Hoyer: Boehner’s exit ‘a bad day for the House’

Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) decision to resign from Congress under threat of a conservative coup marks “a bad day for the House” that will likely heighten the partisan gridlock on Capitol Hill, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) lamented Friday.

Hoyer, the House Democratic whip, praised Boehner as a “positive legislator” willing to reach across the aisle to get things done. That the Speaker is stepping down under pressure from those critical of compromise, he warned, foreshadows even tougher fights ahead.

{mosads}”This is a victory for dysfunctional government. This is a victory for confrontation. This is a victory for taking positions that [everyone] knows cannot and will not be adopted and allowing the government to shut down, the debt to [be] breached and for other things to happen … if you don’t get your way,” Hoyer said.

“This is a vote for ‘my way or the highway.’ And that’s not democracy. That’s not how the Congress of the United States works. That’s not how America works,” Hoyer added.

“It’s a loss for the country.”

Boehner shocked Capitol Hill Friday morning when he announced that he’ll be leaving Congress on Oct. 30 after nearly 25 years, the last four-and-a-half of which he’s held the Speaker’s gavel.

The announcement came as members of the House Freedom Caucus, a bloc of conservative Republicans sharply critical of Boehner’s past dealings with Democratic leaders, particularly on spending bills, were threatening to force a vote on ousting Boehner amid the current budget fight.

In a packed press conference in the Capitol Friday afternoon, a tearful Boehner rejected the idea that he was pushed out by conservatives.

“There was never any doubt about whether I could survive the vote,” he said.

But he acknowledged the tension swirling around his conference, arguing that it was harming his party and undermining the House on the whole.

“I don’t want my members to have to go through this. I certainly don’t want the institution to go through this. And … I was thinking about walking out the door anyway,” Boehner said. “So, it’s the right time to do it, and frankly, I am entirely comfortable doing it.”

Boehner’s decision sets the stage for a potentially nasty race to fill his shoes. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), the second-ranking House Republican, is seen as the early favorite. But members of the Freedom Caucus, emboldened by what they see as a victory in Boehner’s exodus, are already warning that they won’t back anyone in the Boehner mold.

“John Boehner was the consummate insider,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), a member of the Freedom Caucus, said Friday. “We need a Speaker who’s able to articulate [conservative principles], and no one, [not] even his closest supporters, thought John Boehner was a good spokesman for conservative principles.”

Hoyer attacked such thinking, arguing that Congress needs institutionalists like Boehner to reach compromises and pass bills.

“John Boehner wanted this institution to work. And part of his extraordinary frustration was his caucus has people — a large number of people — who are much more interested in making a point than making policy,” Hoyer said.

“John Boehner struggled to try to bring his party together, he struggled to try to make his party a party that could manage and be constructive, and he failed,” Hoyer added. “So I think it’s a bad day for the House of Representatives that somebody is leaving who has evidenced … a willingness to work with others to get policy made.”