John Boehner

John Boehner (born November 17, 1949, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) is an American Republican politician who represented Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives (1991–2015). During his tenure, he served as majority leader (2006), minority leader (2007–11), and speaker of the House (2011–15).

Early life

Boehner grew up in a large Roman Catholic family (he had 11 brothers and sisters) in southwestern Ohio. He attended an all-male high school in Cincinnati before earning a degree in business from Xavier University (1977). He then took a job at a plastics company, Nucite Sales, where he eventually became president. In 1984 he was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives and remained in office until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990.

House of Representatives: majority leader and minority leader

As a junior member of the House, Boehner soon earned a reputation as a crusader against what he considered wasteful spending in the federal budget. Along with six fellow Republican congressmen, he formed the so-called “Gang of Seven” to fight congressional corruption; their activities included making public the names of representatives who had overdrafts at the House Bank. Boehner’s anticorruption stance was questioned in 1995 after he handed out checks from tobacco lobbyists to fellow Republicans on the House floor. He came under close scrutiny again the following year when a tape of a conference call with Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was made public. In the call, Boehner, Gingrich, and other Republicans discussed how Gingrich’s reputation could be salvaged in light of ethics charges against him. During his early years in office, Boehner also helped to draft the Republican Party’s Contract with America, a 100-day agenda for the 104th Congress that included the goals of reducing crime and providing middle-class tax relief.

Discover the fascinating events that shaped the world, straight from our editors.

SIGN UP

By clicking “Sign Up”, you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Shortly after the inauguration of Pres. George W. Bush in 2001, Boehner became chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce (2001–07). In that role, he helped to introduce the No Child Left Behind Act, which was intended to bring accountability to public schools by requiring more standardized testing and by giving students at failing schools the option of attending other schools. Bush signed the act into law in January 2002. Boehner also introduced the Pension Protection Act in 2006 (signed into law in August 2008), which helped to prevent large failures in the pension system resulting from unwise investments. Boehner was elected to serve as his party’s majority leader in 2006 and served as minority leader since 2007. In that year he was a vocal supporter of a proposal to construct a 700-mile (1,130-km) fence along the U.S.-Mexico border to reduce illegal immigration.

In 2009 Boehner led the House Republican opposition against Pres. Barack Obama’s health care plan, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), and against his legislation to tighten financial regulations. Despite Republican efforts, both measures passed in 2010. As the economy continued to struggle, however, Democrats faced growing criticism, and in the 2010 midterm elections the Republicans recaptured control of the House.

Speaker of the House

In January 2011 Boehner became speaker of the House of Representatives, and in the ensuing months he played a key role in the growing debate over the federal budget. In April he helped avert a government shutdown by negotiating a deal that cut $38 billion from the budget. The government, however, faced the possibility of defaulting on its public debt if the national debt ceiling was not raised by August 2, 2011. Efforts at a compromise between the two parties repeatedly collapsed. In July Obama and Boehner met privately and nearly reached an agreement on a “grand bargain” that would have included trillions in spending cuts, changes to Medicare and Social Security, and tax reform. Boehner later ended the talks, claiming that Obama had increased the amount of new revenue to be raised. Boehner subsequently proposed his own bill, but he was unable to secure enough Republican votes until he included a provision for a balanced-budget amendment, which was popular with those in the Tea Party movement. The revised bill was subsequently defeated in the Democrat-controlled Senate. Boehner later helped negotiate a bipartisan agreement that raised the debt ceiling and instituted various spending cuts, though no tax increases were included. The bill passed the House on August 1, 2011, and was approved by the Senate and signed into law by Obama the following day.

As speaker, Boehner frequently found himself at odds with the conservative element of his party. In January 2013 he supported a fiscal bill that raised taxes on the wealthiest Americans, a move that was deeply unpopular with many Republicans—especially those in the Tea Party—and days later Boehner was just narrowly reelected speaker. His leadership abilities were subsequently questioned when conservatives sought to shut down the government unless the PPACA was defunded. Boehner ultimately supported the efforts, though few believed any challenges to the act would be successful, and the government partially closed for 16 days in October 2013. Several of his bills failed to pass the House, further undermining his speakership. In 2015 a number of Republicans vowed to reject any budget deal that did not defund Planned Parenthood, thus setting up the possibility of another government shutdown. Faced with a possible conservative revolt – led in part by Freedom Caucus chairman Rep. Jim Jordan – if he failed to back the efforts, Boehner announced in September that he would resign from the House the following month. Shortly before leaving office, he brought to the floor a budget plan that, although voted against by a majority of House Republicans, was passed by the House.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE

Later career

In 2016 Boehner began working at a lobbying firm and became a board member of the tobacco company Reynolds American. Two years later he joined the advisory board of Acreage Holdings, a cannabis company. Boehner, who had earlier opposed the legalization of marijuana, stated that his views had “evolved.” He later released the memoir On the House (2021), in which he was sharply critical of the Republican Party, especially former president Donald Trump, whom he accused of inciting the attack on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021.