Boehner: Fall agenda ‘smooth sailing’

Speaker John Boehner isn’t sweating a jam-packed autumn calendar.

“I’m confident as we get into this fall, we’re gonna have pretty smooth sailing,” the Ohio Republican told reporters Wednesday, just hours before House lawmakers leave Washington for the five-week recess.

{mosads}When lawmakers return from their long summer recess in September, they’ll have to tackle a long laundry list of thorny issues.

Figuring out how to avert a government shutdown. A vote on the Iran nuclear agreement. A House-Senate deal on a long-term transportation bill. And raising the debt ceiling.

Boehner also has had to battle conservatives in his own party on immigration, border funding, and education policy. Just this summer, Boehner clashed with conservatives over major trade legislation.

And this week, one critic, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), introduced a largely symbolic resolution to remove Boehner from power.

But Boehner downplayed concerns that the fall session would be fraught with more GOP infighting.

“We’ll manage our way through this. This is part of the legislative process. It’s nothing new. Maybe it’s more pronounced these days in 2015 than it would have been 10 or 15 years ago, but it’s a legislative environment and legislating is hard work,” Boehner said.

“We’ll take these issues one step at a time. And I’m looking forward to a very successful fall.”