John Boehner

During his freshman year, Boehner was a member of the Gang of Seven which was involved in bringing media attention to the House banking scandal.[28] The group also investigated the Congressional Post Office, leading to the indictment of Congressman Dan Rostenkowski.[24] Later, he, along with Newt Gingrich and several other Republican lawmakers, was one of the engineers of the Contract with America in 1994 that politically helped Republicans during the 1994 elections during which they won the majority in Congress for the first time in four decades.

From 1995 to 1999, Boehner served as House Republican Conference Chairman, making him fourth-ranking House Republican behind Gingrich, Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay.[24] During his time as Conference Chairman, Boehner championed the Freedom to Farm Act that, among other provisions, revised and simplified direct payment programs for crops and eliminated milk price supports through direct government purchases.

In the summer of 1997 several House Republicans, who saw Speaker Newt Gingrich'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 Paxon of New York. According to their plan, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, 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.[29]

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 Gephardt as Speaker. On July 16, Paxon offered to resign his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly. Paxon was the only unelected member of the leadership group, having been appointed to his position by Gingrich.[30]

After Republicans lost seats in the 1998 elections, the House Republican leadership underwent a reorganization. Armey and DeLay kept their positions, but Gingrich was replaced by Dennis Hastert, and Boehner lost his position as conference chairman to J.C. Watts.[24]

Boehner addresses the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) while serving as House Minority Leader

Following the election of President George W. Bush, Boehner was elected as chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, serving from 2001 until 2006. There he authored several reforms including the Pension Protection Act and a successful school choice voucher program for low-income children in Washington, D.C.[31]

Boehner and Senator Ted Kennedy authored the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which was signed by President George W. Bush in 2002.[32] Boehner said that it was his "proudest achievement" in two decades of public service.[33] Boehner was friends with Kennedy, also a Catholic, and every year they chaired fundraisers for cash-strapped Catholic schools.[34]

2006 portrait of Boehner

After DeLay resigned as majority leader in 2005, Boehner, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri, and Representative John Shadegg of Arizona, all sought to become Majority Leader.[24] Boehner campaigned as a reform candidate who wanted to reform the so-called "earmark" process and rein in government spending. In the second round of voting by the House Republican Conference, Boehner defeated Blunt with 122 to 109 votes. 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 when the first count showed one more vote cast than Republicans present,[35] due to a misunderstanding as to whether the rules allowed Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño to vote.[36]

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 Hastert, 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 Nancy Pelosi.

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. Levin, Dean of the House John Dingell, and Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey, all Democrats) and the most powerful Republican.[37] As minority leader, Boehner served as an ex officio member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Speaker Boehner looks at the National Mall from the Speaker's balcony at the U.S. Capitol for one final time before leaving office

On September 25, 2015, Boehner announced that he would step down as Speaker and resign from Congress at the end of October 2015. Boehner's resignation took place after Pope Francis' address to Congress the day before, an event considered by Boehner personally as the highest point in his legislative career. Sources in his office indicated he was stepping aside in the face of increasing discord while trying to manage passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government. Conservative opposition to funding Planned Parenthood as part of the resolution, and stronger threats to Boehner's leadership on account of the controversy, prompted the resignation.[47] Originally, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California had intended to run for Speaker and was seen as the prohibitive favorite. On October 8, 2015, McCarthy abruptly rescinded his candidacy, citing that he felt he could not effectively lead a fractured Republican Caucus. After McCarthy's announcement, Boehner stayed on as Speaker until a successor was chosen.[48] After initially turning down requests from Republican leaders, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman and 2012 Republican Vice Presidential nominee ran for Speaker with Boehner's blessing.[49] On October 29, 2015, in his final act as Speaker, Boehner presided over Ryan's election.[50] Boehner's resignation from Congress became official on October 31, 2015, at 11:59 p.m.[51]

In June 1995, Boehner distributed campaign contributions from tobacco industry lobbyists on the House floor as House members were weighing how to vote on tobacco subsidies.[52] 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."[53] Boehner eventually led the effort to change House rules and prohibit campaign contributions from being distributed on the House floor.[54]

A September 2010 story in The New York Times said Boehner was "Tightly Bound to Lobbyists" and that "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.".[55]

In November 2010, Boehner, along with Minority Whip Eric Cantor, called for the cancellation of an exhibit in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery after he learned that it featured a video by David Wojnarowicz, A Fire in My Belly, that contained an image of a crucifix 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]."[56]

