John Boehner is a Republican member of Congress from Ohio. He has been reelected ten times, and became Speaker of the House of Representatives. John has lived in southwest Ohio. Boehner graduated from Xavier University. He served on the board of trustees of Union Township. He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. Boehner served as House majority leader and as House minority leader. Boehner has been reelected to Congress ten times.
Background
Ethnicity:
Boehner grew up in a large Roman Catholic family in southwestern Ohio.
John Boehner was born on November 17, 1949, in Reading, Ohio. Boehner's parents Mary Anne and Earl Henry were Democrats and owned a bar in Reading, Ohio, where the future congressman worked at with his 12 siblings. Boehner grew up mopping floors and waiting tables at his family tavern. He attended Moeller High School in Cincinnati, where he played on the school's football team.
In high school, Boehner played linebacker in high school under future Notre Dame University coach Gerry Faust. After graduating, he enlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War in 1968, but was discharged eight weeks later because of a bad back.
It took him seven years to graduate from Xavier College because he was paying his own way through school. While working as a night janitor he met Debbie - now his wife of 39 years - and in 1977 earned his bachelor's degree in business. John and Debbie raised two daughters, Lindsay and Tricia, in the northern Cincinnati suburb of West Chester where they still live today.
Boehner eventually graduated with a degree in business administration. He took a job in sales at Nucite Sales, a plastics distribution company, and went on to run the company after the owner died.
He made his first foray into politics during the early 1980s, as a trustee for Union Township in southeastern Ohio, and was elected to the Ohio state legislature in 1985. In his first congressional election, Boehner beat the Democratic incumbent Donald Lukens handily, after Lukens was accused of paying an underage girl for sex.
Boehner and six other freshman congressman — including future Pennsylvania Senator and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum — formed The Gang Of Seven, which rallied against corruption in the House.
The group exposed the House banking scandal, exposing several members of the House who had welshed on money owed to the House Bank, as well as problems at the House Post Office
Boehner played a key role as an ally to Gingrich during the latter's rocky tenure as House Speaker, and was involved in the authoring of Gingrich's Contract with America.
Specifically, Boehner was involved in authoring the Congressional Accountability Act, an aspect of Gingrich's Contract with America, which forced Congress to comply with several specific laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and other laws.
From 1995 to 1999, Boehner served in a top leadership spot as the Republican Conference Chairman, the fourth most powerful GOP position in the House.
Boehner lost his leadership position after the 1998 election when his party lost seats. Rather than exit congress after this imposed exile, Boehner devoted himself to committee work. When he walked out of the room after being told of his demotion, Boehner told a top aide: “We are going to smile, we are going to work hard, and earn our way back.”
He went on to serve as vice chair of the House Administration Committee, and was involved in forcing the first independent audit of the House. He later served as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce from 2001 to 2006.
Boehner was one of the four key members of Congress — along with the late Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, then-Republican Senator Judd Gregg and Democratic Representative George Miller — to craft the bipartisan No Child Left Behind legislation that was signed into law in 2002.
Boehner is an incredibly savvy fundraiser. During every election cycle since 1998, Boehner has raised upwards of $1 million for his House Republican colleagues through his Leadership PAC, Freedom Project. In 2006, he raised more than $2 million for his fellow Republicans, and during the 2010 cycle he raised more than $3 million.
This past cycle he raised $3.6 million through Freedom Project, all of which went to Republican House candidates.
When the Democrats took back the House of Representatives in 2006, Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert announced that he would not seek the Minority Leader position. The No. 2 Republican, Tom Delay, also stepped down, due to legal issues.
Boehner ran for the Minority Leader job, beating Indiana Congressman Mike Pence in the second round of voting.
Boehner managed to unite the entire House Republican caucus against the stimulus bill put forth by newly-inaugurated President Obama and congressional Democrats.
Boehner, as the default leader of the opposition, said:
The president made clear when we started this process that this was about jobs. And what it’s turned into is nothing more than spending, spending and more spending.
