Seven
During his freshman year, Boehner and fellow members of the
Gang of SevenThe Gang of Seven refers to a group of freshmen Republican U.S. Representatives, elected to serve in the 101st Congress in 1990. The group loudly condemned the House banking scandal and the Congressional Post Office scandal, forcing the congressional leadership to address the issues by ensuring...
took on the House establishment, Republicans and Democrats alike, and successfully closed the House Bank (
House banking scandalThe House banking scandal broke in early 1992, when it was revealed that the United States House of Representatives allowed members to overdraw their House checking accounts without risk of being penalized by the House bank ....
), uncovered "
dine-and-dashA dine and dash is a form of theft by fraud, in which a patron orders and consumes food from a restaurant or similar establishment with no intent to pay, then leaves without...
" practices at the House Restaurant, and exposed drug sales and illegal cash-for-stamps deals at the House Post Office.
Contract with America
Boehner, along with
Newt GingrichNewton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
and several other Republican lawmakers, was one of the engineers of the
Contract with AmericaThe Contract with America was a document released by the United States Republican Party during the 1994 Congressional election campaign. Written by Larry Hunter, who was aided by Newt Gingrich, Robert Walker, Richard Armey, Bill Paxon, Tom DeLay, John Boehner and Jim Nussle, and in part using text...
in 1994 that helped catapult Republicans into the majority in Congress for the first time in four decades.
Legislative accomplishments
From 1995 to 1999, Boehner served as
House Republican Conference ChairmanThis is a list of Republican Conference Chairmen of the United States House of Representatives.-References:...
which is the party caucus for Republicans in the United States House of Representatives. In this post, he was the fourth-ranking House Republican, behind Gingrich, Majority Leader
Dick ArmeyRichard Keith "Dick" Armey is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader . He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was...
and Majority Whip
Tom DeLayThomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
. There he championed the
Freedom to Farm ActThe Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 , known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S...
that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies direct payment programs for crops and eliminates milk price supports through direct government purchases.
Following the election of President
George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, Boehner was elected as chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee from 2001 until 2006. There he authored several reforms including the
Pension Protection ActThe Pension Protection Act of 2006 , 120 Stat. 780, was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on August 17, 2006.-Pension reform:...
and a successful school choice voucher program for low-income children in Washington, DC. He was also a major force in the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, saying it was his “proudest achievement” in two decades of public service.
Leadership challenge
In the summer of 1997 several House Republicans, who saw
SpeakerThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Newt GingrichNewton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
's public image as a liability, attempted to replace him as Speaker. The attempted "coup" began July 9 with a meeting between Republican conference chairman Boehner and Republican leadership chairman
Bill PaxonL. William Paxon , known as Bill Paxon, is a lobbyist and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York.-Early life:...
of
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. According to their plan,
House Majority LeaderParty leaders of the United States House of Representatives are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot and are also known as floor leaders. The U.S. House of Representatives does not officially use the term "Minority Leader", although the media frequently does...
Dick ArmeyRichard Keith "Dick" Armey is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader . He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was...
,
House Majority WhipA whip in the United States House of Representatives manages his party's legislative program on the House floor. The Whip keeps track of all legislation and ensures that all party members are present when important measures are to be voted upon....
Tom DeLayThomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out. However, Armey balked at the proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker, and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich about the coup.
On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he was voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker, which would allow for the possibility that Democrats—along with dissenting Republicans—would vote in
Dick GephardtRichard Andrew "Dick" Gephardt is a lobbyist and former prominent American politician of the Democratic Party. Gephardt served as a U.S. Representative from Missouri from January 3, 1977, until January 3, 2005, serving as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995, and as Minority Leader from 1995 to...
as Speaker. On July 16, Paxon offered to resign his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly, as the only member of the leadership who had been appointed to his position—by Gingrich—instead of elected.
Congressional leadership
In 1998, Boehner was ousted as the chairman of the House Republican Conference, after his party lost five congressional seats.
In an upset, Boehner was elected by his colleagues to serve as House Majority Leader on February 2, 2006. The election followed
Tom DeLayThomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
's resignation from the post after being indicted on criminal charges.
Boehner campaigned as a reform candidate who wanted to reform the so-called "
earmarkIn United States politics, an earmark is a legislative provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects, or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees...
" process and rein in government spending. He defeated Majority Whip
Roy BluntRoy D. Blunt is the junior United States Senator from Missouri. He is a member of the Republican Party. His Senate seat was previously held by Republican Kit Bond, until his retirement....
of
MissouriMissouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and Representative
John ShadeggJohn Barden Shadegg is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1995 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.The district, numbered as the 4th District before the 2000 Census, includes much of northern Phoenix....
of
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, even though he was considered an underdog candidate to Blunt. In the second round of voting by the House Republican Conference, Boehner received 122 votes compared to 109 for Blunt. Blunt kept his previous position as Majority Whip, the No. 3 leadership position in the House. (There was some confusion on the first ballot for Majority Leader as the first count showed one more vote cast than Republicans present, due to a misunderstanding as to whether the rules allowed Resident Commissioner
Luis FortuñoLuis Guillermo Fortuño Burset is the governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States of America. Fortuño is also the president of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico , a member of the Republican National Committee, and will be president of the Council of State...
of Puerto Rico to vote or not.)
After the Republicans lost control of the House in the 2006 elections, the House Republican Conference chose Boehner as Minority Leader. While as Majority Leader he was second-in-command behind Speaker
Dennis HastertJohn Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...
, as Minority Leader he was the leader of the House Republicans. As such, he was the Republican nominee for Speaker in 2006 and 2008, losing both times to Pelosi. While the Speaker is nominally elected by the full House, in practice he or she is almost always chosen by the majority party.
According to the 2008 Congress.org Power Ranking, Boehner was the 6th most powerful congressman (preceded by Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Ways and Means Committee Chairman
Sander M. LevinSander Martin Levin, generally known as Sandy Levin, is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1983, and the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee...
, Dean of the House
John DingellJohn David Dingell, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1955 . He is a member of the Democratic Party...
, and Appropriations Committee Chairman
Dave ObeyDavid Ross "Dave" Obey is the former U.S. Representative for , serving 21 consecutive terms from 1969 until 2011. The district includes much of the northwestern portion of the state, including Wausau and Superior...
, all Democrats) and the most powerful Republican. As Minority Leader, Boehner served as an
ex officio member of the
Permanent Select Committee on IntelligenceThe United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Mike Rogers. It is the primary committee in the U.S...
.
Speaker of the House
On November 17, 2010, Boehner was unanimously chosen by the House Republicans as their nominee for Speaker, all but assuring his formal election to the post when the new Congress convened with a Republican majority in January 2011. He is the first Speaker from Ohio since fellow Republicans
Nicholas LongworthNicholas Longworth IV was a prominent American politician in the Republican Party during the first few decades of the 20th century...
(1925 to 1931) and
J. Warren KeiferJoseph Warren Keifer was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and a prominent U.S. politician during the 1880s. He served in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from Ohio from 1877 to 1885 and from 1905 to 1911...
