Unless you have been living under a rock, you have heard the name John Boehner in the news and the fact that he has resigned from his position as Speaker of the House. If you haven't heard anything about this matter, then here is all that you need to know. John Boehner (bay-ner) is a Republican who began his role in government in 1991 when he was elected as the U.S. Representative for Ohio's eighth congressional district, and in January of 2011, he became Speaker of the House. Boehner has served as Speaker since then, however on Friday, Sept. 25, 2015, Boehner announced that he would resign. This announcement came as a shock to many people including the President, but Boehner did not do this on a whim.
The day before Boehner announced that he would step down from his position at the end of October, the Congress had a meeting with Pope Francis (Learn more about that meeting here). Being a Catholic himself, Boehner was the one who invited Pope Francis in the first place to join the joint session of Congress. As Pope Francis gave very good points and urged the Congress members for change, many people witnessed Boehner crying, but it just showed you how powerful the Pope's message really was. After the meeting, Boehner found himself alone with Pope Francis for a few minutes. Boehner said as he was talking to him, Pope Francis told Boehner to pray for him. “The Pope puts his arm around me and kinda pulls me to him, and says, ‘please pray for me’. Well, who am I to pray for the pope, but I did,” Boehner says. So, Friday morning before making the announcement, Boehner said that he was saying his morning prayers and thought to himself today was the day. You can read more about it here.
Now, you may be wondering just exactly why did Boehner make this decision. With the threat of a government shutdown in the mist (i.e. planned parenthood), Boehner has definitely been feeling some tension in the Congress walls. In the past, the Speaker was usually the person leading the group by rewarding or punishing different transgressions, however nowadays it seems as though Boehner does not have that control anymore. Many congressmen have been listening to the demands of outside constituencies and interests, and this has been leading to many of the republicans pushing for the shutdown.
The question is, who will replace Boehner at the end of October? Well, Republican Kevin McCarthy has shown to be a promising pick for the new Speaker of the House. McCarthy did say in a statement that congress needs to begin focusing on “healing and unifying.” With all that has been going on, he could not be more right. Time will only tell if the government takes the advice and suggestions of Pope Francis, and for our sake I hope that they do.
