Republican House Speaker John Boehner announced on Friday that he would resign from his seat in congress at the end of October.
“This morning, I woke up and I said my prayers and I decided that today’s the day I am going to do this,” Boehner announced on Friday afternoon.
Boehner has been under fire from conservative republicans who say that the speaker has not been bold enough in his stance against the Obama Administration on a variety of touchy issues including the recent debate over the funding of Planned Parenthood. Boehner was trying to prevent a government shutdown over the issue but was faced with a divided republican party, many of whom said they would not vote for a bill that would provide any kind of funding to Planned Parenthood.
“My first job as speaker is to protect the institution,” Mr. Boehner said. “It had become clear to me that this prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution.”
Boehner explained during his emotional resignation speech that he had been planning to resign from his congressional seat for the last year. He explained that the attacks he faced from other government leaders and the media had worn heavy on his wife and daughters, who were both ‘relieved’ at the word of Boehner’s resignation.
It has not been made clear who will fill the speaker’s shoes at the end of next month but Boehner says one thing is certain, “I’m doing this today for the right reasons and the right things will happen as a result.”