John Boehner

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Former U.S. Representative from Ohio's 8th Congressional District
From: January 3, 1991 – October 31, 2015
Predecessor | Buz Lukens
Successor | Warren Davidson
Information

Party  | Republican

Spouse(s)  | Deborah L. Gunlack

Religion  | Roman Catholic

John Andrew Boehner (pronounced "BAY-ner"), born November 17, 1949 (age 73), was the Republican U.S. Representative from Ohio's 8th congressional district until October 31, 2015 and served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives until October 29, 2015, succeeding Nancy Pelosi. He was elected Majority Leader in February 2006 upon the resignation of Tom DeLay because of allegations of campaign fundraising irregularities, and Minority Leader from 2007 until 2011. Mostly a figurehead, he has repeatedly allowed liberals to advance their agenda despite a Republican majority in the House.

Following the 2010 congressional elections Republicans gained control of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Democrats. Boehner had a strongly conservative voting record on all major issues, and his successes had been interpreted as a watershed moment in the revival of American conservatism. However, like many others who came before him, Boehner has recently showed signs of abandoning his principles and constituents in favor of "bipartisan compromise," which, of course, means caving to the demands of liberals. One such prominent issue on which he has done this is with the so-called "fiscal cliff" that will supposedly occur at the end of 2012. True conservatives such as Mark Levin have called Boehner out for this and for punishing Republicans who refuse to compromise and thus break their promises to their constituents.[1]

As shown below, Boehner also has a major problem with using profanity repeatedly in public. In 2018, Boehner joined the board of a cannabis company.[2]

## Contents

* 1 Career
* 2 United States Congress
* 3 Positions
* 4 Boehner Purge
* 5 References
* 6 External links

## Career[edit]

Boehner was born to a German Catholic family in Cincinnati; he was the second of 12 children. After working in his family restaurant he graduated from Xavier University in 1977. Fresh out of college Boehner joined Nucite Sales, a small plastics sales company. He worked his way up the ladder and eventually became president of the company, resigning when he was elected to Congress. He was elected to local offices and served in the state legislature, 1984–90. In 1990 he was elected to Congress from the suburban-rural district north of Cincinnati; it is a Republican stronghold, giving George W. Bush 64% of the presidential vote in 2004 and John McCain 61% in 2008.

## United States Congress[edit]

Soon after he was first elected, Boehner helped to expose the House banking scandal, which revealed that many members were essentially writing bad checks. From 1995 to 1999, he was the House Republican Conference Chairman. He was the Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee from 2001 until 2006, when he resigned to become House Majority Leader. Boehner is widely credited with championing the 1994 Contract With America, the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, and the passage of "No Child Left Behind Act." After Republicans lost control of the House in November 2006, Boehner was elected by his colleagues to serve as House Minority Leader. Boehner takes a conservative position on most issues. He has worked to lower income and inheritance taxes, arguing, "Americans are being taxed almost every moment of their lives. My goodness, when they are dead, do we have to tax them again?" [3]

In the 111th Congress, Boehner was successful in persuading the Republican leadership to unanimously vote against Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package. In 2009, Boehner offered an equivalent to a filibuster when he spent an hour reading from the 1200-plus page cap and trade climate change bill that was amended less than a day before the House of Representatives voted on it. Critics argue it would impose a national energy tax, which would result in job loses, and raise electricity bills. When asked why he read portions of the bill, he told the Hill newspaper, "People deserve to know what's in this pile of s--t." [4]

Boehner was asked about the healthcare reform plan the Democrats are trying to "ram through" Congress, which Boehner has referred to as a "garlic milkshake."

"Yesterday was rather interesting. I walked by a Democratic press conference where the Speaker of the House and other Democrat leaders [were] talking about how there were going to be no cuts for seniors, how they were protecting Medicare. Now I don't know how they can do this with a straight face."

"They're the ones offering some $500 billion in cuts to Medicare and yet they say it's not going to affect seniors." [5]

## Positions[edit]

Boehner supports a military intervention into the Syrian Civil War.[6]

## Boehner Purge[edit]

Boehner was criticized for his 2012 decision to purge[7] conservative members[8] of the house from committees: David Schweikert, Walter Jones, Justin Amash, and Tim Huelskamp.[9]

A later purge[10] of Mark Meadows,[11] lead to Boehner's ouster as Speaker.[12]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Mark Levin Rips Boehner: Who The Hell Does He Think He Is?, Real Clear Politics
2. ↑ Church, Nate (April 11, 2018). Former House Speaker John Boehner Joins Board of Cannabis Company. Breitbart News. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
3. ↑ House Votes To Cut Estate Taxes, CBS News
4. ↑ Boehner: Climate bill a 'pile of s--t'
5. ↑ Rep. Boehner Accuses Obama of Subverting Constitution, Newsmax, October 2, 2009
6. ↑ Boehner's Syria Surrender, FrontPage Magazine
7. ↑ Boehner, GOP Leaders Purge Conservatives from Powerful Committees UPDATE: Boehner Scoffs, Breitbart.com
8. ↑ Inside story of Boehner's conservative purge, WND
9. ↑ The Boehner purge?, American Thinker
10. ↑ Boehner 'Supports' Punishing Rep. Mark Meadows for Voting Against Party, Newsmax
11. ↑ Mark Meadows gets the boot from subcommittee chair after bucking leadership, Hot Air
12. ↑ John Boehner coup: Mark Meadows files motion to oust House Speaker, Washington Times

## External links[edit]

* Congressional Biography
* John Boehner House website
* Speaker of the House website