(1881 to 1883). He is also the first Speaker who has served both as majority and minority floor leader for his party since Texas Democrat
Sam RayburnSamuel Taliaferro Rayburn , often called "Mr. Sam," or "Mr. Democrat," was a Democratic lawmaker from Bonham, Texas, who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for seventeen years, the longest tenure in U.S. history.- Background :Rayburn was born in Roane County, Tennessee, and...
.
As Speaker, Boehner is still the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he normally does not take part in debate (though he has the right to do so) and almost never votes from the floor. He is also not a member of any House committees.
Connections to lobbyists
In June 1995, Boehner distributed campaign contributions from
tobacco industryThe tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all...
lobbyists on the House floor as House members were weighing how to vote on tobacco subsidies. In a 1996 documentary by PBS called
The People and the Power Game, Boehner said "They asked me to give out a half dozen checks quickly before we got to the end of the month and I complied. And I did it on the House floor, which I regret. I should not have done. It's not a violation of the House rules, but it's a practice that‘s gone on here for a long time that we're trying to stop and I know I'll never do it again." Boehner eventually led the effort to change House rules and prohibit campaign contributions from being distributed on the House floor.
A September 2010
New York Times story said Boehner was "Tightly Bound to Lobbyists" and "He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R.J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.".
Smithsonian
In November 2010, Boehner, along with Minority Whip Eric Cantor, called for the cancellation of an exhibit in the Smithsonian's
National Portrait GalleryThe National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...
after he learned that it featured a video by
David WojnarowiczDavid Wojnarowicz was a painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s.-Biography:...
,
A Fire in My Belly, that contained an image of a
crucifixA crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
with ants crawling on it. Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said, "Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge the mistake and correct it, or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January when the new majority in the House moves [in]."
Political positions
A profile in the
Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewThe Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
said, "On both sides of the aisle, Boehner earns praise for candor and an ability to listen."
The Plain Dealer says Boehner "has perfected the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable."
Boehner has been classified as a "hard-core conservative" by OnTheIssues. Although Boehner does have a conservative voting record, when he was running for House leadership, religious conservatives in the GOP expressed that they were not satisfied with his positions. According to the
Washington Post: "From
illegal immigrationIllegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
to sanctions on
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to an overhaul of the pension system, Boehner, as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, took ardently pro-business positions that were contrary to those of many in his party. Religious conservatives — examining his voting record — see him as a policymaker driven by small-government economic concerns, not theirs."
Boehner has received a "0" rating from the
Human Rights CampaignThe Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
in the last three congressional sessions, voting against the
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 is a landmark federal statute that establishes a legal process for ending the Don't ask, don't tell policy , which since 1993 prevented openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the United States Armed Forces.The Act did not immediately repeal the...
, the
Early Treatment for HIV ActThe Early Treatment for HIV Act is a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate.The stated purpose of the bill is "to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to permit States the option to provide Medicaid coverage for low-income individuals infected with HIV."- Previous versions of the bill :In the...
, the
Employment Non-Discrimination ActThe Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees.ENDA has been introduced in every...
, and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Boehner voted for a
Federal Marriage AmendmentThe Federal Marriage Amendment H.J. Res. 56 was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have limited marriage in the United States to unions of one man and one woman...
. In a letter to the Rights Campaign, Boehner stated, "I oppose any legislation that would provide special rights for homosexuals... Please be assured that I will continue to work to protect the idea of the traditional family as one of the
fundamental tenetsFundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
of
western civilizationWestern culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
."
On May 25, 2006, Boehner issued a statement defending his agenda and attacking his "
DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
friends" such as Minority Leader
Nancy PelosiNancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
. Boehner said regarding national security that voters "have a choice between a Republican Party that understands the stakes and is dedicated to victory, and a Democrat Party with a non-existent national security policy that sheepishly dismisses the challenges of a post-9/11 world and is all too willing to concede defeat on the battlefield in
IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
."
Boehner is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
Military spending
Boehner has called on the President to justify spending for military operations against terrorists.
Financial crisis
On September 18, 2008, Congressman Boehner attended a closed meeting with congressional leaders, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and was urged to craft legislation to help financially troubled banks. That same day (trade effective the next day), Congressman Boehner cashed out of an equity mutual fund.
On October 3, 2008 Boehner voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), believing that
the enumerated powersArticle One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The Article establishes the powers of and limitations on the Congress, consisting of a House of Representatives composed of Representatives, with each state gaining or...
grant Congress the authority to "purchase assets and equity from financial institutions in order to strengthen its financial sector."
Boehner has been highly critical of several recent initiatives by the Democratic Congress and President
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, including the "cap and trade" plan that Boehner says would hurt job growth in his congressional district and elsewhere. He opposed the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care ActThe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress...
and said that, if Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, they would do whatever it takes to stop the act. One option would be to defund the administrative aspect of the Act, not paying "one dime" to pay the salaries of the workers who would administer the plan. He also led an opposition to the 2009 stimulus and to Obama's first budget proposal, promoting instead an alternative economic recovery plan and a Republican budget (authored by Ranking Rep.
Paul RyanPaul Davis Ryan is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party and has been ranked among the party's most influential voices on economic policy....
, R-
WIWisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
). He has advocated for an across-the-board
spending freezeA budget freeze is a term for when a budget for an aspect of government or business is fixed- or frozen- at a specific level. One can be applied in a business in order to increase profits as well as in a government, often to reduce taxes....
, including entitlement programs.
Boehner favors making changes in
Social SecurityIn the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
, such as by raising the retirement age to 70 for people who have at least 20 years until retirement, as well as tying cost-of-living increases to the
consumer price indexA consumer price index measures changes in the price level of consumer goods and services purchased by households. The CPI, in the United States is defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as "a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of...
rather than
wage inflationIn economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
, and limiting payments to those who need them.
In 2011 Boehner called the
No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion ActThe No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act is a bill that was introduced to the 112th Congress of the United States in the House of Representatives by Rep. Chris Smith and Dan Lipinski . Although the bill is a bipartisan effort, most of the 173 co-sponsors are Republicans...
“one of our highest legislative priorities.”
2006
In the
November 2006 election- House of Representatives prior to the election :As of November 7, 2006, the U.S. House of the 109th Congress was composed of 229 Republicans, 201 Democrats and 1 Independent . There were also four vacancies...
, Boehner defeated the Democratic Party candidate, U.S. Air Force
veteranA veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
Mort Meier, 64% to 36%.
2008
In the
November 2008 electionInfobox Election| election_name = United States House of Representatives elections, 2008| country = United States| type = legislative| ongoing = no...
, Boehner defeated Nicholas Von Stein, 68% to 32%.
2010
Boehner was opposed by Democratic nominee Justin Coussoule,
Constitution PartyThe Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
nominee Jim Condit, and
LibertarianThe Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
nominee David Harlow; but won the 2010 election.
As Republican House Leader, Boehner is a Democratic target for criticism of Republican views and political positions. In July 2010, President
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
began singling out Boehner for criticism during his speeches. In one speech, Obama mentioned Boehner's name nine times and accused him of believing that police, firefighters, and teachers were jobs "not worth saving."