He also theatrically dropped the thousand-page bill on the floor of the House while accusing Democrats of not reading the bill. The passage of the Affordable Care Act was one of the most contentious fights on the hill in recent memory, and that was largely a result of Boehner's strong opposition to the bill.
When the act passed, the Minority Leader said: This is a somber day for the American people. By signing this bill, President Obama is abandoning our founding principle that government governs best when it governs closest to the people.
Once Boehner took over as Speaker in 2010, the Republican majority in the House voted 33 times to overturn the bill.
Boehner's golf game is legendary in Washington. He plays frequently with donors and colleagues, and is ranked ninth in Golf Digest's 2011 ranking of congressional golfers.
Boehner's golf game got him into some trouble in September 2011, when he bragged to Vice President Joe Biden about playing "the round of the decade" at Sand Hills Golf Club in Nebraska during the recess, hitting two under par when all was said and done.
On November 17, 2010 – his 61st birthday – Boehner was elected by his colleagues to serve as Speaker - designate, and on January 5, 2011 he swore in the 112th Congress as the 53rd Speaker of the House John was re-elected by the House on January 3, 2013 to serve a second term as Speaker for the 113th Congress.
Under his leadership, the House majority has worked to make the legislative process more open and to ensure the priorities of the American people are reflected in the priorities of lawmakers. John led the drive for an aggressive set of reforms that require bills to be posted online at least three days before a vote make it easier to cut spending, require legislation to cite its authority in the Constitution.
John also led House Republicans in adopting the first ban on "earmarks" -- the secretive, pork-barrel spending he has opposed since his first days in Congress. Today, Speaker Boehner is focused on removing government barriers to private-sector job creation and economic growth, cutting government spending, reforming Congress, and rebuilding the bonds of trust between the American people and their representatives in Washington.
Education
Boehner attended Moeller High School in Cincinnati, where he played on the school's football team. Boehner played linebacker and center for a local football legend, coach Gerry Faust, at Cincinnati’s Archbishop Moeller High School. At Moeller, a Catholic prep school run by the Marianists, students were required to attend daily Mass. He graduated in 1968, just as the Vietnam War entered full bloom.
In 1977, Boehner graduated from Xavier University. It took him seven years to graduate from Xavier College because he was paying his own way through school. While working as a night janitor he met Debbie - now his wife of 39 years - and in 1977 earned his bachelor's degree in business. He was the first of his family to attend college. He took a job in sales at Nucite Sales, a plastics distribution company, and went on to run the company after the owner died. His experience in the private sector - meeting a payroll, paying taxes, dealing with government red tape - prepared him well to be a reformer in the public sector.
Career
In 1977, Boehner graduated from Xavier University, earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He worked in the packaging and plastics before entering politics. In 1982, Boehner served on the board of trustees of Union Township in Butler County, Ohio. Three years later, Boehner was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives. In 1990, Boehner ran for U.S. Congress against incumbent Buz Lukens. Lukens was in the midst of a scandal about paying an underage girl for sex, and Boehner won the election.
John's first run for public office was for a spot on his neighborhood homeowners association, followed by a seat on his township board of trustees. He was elected to the Ohio General Assembly in 1984 where he served until the voters of southwest Ohio sent him to Congress. Elected to Congress in 1990, John quickly became a voice for reform. First, he adopted a "no earmarks" policy that he carries with him to this day. And as part of the "Gang of Seven," he and fellow lawmakers took on the House establishment – Democrats and Republicans. Together, they successfully closed the scandal-riddled House Bank, uncovered "dine-and-dash" practices at the House Restaurant, and exposed drug sales and cozy cash-for-stamps deals at the House Post Office.
In 1994, John was instrumental in crafting the landmark Contract with America. One of the Contract's cornerstones - the Congressional Accountability Act, which required lawmakers to live under the same rules and regulations as the rest of the nation – bears the unmistakable print of his drive to change the way Congress works.
