Speaker Of The House John Boehner Suddenly Steps Down... Heres His Replacement This week, Speaker of the House John Boehner announced that he will be stepping down from his position. Although his reasons are unclear, some belief he was overwhelmed by the pressures coming from the Republican Party. The Times reports the below: The Ohio representative struggled from almost the moment he took the speakers gavel in 2011 to manage the challenges of divided government and to hold together his fractious and increasingly conservative Republican members. Most recently, Mr. Boehner, 65, was trying to craft a solution to keep the government open through the rest of the year, but was under pressure from a growing base of conservatives who told him that they would not vote for a bill that did not defund Planned Parenthood. Several of those members were on a path to remove Mr. Boehner as speaker, though their ability to do so was far from certain. Boehner has become well-known in DC as being a RINO (Republican Only in Name), and other conservatives in the House have wanted him to step down for some time. Boehner has not made many efforts to stand up for conservative principles in his post. What do you think of Boehners announcement? Who will replacing him? 