Electoral history
{{redirect|Boehner|the Franciscan scholar|Philotheus Boehner}}
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John Andrew Boehner (icon {{respell|BAY|nər}};[The German]German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
pronunciation of the name Boehner/Böhner is ˈbøːnɐ {{respell|BURH|na}}, see {{cite book |last=Hanks |first=Patrick |title=Dictionary of American Family Names |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0195081374 }} However, Boehner's biography at House.gov recommends the pronunciation {{respell|BAY|ner}}. born {{nowrap|November 17}}, 1949) is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
. A member of the Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, he is the U.S. RepresentativeThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from {{ushr|OH|8}}, serving since 1991. The district includes several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and DaytonDayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
, and a small portion of Dayton itself.
Boehner previously served as the House Minority LeaderThe House Minority Leader is one of the party leaders of the United States House of Representatives. This title is currently held by Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi of California....
from 2007 until 2011, and House Majority Leader from 2006 until 2007.
As Speaker of the House, Boehner is second in line to the presidency of the United StatesThe United States presidential line of succession defines who may become or act as President of the United States upon the incapacity, death, resignation, or removal from office of a sitting president or a president-elect.- Current order :This is a list of the current presidential line of...
following the Vice PresidentThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
in accordance with the Presidential Succession ActThe Presidential Succession Act establishes the line of succession to the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States in the event that neither a President nor Vice President is able to "discharge the powers and duties of the office." The current Presidential Succession Act...
.
Early life, education and career
Boehner was born in Reading, OhioReading is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 11,292 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Cincinnati. Reading is also the Home of 2003 Division 3 State Boys Basketball Champions...
, the son of Mary Anne (née Hall) and Earl Henry Boehner, the second of twelve children in a family of GermanGerman Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
and IrishIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
descent. He grew up in modest circumstances, having shared one bathroom with his eleven siblings in a two-bedroom house in Cincinnati. His parents slept on a pull-out couch. He started working at his family's bar at age 8, a business founded by their grandfather Andy Boehner in 1938. He has lived in Southwest Ohio his entire life. All but two of his siblings still live within a few miles of each other; two are unemployed and most of the others have blue-collar jobs.
Boehner attended Cincinnati's Moeller High SchoolArchbishop Moeller High School , known as Moeller, is a private, all-male, college-preparatory high school in the suburbs of Cincinnati, in Hamilton County, Ohio...
and was a linebackerA linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
on the school's football team, where he was coached by future Notre DameNotre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...
coach Gerry FaustGerard Anthony "Gerry" Faust is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame from 1981 to 1985 and at the University of Akron from 1986 to 1994, compiling a career college football record of 73–79–4...
. Graduating from Moeller in 1968, when U.S. involvement in the Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
was at its peak, Boehner enlisted in the United States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
but was honorably discharged after eight weeks because of a bad back. He earned his B.A.A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in business administration from Xavier UniversityXavier University is a co-educational Jesuit university in the United States located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The University is the sixth-oldest Catholic university in the nation and has an undergraduate enrollment of about 4,000 students and graduate enrollment of 2,600 students. Xavier is primarily...
in 1977, becoming the first person in his family to attend college, taking seven years as he held several jobs to pay for his education.
Shortly after his graduation in 1977, Boehner accepted a position with Nucite Sales, a small sales business in the packaging and plastics industry. He was steadily promoted and eventually became president of the firm, resigning in 1990 when he was elected to Congress.
Early political career
From 1982 to 1984, Boehner served on the board of trustees of Union Township, Butler County, Ohio. He then served as an Ohio state representativeThe Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....
from 1985 to 1990.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1990, Boehner ran against incumbent congressman Buz LukensDonald Edgar "Buz" Lukens was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. His political career ended in scandal.-Early years:...
, who was under fire for having a sexual relationship with a minor. He trounced Lukens in the primary, taking 49 percent of the vote. This was tantamount to election in the heavily Republican 8th District. He has been reelected 10 times with no substantial opposition, and even ran unopposed in 1994.
Gang of Seven
During his freshman year, Boehner and fellow members of the Gang of SevenThe Gang of Seven refers to a group of freshmen Republican U.S. Representatives, elected to serve in the 101st Congress in 1990. The group loudly condemned the House banking scandal and the Congressional Post Office scandal, forcing the congressional leadership to address the issues by ensuring...
took on the House establishment, Republicans and Democrats alike, and successfully closed the House Bank (House banking scandalThe House banking scandal broke in early 1992, when it was revealed that the United States House of Representatives allowed members to overdraw their House checking accounts without risk of being penalized by the House bank ....
), uncovered "dine-and-dashA dine and dash is a form of theft by fraud, in which a patron orders and consumes food from a restaurant or similar establishment with no intent to pay, then leaves without...
" practices at the House Restaurant, and exposed drug sales and illegal cash-for-stamps deals at the House Post Office.
Contract with America
Boehner, along with Newt GingrichNewton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
and several other Republican lawmakers, was one of the engineers of the Contract with AmericaThe Contract with America was a document released by the United States Republican Party during the 1994 Congressional election campaign. Written by Larry Hunter, who was aided by Newt Gingrich, Robert Walker, Richard Armey, Bill Paxon, Tom DeLay, John Boehner and Jim Nussle, and in part using text...
in 1994 that helped catapult Republicans into the majority in Congress for the first time in four decades.
Legislative accomplishments
From 1995 to 1999, Boehner served as House Republican Conference ChairmanThis is a list of Republican Conference Chairmen of the United States House of Representatives.-References:...
which is the party caucus for Republicans in the United States House of Representatives. In this post, he was the fourth-ranking House Republican, behind Gingrich, Majority Leader Dick ArmeyRichard Keith "Dick" Armey is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader . He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was...
and Majority Whip Tom DeLayThomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
. There he championed the Freedom to Farm ActThe Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 , known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S...
that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies direct payment programs for crops and eliminates milk price supports through direct government purchases.
Following the election of President George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, Boehner was elected as chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee from 2001 until 2006. There he authored several reforms including the Pension Protection ActThe Pension Protection Act of 2006 , 120 Stat. 780, was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on August 17, 2006.-Pension reform:...
and a successful school choice voucher program for low-income children in Washington, DC. He was also a major force in the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, saying it was his “proudest achievement” in two decades of public service.
Leadership challenge
In the summer of 1997 several House Republicans, who saw SpeakerThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Newt GingrichNewton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
's public image as a liability, attempted to replace him as Speaker. The attempted "coup" began July 9 with a meeting between Republican conference chairman Boehner and Republican leadership chairman Bill PaxonL. William Paxon , known as Bill Paxon, is a lobbyist and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York.-Early life:...
of New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. According to their plan, House Majority LeaderParty leaders of the United States House of Representatives are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot and are also known as floor leaders. The U.S. House of Representatives does not officially use the term "Minority Leader", although the media frequently does...
Dick ArmeyRichard Keith "Dick" Armey is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader . He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was...
, House Majority WhipA whip in the United States House of Representatives manages his party's legislative program on the House floor. The Whip keeps track of all legislation and ensures that all party members are present when important measures are to be voted upon....
Tom DeLayThomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out. However, Armey balked at the proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker, and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich about the coup.
On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he was voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker, which would allow for the possibility that Democrats—along with dissenting Republicans—would vote in Dick GephardtRichard Andrew "Dick" Gephardt is a lobbyist and former prominent American politician of the Democratic Party. Gephardt served as a U.S. Representative from Missouri from January 3, 1977, until January 3, 2005, serving as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995, and as Minority Leader from 1995 to...
as Speaker. On July 16, Paxon offered to resign his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly, as the only member of the leadership who had been appointed to his position—by Gingrich—instead of elected.
