House Speaker Boehner To Resign

NPR

Published September 25, 2015 at 10:06 AM MDT

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) call to order of the joint meeting of the U.S. Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol on September 24, 2015 in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

House Speaker John Boehner stunned the political world today with news that he will resign not only from his Republican leadership of the House, but also from Congress on Oct. 30.

In a statement, he said:

“The first job of any Speaker is to protect this institution that we all love. It was my plan to only serve as Speaker until the end of last year, but I stayed on to provide continuity to the Republican Conference and the House. It is my view, however, that prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution.”

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith to discuss the latest.

Guest

Tamara Keith, White House correspondent for NPR. She tweets @tamarakeithnpr.