After Republicans won their first Congressional majority in several decades, John's colleagues elected him to serve as House GOP Conference Chairman in the 104th and 105th Congress. In that role, John was a powerful voice in the fight to force Washington to stick to the strict spending limits in the Balanced Budget Act that let the economy grow and led to the first budget surplus in a generation.
As a member of the House Agriculture Committee, John authored the Freedom to Farm Act, legislation reforming the Soviet-style farm subsidy programs that punish farmers and taxpayers alike. And in 1999, as Vice-Chairman of the House Administration Committee, John joined House leaders to announce the first-ever "clean" independent audit of the House, a reform he first called for as a member of the Gang of Seven in 1992. From 2001 to 2006, John served as chairman of the House Committee on Education & the Workforce. There he co-wrote the bill establishing the first private school choice program in the District of Columbia, and worked with other reformers to ensure parental choice provisions were included in the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act to reinforce its goal of bringing greater accountability to taxpayer-funded education programs.
Boehner's reputation as a serious legislator focused on real solutions continued with enactment of the Pension Protection Act – the most sweeping reform of America's pension laws in more than 30 years – which helped to ensure workers can count on their benefits when they retire.
In 2006, John was elected by his colleagues to serve as House Majority Leader. On his watch, the House passed the first budget that held the line on spending in several years and adopted the first-ever reforms making the earmark process open and accountable. In 2007, John began his tenure as House Republican Leader. In that role, he united Republicans against job-destroying bills like Obama Care and the Democrats' "cap and trade" national energy tax that were passed over the objections of the American people. And he helped ensure that our troops in harm’s way continued to receive the funding and resources they needed to succeed.
Under John's leadership, Republicans launched several efforts to develop better, principled solutions to the challenges facing families and small businesses. Among them: the GOP State Solutions project, an initiative aimed at bringing reform-minded Republicans at the state and federal levels together to promote common-sense solutions from outside the Beltway. Also: the innovative America Speaking Out project which gave Americans a platform to discuss and share their priorities with national leaders – a platform that led to the Pledge to America, Republicans' new governing agenda for the country.
On November 17, 2010 – his 61st birthday – Boehner was elected by his colleagues to serve as Speaker-designate, and on January 5, 2011 he swore in the 112th Congress as the 53rd Speaker of the House. John was re-elected by the House on January 3, 2013 to serve a second term as Speaker for the 113th Congress.
As Speaker of the House, Boehner has led the Republican opposition to many of President Obama's policies. Boehner voted against the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, against health-care reform and against withdrawing troops from Iraq.
In July 2011, Boehner was at the center of the debt crisis—drafting the Republican "Boehner plan" to counter Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's plan to end the crisis.
Under his leadership, the House majority has worked to make the legislative process more open and to ensure the priorities of the American people are reflected in the priorities of lawmakers. John led the drive for an aggressive set of reforms that require bills to be posted online at least three days before a vote, make it easier to cut spending, require legislation to cite its authority in the Constitution, and more.
John also led House Republicans in adopting the first ban on "earmarks" -- the secretive, pork-barrel spending he has opposed since his first days in Congress. Today, Speaker Boehner is focused on removing government barriers to private-sector job creation and economic growth, cutting government spending, reforming Congress, and rebuilding the bonds of trust between the American people and their representatives in Washington.
Politics
The Republican Party (also called the GOP, for "Grand Old Party") is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party.
Currently, the Republican Party is identified as conservative and right-wing.
Not all Republicans believe in all of the same things, but generally these are the things many Republicans support:
- the 2nd Amendment (oppose gun control)
- the death penalty, rather than a life sentence
- the U.S. having a strong military.
- the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
- a school voucher system (the government giving money to parents who send their kids to private school)
- capitalism, laissez faire or supply-side economics
- oppose illegal immigration
- less government control of the economy
- less government spending
- lower taxes for everyone
- oppose government run health care
- the 9th and 10th Amendments (the federal government should have less power over the states)
- abortion should be illegal or restricted
- freedom of religion
- oppose same-sex marriage