Congressional leadership
In 1998, Boehner was ousted as the chairman of the House Republican Conference, after his party lost five congressional seats.
In an upset, Boehner was elected by his colleagues to serve as House Majority Leader on February 2, 2006. The election followed Tom DeLayThomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
's resignation from the post after being indicted on criminal charges.
Boehner campaigned as a reform candidate who wanted to reform the so-called "earmarkIn United States politics, an earmark is a legislative provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects, or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees...
" process and rein in government spending. He defeated Majority Whip Roy BluntRoy D. Blunt is the junior United States Senator from Missouri. He is a member of the Republican Party. His Senate seat was previously held by Republican Kit Bond, until his retirement....
of MissouriMissouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and Representative John ShadeggJohn Barden Shadegg is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1995 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.The district, numbered as the 4th District before the 2000 Census, includes much of northern Phoenix....
of ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, even though he was considered an underdog candidate to Blunt. In the second round of voting by the House Republican Conference, Boehner received 122 votes compared to 109 for Blunt. Blunt kept his previous position as Majority Whip, the No. 3 leadership position in the House. (There was some confusion on the first ballot for Majority Leader as the first count showed one more vote cast than Republicans present, due to a misunderstanding as to whether the rules allowed Resident Commissioner Luis FortuñoLuis Guillermo Fortuño Burset is the governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States of America. Fortuño is also the president of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico , a member of the Republican National Committee, and will be president of the Council of State...
of Puerto Rico to vote or not.)
After the Republicans lost control of the House in the 2006 elections, the House Republican Conference chose Boehner as Minority Leader. While as Majority Leader he was second-in-command behind Speaker Dennis HastertJohn Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...
, as Minority Leader he was the leader of the House Republicans. As such, he was the Republican nominee for Speaker in 2006 and 2008, losing both times to Pelosi. While the Speaker is nominally elected by the full House, in practice he or she is almost always chosen by the majority party.
According to the 2008 Congress.org Power Ranking, Boehner was the 6th most powerful congressman (preceded by Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander M. LevinSander Martin Levin, generally known as Sandy Levin, is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1983, and the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee...
, Dean of the House John DingellJohn David Dingell, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1955 . He is a member of the Democratic Party...
, and Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave ObeyDavid Ross "Dave" Obey is the former U.S. Representative for , serving 21 consecutive terms from 1969 until 2011. The district includes much of the northwestern portion of the state, including Wausau and Superior...
, all Democrats) and the most powerful Republican. As Minority Leader, Boehner served as an ex officio member of the Permanent Select Committee on IntelligenceThe United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Mike Rogers. It is the primary committee in the U.S...
.
Speaker of the House
On November 17, 2010, Boehner was unanimously chosen by the House Republicans as their nominee for Speaker, all but assuring his formal election to the post when the new Congress convened with a Republican majority in January 2011. He is the first Speaker from Ohio since fellow Republicans Nicholas LongworthNicholas Longworth IV was a prominent American politician in the Republican Party during the first few decades of the 20th century...
(1925 to 1931) and J. Warren KeiferJoseph Warren Keifer was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and a prominent U.S. politician during the 1880s. He served in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from Ohio from 1877 to 1885 and from 1905 to 1911...
(1881 to 1883). He is also the first Speaker who has served both as majority and minority floor leader for his party since Texas Democrat Sam RayburnSamuel Taliaferro Rayburn , often called "Mr. Sam," or "Mr. Democrat," was a Democratic lawmaker from Bonham, Texas, who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for seventeen years, the longest tenure in U.S. history.- Background :Rayburn was born in Roane County, Tennessee, and...
.
As Speaker, Boehner is still the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he normally does not take part in debate (though he has the right to do so) and almost never votes from the floor. He is also not a member of any House committees.
Connections to lobbyists
In June 1995, Boehner distributed campaign contributions from tobacco industryThe tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all...
lobbyists on the House floor as House members were weighing how to vote on tobacco subsidies. In a 1996 documentary by PBS called The People and the Power Game, Boehner said "They asked me to give out a half dozen checks quickly before we got to the end of the month and I complied. And I did it on the House floor, which I regret. I should not have done. It's not a violation of the House rules, but it's a practice that‘s gone on here for a long time that we're trying to stop and I know I'll never do it again." Boehner eventually led the effort to change House rules and prohibit campaign contributions from being distributed on the House floor.
A September 2010 New York Times story said Boehner was "Tightly Bound to Lobbyists" and "He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R.J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.".
Smithsonian
In November 2010, Boehner, along with Minority Whip Eric Cantor, called for the cancellation of an exhibit in the Smithsonian's National Portrait GalleryThe National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...
after he learned that it featured a video by David WojnarowiczDavid Wojnarowicz was a painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s.-Biography:...
, A Fire in My Belly, that contained an image of a crucifixA crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
with ants crawling on it. Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said, "Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge the mistake and correct it, or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January when the new majority in the House moves [in]."
Political positions
A profile in the Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewThe Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
said, "On both sides of the aisle, Boehner earns praise for candor and an ability to listen." The Plain Dealer says Boehner "has perfected the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable."
Boehner has been classified as a "hard-core conservative" by OnTheIssues. Although Boehner does have a conservative voting record, when he was running for House leadership, religious conservatives in the GOP expressed that they were not satisfied with his positions. According to the Washington Post: "From illegal immigrationIllegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
to sanctions on ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to an overhaul of the pension system, Boehner, as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, took ardently pro-business positions that were contrary to those of many in his party. Religious conservatives — examining his voting record — see him as a policymaker driven by small-government economic concerns, not theirs."
Boehner has received a "0" rating from the Human Rights CampaignThe Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
in the last three congressional sessions, voting against the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 is a landmark federal statute that establishes a legal process for ending the Don't ask, don't tell policy , which since 1993 prevented openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the United States Armed Forces.The Act did not immediately repeal the...
, the Early Treatment for HIV ActThe Early Treatment for HIV Act is a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate.The stated purpose of the bill is "to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to permit States the option to provide Medicaid coverage for low-income individuals infected with HIV."- Previous versions of the bill :In the...
, the Employment Non-Discrimination ActThe Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees.ENDA has been introduced in every...
, and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Boehner voted for a Federal Marriage AmendmentThe Federal Marriage Amendment H.J. Res. 56 was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have limited marriage in the United States to unions of one man and one woman...
. In a letter to the Rights Campaign, Boehner stated, "I oppose any legislation that would provide special rights for homosexuals... Please be assured that I will continue to work to protect the idea of the traditional family as one of the fundamental tenetsFundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
of western civilizationWestern culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
."
On May 25, 2006, Boehner issued a statement defending his agenda and attacking his "DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
friends" such as Minority Leader Nancy PelosiNancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
. Boehner said regarding national security that voters "have a choice between a Republican Party that understands the stakes and is dedicated to victory, and a Democrat Party with a non-existent national security policy that sheepishly dismisses the challenges of a post-9/11 world and is all too willing to concede defeat on the battlefield in IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
."
Boehner is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
Military spending
Boehner has called on the President to justify spending for military operations against terrorists.