On January 1, 2013, after passing the fiscal cliff deal, Boehner adjourned the House without passing the $60 million Hurricane Sandy relief bill. Some Representatives, especially from the Northeast and including Republicans as well as Democrats, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie harshly criticized Boehner.[57] Boehner later promised to pass the bill.[58]

Many Republicans were ready for a new House of Representatives Chairman following the 2014 mid-term elections. EMC Research reported 60% of participants in their telephone survey wanted a new chairman.[59] In the end there were a total of 25 votes against Boehner, 29 were needed in order to choose a new speaker. Boehner responded by removing those who opposed him from influential committees.[60]

Speaker Boehner meets with President Obama at the White House during the 2011 debt ceiling increase negotiations

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.[74]

On October 3, 2008, Boehner voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP),[75] believing that the enumerated powers 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 initiatives by the Democratic Congress and President Barack Obama, 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 Act 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.[76] He also led an opposition to the 2009 stimulus and to Obama's first budget proposal, promoting instead an alternative economic recovery plan[77] and a Republican budget (authored by Ranking Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI).[78] He has advocated for an across-the-board spending freeze, including entitlement programs. Boehner favors making changes in Social Security, 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 index rather than wage inflation, and limiting payments to those who need them.[76]

In 2011, Boehner called the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act "one of our highest legislative priorities."[79][80]

In 2013, Boehner led his caucus in a strategy to hold Defense spending hostage in order to avoid reducing the deficit with revenue increases.[81]

As Republican House Leader, Boehner was a Democratic target for criticism of Republican views and political positions. In July 2010, President Barack Obama began singling out Boehner for criticism during his speeches.[82] In one speech, Obama mentioned Boehner's name nine times,[83] and accused him of believing that police, firefighters, and teachers were jobs "not worth saving".[84]

Boehner made headlines in April 2016 when he referred to Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz as "Lucifer in the flesh" in an interview at Stanford University.[85] On May 12, after Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, Boehner's support for him (while distancing himself from Trump on several policies) became public; he also expressed satisfaction with Cruz not securing the nomination: "Thank God the guy from Texas didn't win."[86] On February 23, 2017, Boehner predicted Republicans would "fix" the Affordable Care Act and give it a different name as opposed to their stated intent to repeal and replace.[87]

On August 17, 2020, a spokesperson for Boehner stated that he would not endorse either President Trump or Joe Biden for the 2020 United States presidential election, saying: "The answer is no. I think he'd rather set himself on fire than get involved in the election. Nothing to see here."[88]

After the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, Boehner called on Republicans to "awaken", saying: "The invasion of our Capitol by a mob, incited by lies from some entrusted with power, is a disgrace to all who sacrificed to build our Republic."[89] Boehner later congratulated Biden on his victory after the vote was certified.[89] He has frequently reiterated his feelings, on one account noting how Trump "Incited That Bloody Insurrection",[90] and called Ted Cruz "a reckless asshole who thinks he is smarter than everyone else".[91] Boehner said that Trump should "consider resigning" and that President Trump had "violated his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."[92]

Boehner's political memoir, entitled On the House: A Washington Memoir, was published by St. Martin's Press on April 13, 2021. Excerpts began appearing early in April.[93] In this memoir, he lambasts Cruz, Michele Bachmann, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Trump. It also covers how the Tea Party movement led to the far-right Freedom Caucus, which forced him to retire, and then morphed into Trumpism.[94] In response to the criticism he received in the book, Cruz threatened to burn Boehner’s book if his supporters could fulfil his “72-hour drive to raise $250,000” in campaign funds.[95]

In spite of his critiques, Boehner confirmed he voted for Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Explaining his vote, he said: "At the end of the day, who gets nominated to the federal courts is really the most important thing a President does."[96]

Boehner joined the board of tobacco company Reynolds American on September 15, 2016.[97]

In 2018 Boehner joined the board of Acreage Holdings, a cannabis corporation, to promote the medical use of cannabis and advocate for federal de-scheduling of the drug (a shift from his previous stance while in Congress).[98] In 2019, Boehner was named chair of the National Cannabis Roundtable, a cannabis lobbying organization.[99]

• Note: election numbers may not total 100% because of rounding.

• Note: selection numbers may not total 100% because of rounding.

• Boehner received a majority of the votes cast, and thus won the selection, but failed to obtain a majority of the full membership (218).[113]