Financial crisis
On September 18, 2008, Congressman Boehner attended a closed meeting with congressional leaders, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and was urged to craft legislation to help financially troubled banks. That same day (trade effective the next day), Congressman Boehner cashed out of an equity mutual fund.
On October 3, 2008 Boehner voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), believing that the enumerated powersArticle One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The Article establishes the powers of and limitations on the Congress, consisting of a House of Representatives composed of Representatives, with each state gaining or...
grant Congress the authority to "purchase assets and equity from financial institutions in order to strengthen its financial sector."
Boehner has been highly critical of several recent initiatives by the Democratic Congress and President Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, including the "cap and trade" plan that Boehner says would hurt job growth in his congressional district and elsewhere. He opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care ActThe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress...
and said that, if Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, they would do whatever it takes to stop the act. One option would be to defund the administrative aspect of the Act, not paying "one dime" to pay the salaries of the workers who would administer the plan. He also led an opposition to the 2009 stimulus and to Obama's first budget proposal, promoting instead an alternative economic recovery plan and a Republican budget (authored by Ranking Rep. Paul RyanPaul Davis Ryan is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party and has been ranked among the party's most influential voices on economic policy....
, R-WIWisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
). He has advocated for an across-the-board spending freezeA budget freeze is a term for when a budget for an aspect of government or business is fixed- or frozen- at a specific level. One can be applied in a business in order to increase profits as well as in a government, often to reduce taxes....
, including entitlement programs.
Boehner favors making changes in Social SecurityIn the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
, such as by raising the retirement age to 70 for people who have at least 20 years until retirement, as well as tying cost-of-living increases to the consumer price indexA consumer price index measures changes in the price level of consumer goods and services purchased by households. The CPI, in the United States is defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as "a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of...
rather than wage inflationIn economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
, and limiting payments to those who need them.
In 2011 Boehner called the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion ActThe No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act is a bill that was introduced to the 112th Congress of the United States in the House of Representatives by Rep. Chris Smith and Dan Lipinski . Although the bill is a bipartisan effort, most of the 173 co-sponsors are Republicans...
“one of our highest legislative priorities.”
2006
{{See also|United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio, 2006#District 8}}
In the November 2006 election- House of Representatives prior to the election :As of November 7, 2006, the U.S. House of the 109th Congress was composed of 229 Republicans, 201 Democrats and 1 Independent . There were also four vacancies...
, Boehner defeated the Democratic Party candidate, U.S. Air Force veteranA veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
Mort Meier, 64% to 36%.
2008
{{See also|United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio, 2008#District 8}}
In the November 2008 electionInfobox Election| election_name = United States House of Representatives elections, 2008| country = United States| type = legislative| ongoing = no...
, Boehner defeated Nicholas Von Stein, 68% to 32%.
2010
{{See also|United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio, 2010#District 8}}
Boehner was opposed by Democratic nominee Justin Coussoule, Constitution PartyThe Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
nominee Jim Condit, and LibertarianThe Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
nominee David Harlow; but won the 2010 election.
As Republican House Leader, Boehner is a Democratic target for criticism of Republican views and political positions. In July 2010, President Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
began singling out Boehner for criticism during his speeches. In one speech, Obama mentioned Boehner's name nine times and accused him of believing that police, firefighters, and teachers were jobs "not worth saving."
Electoral history
{{redirect|Boehner|the Franciscan scholar|Philotheus Boehner}}
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John Andrew Boehner (icon {{respell|BAY|nər}};[The German]German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
pronunciation of the name Boehner/Böhner is ˈbøːnɐ {{respell|BURH|na}}, see {{cite book |last=Hanks |first=Patrick |title=Dictionary of American Family Names |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0195081374 }} However, Boehner's biography at House.gov recommends the pronunciation {{respell|BAY|ner}}. born {{nowrap|November 17}}, 1949) is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
. A member of the Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, he is the U.S. RepresentativeThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from {{ushr|OH|8}}, serving since 1991. The district includes several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and DaytonDayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
, and a small portion of Dayton itself.
Boehner previously served as the House Minority LeaderThe House Minority Leader is one of the party leaders of the United States House of Representatives. This title is currently held by Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi of California....
from 2007 until 2011, and House Majority Leader from 2006 until 2007.
As Speaker of the House, Boehner is second in line to the presidency of the United StatesThe United States presidential line of succession defines who may become or act as President of the United States upon the incapacity, death, resignation, or removal from office of a sitting president or a president-elect.- Current order :This is a list of the current presidential line of...
following the Vice PresidentThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
in accordance with the Presidential Succession ActThe Presidential Succession Act establishes the line of succession to the powers and duties of the office of President of the United States in the event that neither a President nor Vice President is able to "discharge the powers and duties of the office." The current Presidential Succession Act...
.
Early life, education and career
Boehner was born in Reading, OhioReading is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 11,292 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Cincinnati. Reading is also the Home of 2003 Division 3 State Boys Basketball Champions...
, the son of Mary Anne (née Hall) and Earl Henry Boehner, the second of twelve children in a family of GermanGerman Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
and IrishIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who can trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,278,332 Americans—estimated at 11.9% of the total population—reported Irish ancestry in the 2008 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau...
descent. He grew up in modest circumstances, having shared one bathroom with his eleven siblings in a two-bedroom house in Cincinnati. His parents slept on a pull-out couch. He started working at his family's bar at age 8, a business founded by their grandfather Andy Boehner in 1938. He has lived in Southwest Ohio his entire life. All but two of his siblings still live within a few miles of each other; two are unemployed and most of the others have blue-collar jobs.
Boehner attended Cincinnati's Moeller High SchoolArchbishop Moeller High School , known as Moeller, is a private, all-male, college-preparatory high school in the suburbs of Cincinnati, in Hamilton County, Ohio...
and was a linebackerA linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
on the school's football team, where he was coached by future Notre DameNotre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...
coach Gerry FaustGerard Anthony "Gerry" Faust is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame from 1981 to 1985 and at the University of Akron from 1986 to 1994, compiling a career college football record of 73–79–4...
. Graduating from Moeller in 1968, when U.S. involvement in the Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
was at its peak, Boehner enlisted in the United States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
but was honorably discharged after eight weeks because of a bad back. He earned his B.A.A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in business administration from Xavier UniversityXavier University is a co-educational Jesuit university in the United States located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The University is the sixth-oldest Catholic university in the nation and has an undergraduate enrollment of about 4,000 students and graduate enrollment of 2,600 students. Xavier is primarily...
in 1977, becoming the first person in his family to attend college, taking seven years as he held several jobs to pay for his education.
Shortly after his graduation in 1977, Boehner accepted a position with Nucite Sales, a small sales business in the packaging and plastics industry. He was steadily promoted and eventually became president of the firm, resigning in 1990 when he was elected to Congress.
Early political career
From 1982 to 1984, Boehner served on the board of trustees of Union Township, Butler County, Ohio. He then served as an Ohio state representativeThe Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....
from 1985 to 1990.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1990, Boehner ran against incumbent congressman Buz LukensDonald Edgar "Buz" Lukens was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. His political career ended in scandal.-Early years:...
, who was under fire for having a sexual relationship with a minor. He trounced Lukens in the primary, taking 49 percent of the vote. This was tantamount to election in the heavily Republican 8th District. He has been reelected 10 times with no substantial opposition, and even ran unopposed in 1994.
Gang of Seven
During his freshman year, Boehner and fellow members of the Gang of SevenThe Gang of Seven refers to a group of freshmen Republican U.S. Representatives, elected to serve in the 101st Congress in 1990. The group loudly condemned the House banking scandal and the Congressional Post Office scandal, forcing the congressional leadership to address the issues by ensuring...
took on the House establishment, Republicans and Democrats alike, and successfully closed the House Bank (House banking scandalThe House banking scandal broke in early 1992, when it was revealed that the United States House of Representatives allowed members to overdraw their House checking accounts without risk of being penalized by the House bank ....
), uncovered "dine-and-dashA dine and dash is a form of theft by fraud, in which a patron orders and consumes food from a restaurant or similar establishment with no intent to pay, then leaves without...
" practices at the House Restaurant, and exposed drug sales and illegal cash-for-stamps deals at the House Post Office.
Contract with America
Boehner, along with Newt GingrichNewton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
and several other Republican lawmakers, was one of the engineers of the Contract with AmericaThe Contract with America was a document released by the United States Republican Party during the 1994 Congressional election campaign. Written by Larry Hunter, who was aided by Newt Gingrich, Robert Walker, Richard Armey, Bill Paxon, Tom DeLay, John Boehner and Jim Nussle, and in part using text...
in 1994 that helped catapult Republicans into the majority in Congress for the first time in four decades.
Legislative accomplishments
From 1995 to 1999, Boehner served as House Republican Conference ChairmanThis is a list of Republican Conference Chairmen of the United States House of Representatives.-References:...
which is the party caucus for Republicans in the United States House of Representatives. In this post, he was the fourth-ranking House Republican, behind Gingrich, Majority Leader Dick ArmeyRichard Keith "Dick" Armey is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader . He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was...
and Majority Whip Tom DeLayThomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
. There he championed the Freedom to Farm ActThe Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 , known informally as the Freedom to Farm Act, the FAIR Act, or the 1996 U.S...
that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies direct payment programs for crops and eliminates milk price supports through direct government purchases.
Following the election of President George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, Boehner was elected as chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee from 2001 until 2006. There he authored several reforms including the Pension Protection ActThe Pension Protection Act of 2006 , 120 Stat. 780, was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on August 17, 2006.-Pension reform:...
and a successful school choice voucher program for low-income children in Washington, DC. He was also a major force in the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, saying it was his “proudest achievement” in two decades of public service.
Leadership challenge
In the summer of 1997 several House Republicans, who saw SpeakerThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
Newt GingrichNewton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
's public image as a liability, attempted to replace him as Speaker. The attempted "coup" began July 9 with a meeting between Republican conference chairman Boehner and Republican leadership chairman Bill PaxonL. William Paxon , known as Bill Paxon, is a lobbyist and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York.-Early life:...
of New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. According to their plan, House Majority LeaderParty leaders of the United States House of Representatives are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot and are also known as floor leaders. The U.S. House of Representatives does not officially use the term "Minority Leader", although the media frequently does...
Dick ArmeyRichard Keith "Dick" Armey is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader . He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was...
, House Majority WhipA whip in the United States House of Representatives manages his party's legislative program on the House floor. The Whip keeps track of all legislation and ensures that all party members are present when important measures are to be voted upon....
Tom DeLayThomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out. However, Armey balked at the proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker, and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich about the coup.
On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he was voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker, which would allow for the possibility that Democrats—along with dissenting Republicans—would vote in Dick GephardtRichard Andrew "Dick" Gephardt is a lobbyist and former prominent American politician of the Democratic Party. Gephardt served as a U.S. Representative from Missouri from January 3, 1977, until January 3, 2005, serving as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995, and as Minority Leader from 1995 to...
as Speaker. On July 16, Paxon offered to resign his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly, as the only member of the leadership who had been appointed to his position—by Gingrich—instead of elected.
Congressional leadership
In 1998, Boehner was ousted as the chairman of the House Republican Conference, after his party lost five congressional seats.
In an upset, Boehner was elected by his colleagues to serve as House Majority Leader on February 2, 2006. The election followed Tom DeLayThomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
's resignation from the post after being indicted on criminal charges.
Boehner campaigned as a reform candidate who wanted to reform the so-called "earmarkIn United States politics, an earmark is a legislative provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects, or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees...
" process and rein in government spending. He defeated Majority Whip Roy BluntRoy D. Blunt is the junior United States Senator from Missouri. He is a member of the Republican Party. His Senate seat was previously held by Republican Kit Bond, until his retirement....
of MissouriMissouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
and Representative John ShadeggJohn Barden Shadegg is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1995 until 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.The district, numbered as the 4th District before the 2000 Census, includes much of northern Phoenix....
of ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, even though he was considered an underdog candidate to Blunt. In the second round of voting by the House Republican Conference, Boehner received 122 votes compared to 109 for Blunt. Blunt kept his previous position as Majority Whip, the No. 3 leadership position in the House. (There was some confusion on the first ballot for Majority Leader as the first count showed one more vote cast than Republicans present, due to a misunderstanding as to whether the rules allowed Resident Commissioner Luis FortuñoLuis Guillermo Fortuño Burset is the governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States of America. Fortuño is also the president of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico , a member of the Republican National Committee, and will be president of the Council of State...
of Puerto Rico to vote or not.)
After the Republicans lost control of the House in the 2006 elections, the House Republican Conference chose Boehner as Minority Leader. While as Majority Leader he was second-in-command behind Speaker Dennis HastertJohn Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...
, as Minority Leader he was the leader of the House Republicans. As such, he was the Republican nominee for Speaker in 2006 and 2008, losing both times to Pelosi. While the Speaker is nominally elected by the full House, in practice he or she is almost always chosen by the majority party.
According to the 2008 Congress.org Power Ranking, Boehner was the 6th most powerful congressman (preceded by Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander M. LevinSander Martin Levin, generally known as Sandy Levin, is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1983, and the ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee...
, Dean of the House John DingellJohn David Dingell, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1955 . He is a member of the Democratic Party...
, and Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave ObeyDavid Ross "Dave" Obey is the former U.S. Representative for , serving 21 consecutive terms from 1969 until 2011. The district includes much of the northwestern portion of the state, including Wausau and Superior...
, all Democrats) and the most powerful Republican. As Minority Leader, Boehner served as an ex officio member of the Permanent Select Committee on IntelligenceThe United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Mike Rogers. It is the primary committee in the U.S...
.
Speaker of the House
On November 17, 2010, Boehner was unanimously chosen by the House Republicans as their nominee for Speaker, all but assuring his formal election to the post when the new Congress convened with a Republican majority in January 2011. He is the first Speaker from Ohio since fellow Republicans Nicholas LongworthNicholas Longworth IV was a prominent American politician in the Republican Party during the first few decades of the 20th century...
(1925 to 1931) and J. Warren KeiferJoseph Warren Keifer was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and a prominent U.S. politician during the 1880s. He served in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from Ohio from 1877 to 1885 and from 1905 to 1911...
(1881 to 1883). He is also the first Speaker who has served both as majority and minority floor leader for his party since Texas Democrat Sam RayburnSamuel Taliaferro Rayburn , often called "Mr. Sam," or "Mr. Democrat," was a Democratic lawmaker from Bonham, Texas, who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for seventeen years, the longest tenure in U.S. history.- Background :Rayburn was born in Roane County, Tennessee, and...
.
As Speaker, Boehner is still the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he normally does not take part in debate (though he has the right to do so) and almost never votes from the floor. He is also not a member of any House committees.
Connections to lobbyists
In June 1995, Boehner distributed campaign contributions from tobacco industryThe tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all...
lobbyists on the House floor as House members were weighing how to vote on tobacco subsidies. In a 1996 documentary by PBS called The People and the Power Game, Boehner said "They asked me to give out a half dozen checks quickly before we got to the end of the month and I complied. And I did it on the House floor, which I regret. I should not have done. It's not a violation of the House rules, but it's a practice that‘s gone on here for a long time that we're trying to stop and I know I'll never do it again." Boehner eventually led the effort to change House rules and prohibit campaign contributions from being distributed on the House floor.
A September 2010 New York Times story said Boehner was "Tightly Bound to Lobbyists" and "He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R.J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.".
Smithsonian
In November 2010, Boehner, along with Minority Whip Eric Cantor, called for the cancellation of an exhibit in the Smithsonian's National Portrait GalleryThe National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...
after he learned that it featured a video by David WojnarowiczDavid Wojnarowicz was a painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, and activist who was prominent in the New York City art world of the 1980s.-Biography:...
, A Fire in My Belly, that contained an image of a crucifixA crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
with ants crawling on it. Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said, "Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge the mistake and correct it, or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January when the new majority in the House moves [in]."
Political positions
A profile in the Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewThe Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
said, "On both sides of the aisle, Boehner earns praise for candor and an ability to listen." The Plain Dealer says Boehner "has perfected the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable."
Boehner has been classified as a "hard-core conservative" by OnTheIssues. Although Boehner does have a conservative voting record, when he was running for House leadership, religious conservatives in the GOP expressed that they were not satisfied with his positions. According to the Washington Post: "From illegal immigrationIllegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
to sanctions on ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
to an overhaul of the pension system, Boehner, as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, took ardently pro-business positions that were contrary to those of many in his party. Religious conservatives — examining his voting record — see him as a policymaker driven by small-government economic concerns, not theirs."
Boehner has received a "0" rating from the Human Rights CampaignThe Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
in the last three congressional sessions, voting against the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 is a landmark federal statute that establishes a legal process for ending the Don't ask, don't tell policy , which since 1993 prevented openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the United States Armed Forces.The Act did not immediately repeal the...
, the Early Treatment for HIV ActThe Early Treatment for HIV Act is a bill introduced in the U.S. Senate.The stated purpose of the bill is "to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to permit States the option to provide Medicaid coverage for low-income individuals infected with HIV."- Previous versions of the bill :In the...
, the Employment Non-Discrimination ActThe Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees.ENDA has been introduced in every...
, and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Boehner voted for a Federal Marriage AmendmentThe Federal Marriage Amendment H.J. Res. 56 was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution which would have limited marriage in the United States to unions of one man and one woman...
. In a letter to the Rights Campaign, Boehner stated, "I oppose any legislation that would provide special rights for homosexuals... Please be assured that I will continue to work to protect the idea of the traditional family as one of the fundamental tenetsFundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
of western civilizationWestern culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
."
On May 25, 2006, Boehner issued a statement defending his agenda and attacking his "DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
friends" such as Minority Leader Nancy PelosiNancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
. Boehner said regarding national security that voters "have a choice between a Republican Party that understands the stakes and is dedicated to victory, and a Democrat Party with a non-existent national security policy that sheepishly dismisses the challenges of a post-9/11 world and is all too willing to concede defeat on the battlefield in IraqIraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
."
Boehner is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
Military spending
Boehner has called on the President to justify spending for military operations against terrorists.
Financial crisis
On September 18, 2008, Congressman Boehner attended a closed meeting with congressional leaders, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and was urged to craft legislation to help financially troubled banks. That same day (trade effective the next day), Congressman Boehner cashed out of an equity mutual fund.
On October 3, 2008 Boehner voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), believing that the enumerated powersArticle One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The Article establishes the powers of and limitations on the Congress, consisting of a House of Representatives composed of Representatives, with each state gaining or...
grant Congress the authority to "purchase assets and equity from financial institutions in order to strengthen its financial sector."
Boehner has been highly critical of several recent initiatives by the Democratic Congress and President Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, including the "cap and trade" plan that Boehner says would hurt job growth in his congressional district and elsewhere. He opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care ActThe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress...
and said that, if Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, they would do whatever it takes to stop the act. One option would be to defund the administrative aspect of the Act, not paying "one dime" to pay the salaries of the workers who would administer the plan. He also led an opposition to the 2009 stimulus and to Obama's first budget proposal, promoting instead an alternative economic recovery plan and a Republican budget (authored by Ranking Rep. Paul RyanPaul Davis Ryan is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party and has been ranked among the party's most influential voices on economic policy....
, R-WIWisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
). He has advocated for an across-the-board spending freezeA budget freeze is a term for when a budget for an aspect of government or business is fixed- or frozen- at a specific level. One can be applied in a business in order to increase profits as well as in a government, often to reduce taxes....
, including entitlement programs.
Boehner favors making changes in Social SecurityIn the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
, such as by raising the retirement age to 70 for people who have at least 20 years until retirement, as well as tying cost-of-living increases to the consumer price indexA consumer price index measures changes in the price level of consumer goods and services purchased by households. The CPI, in the United States is defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as "a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of...
rather than wage inflationIn economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
, and limiting payments to those who need them.
In 2011 Boehner called the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion ActThe No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act is a bill that was introduced to the 112th Congress of the United States in the House of Representatives by Rep. Chris Smith and Dan Lipinski . Although the bill is a bipartisan effort, most of the 173 co-sponsors are Republicans...
“one of our highest legislative priorities.”
2006
{{See also|United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio, 2006#District 8}}
In the November 2006 election- House of Representatives prior to the election :As of November 7, 2006, the U.S. House of the 109th Congress was composed of 229 Republicans, 201 Democrats and 1 Independent . There were also four vacancies...
, Boehner defeated the Democratic Party candidate, U.S. Air Force veteranA veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
Mort Meier, 64% to 36%.
2008
{{See also|United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio, 2008#District 8}}
In the November 2008 electionInfobox Election| election_name = United States House of Representatives elections, 2008| country = United States| type = legislative| ongoing = no...
, Boehner defeated Nicholas Von Stein, 68% to 32%.
2010
{{See also|United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio, 2010#District 8}}
Boehner was opposed by Democratic nominee Justin Coussoule, Constitution PartyThe Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
nominee Jim Condit, and LibertarianThe Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
nominee David Harlow; but won the 2010 election.
As Republican House Leader, Boehner is a Democratic target for criticism of Republican views and political positions. In July 2010, President Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
began singling out Boehner for criticism during his speeches. In one speech, Obama mentioned Boehner's name nine times and accused him of believing that police, firefighters, and teachers were jobs "not worth saving."
Electoral history
{{ushr|Ohio|8|}
}: Results 1990–2010
!|Year
!
!|Democrat
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Republican
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Other
!|Party
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Other
!|Party
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
|-
|1990
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |Gregory Jolivette
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |66,584
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |40%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |{{nowrap|John Boehner}}
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |99,955
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |60%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1992
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |Fred Sennet
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |62,033
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |26%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |{{nowrap|John Boehner}}
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |176,362
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |74%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1994
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |No candidate
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |{{nowrap|John Boehner}}
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |148,338
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |100%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1996
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |Jeffrey Kitchen
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |52,912
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |26%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |{{nowrap|John Boehner}}
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |127,979
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |70%
|
|{{Party shading/Independent}} |William Baker
|{{Party shading/Independent}} |Natural Law
|{{Party shading/Independent}} align="right" |8,613
|{{Party shading/Independent}} align="right" |4%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1998
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |John W. Griffin
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |52,912
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |29%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |{{nowrap|John Boehner}}
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |127,979
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |71%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2000
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |John G. Parks
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |66,293
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |26%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |{{nowrap|John Boehner}}
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |179,756
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |71%
|
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} |David Shock
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} |LibertarianThe Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} align="right" |7,254
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} align="right" |3%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2002
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |{{nowrap|Jeff Hardenbrook}}
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |49,444
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |29%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |John Boehner
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |119,947
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |71%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2004
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |{{nowrap|Jeff Hardenbrook}}
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |90,574
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |31%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |John Boehner
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |201,675
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |69%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2006
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |Mort Meier
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |77,640
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |36%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |John Boehner
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |136,863
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |64%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2008The 2008 congressional elections in Ohio were held on November 4, 2008 and determined who will represent the state of Ohio in the United States House of Representatives. The primary election was held on March 4, 2008....
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |{{nowrap|Nicholas Von Stein}}
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |95,510
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |32%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |John Boehner
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |202,063
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |68%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2010The 2010 congressional elections in Ohio will be held on November 2, 2010. Ohio has eighteen seats in the United States House of Representatives, and all eighteen incumbent Representatives will be seeking re-election in 2010...
|
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |{{nowrap|Justin Coussoule}}
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |65,883
|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |30%
|
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |John Boehner
|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |142,731
|{{Party shading/Republican}} |66%
|
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} |David Harlow
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} |LibertarianThe Libertarian Party is the third largest and fastest growing political party in the United States. The political platform of the Libertarian Party reflects its brand of libertarianism, favoring minimally regulated, laissez-faire markets, strong civil liberties, minimally regulated migration...
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} align="right" |5,121
|{{Party shading/Libertarian}} align="right" |2%
|
|{{Party shading/Constitution}} |James Condit
|{{Party shading/Constitution}} |ConstitutionThe Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
|{{Party shading/Constitution}} align="right" |3,701
|{{Party shading/Constitution}} align="right" |2%
|
{{s-end}}
Personal life
Boehner and his wife Debbie were married in 1973. They live in the WetheringtonWetherington is a census-designated place in West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,010 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Wetherington is located at ....
section of West Chester TownshipWest Chester Township, formerly known as Union Township, is a township located in the southeast corner of Butler County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio, one of thirteen townships in the county. It is situated between Sharonville and Monroe, about 18 miles north of Cincinnati, and...
. They have two daughters, Lindsay and Tricia.
Further reading
- Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 2006: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2005) pp 1328–32.
External links
{{Sister project links}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{s-bef|before=Buz LukensDonald Edgar "Buz" Lukens was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. His political career ended in scandal.-Early years:...
}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the House of Representatives
from Ohio's 8th congressional districtOhio's 8th congressional district sits on the west side of Ohio, bordering Indiana. The cities of Hamilton, Fairfield, Middletown, Huber Heights, Eaton, Greenville, Piqua, Troy, and parts of Dayton, Riverside, and Wright Patterson Air Force Base are part of the district...
|years=1991–present}}
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{{s-bef|before=William GoodlingWilliam Franklin "Bill" Goodling was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.Goodling, the son of former Congressman George Atlee Goodling, was born in Loganville, Pennsylvania and grew up in York, Pennsylvania. He received a B.S...
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{{s-ttl|title=Chairperson of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce|years=2001–2006}}
{{s-aft|after=Howard McKeonHoward Philip "Buck" McKeon is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party.-Early life, education and career:...
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{{s-ttl|title=Chairperson of the House Republican ConferenceThis is a list of Republican Conference Chairmen of the United States House of Representatives.-References:...
|years=1995–1999}}
{{s-aft|after=J. C. Watts}}
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{{s-bef|before=Roy BluntRoy D. Blunt is the junior United States Senator from Missouri. He is a member of the Republican Party. His Senate seat was previously held by Republican Kit Bond, until his retirement....
Acting}}
{{s-ttl|title=Majority Leader of the House of RepresentativesParty leaders of the United States House of Representatives are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot and are also known as floor leaders. The U.S. House of Representatives does not officially use the term "Minority Leader", although the media frequently does...
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{{s-aft|after=Steny HoyerSteny Hamilton Hoyer is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1981. The district includes a large swath of rural and suburban territory southeast of Washington, D.C.. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
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{{s-bef|before=Nancy PelosiNancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
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{{s-ttl|title=Minority Leader of the House of RepresentativesParty leaders of the United States House of Representatives are elected by their respective parties in a closed-door caucus by secret ballot and are also known as floor leaders. The U.S. House of Representatives does not officially use the term "Minority Leader", although the media frequently does...
|years=2007–2011}}
{{s-aft|after=Nancy PelosiNancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
}}
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{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=Nancy PelosiNancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
}}
{{s-ttl|title=Speaker of the House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
|years=2011–present}}
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{{s-prec|usa}}
{{s-bef|before=Mayor of the city in which the event is held}}
{{s-ttl|rows=3|title=Order of Precedence of the United StatesThe United States order of precedence lists the ceremonial order for domestic and foreign government officials, military and civic leaders at diplomatic, ceremonial, and social events within the United States and abroad. Former Presidents, Vice Presidents, First Ladies, Secretaries of State and...
as Speaker of the House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
}}
{{s-aft|rows=3|after=John Roberts|as=Chief Justice of the United StatesThe Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
}}
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{{s-bef|before=Otherwise Governor of the state in which the event is held}}
{{s-bef|before=Otherwise Joe BidenJoseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
|as=Vice President of the United StatesThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
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{{s-ttl|title=Representatives of the United States by seniority|years=55th}}
{{s-aft|after=David Lee CampDavid Lee "Dave" Camp is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1991. He is a member of the Republican Party and the current Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means.-Early life, education and career:...
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{{s-prec|us-pres}}
{{s-bef|before=Joe BidenJoseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
|as=Vice PresidentThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
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{{s-ttl|title=2nd in line
as Speaker of the House of RepresentativesThe Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
|years=}}
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}}
{{s-end}}
{{USHouseSpeaker}}
{{USHouseMajLead}}
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{{OH-FedRep}}
{{Persondata
|NAME=Boehner, John Andrew
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=Ohio politician
|DATE OF BIRTH=November 17, 1949
|PLACE OF BIRTH=Reading, OhioReading is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 11,292 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Cincinnati. Reading is also the Home of 2003 Division 3 State Boys Basketball Champions...
|DATE OF DEATH=living
|PLACE OF DEATH=}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boehner, John}}