will be having a lot more coverage of pope francis throughout the day, and he is heading to the ambassador's residence to get some rest and then he is heading up to east harlem, and this is it for us from ground zero and thank you very much for watching, and we will take it over to wolf. w w wolf? -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello, i'm wolf blitzer and it is 1:00 p.m. here in the united states and 8:00 p.m. in london and wherever you are watching us from around the world, thank you for joining us. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> right to the breaking news, the house speaker john boehner calling it quits. the speaker of the house is getting ready to speak any moment now, and there is a live picture from capitol hill and we will have live coverage of the speaker's abrupt announcement set off a shock wave around capitol hill, and this is right

after a address from pope francis to a joint session of congress. and moments ago, boehner released a statement explaining his decision and he said that the first job of speaker is to protect this institution that we both love, and my intent was to stay as speaker until last year, but i stayed on to provide continuity for the republican conference and the house. it is my view, however, that prolong prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution. to that end, i will resign the spe speakership and my seat october 30th. >> grace under pressure, and that is what i think of john boehner. he is an ally and friend, and he took over as republican leader at a very difficult time for his party.

when some said that republicans could never recover, he never gave up. when some gave in to defeatism, he kept up the fight, and because he did, speaker boehner was able to transform a broken and disspirited republican mi r minority into the largest republican majority since the 1920s. that's a legacy few can match. >> different per spspective com from the house minority leader, and nancy pelosi saying that boehner's leadership missed the mark. >> the speaker announcing his resignation, and that resignation is a stark demonstration of the intent to shut down the government at the

expense of women's health, and the willingness of the republicans to fail to engage in dialogue for the good of the american people and for us to move forward. >> there is live pictures of capitol hill and there you will see john boehner making a statement, and then answering questions are from reporters. we will bring in dana bash and jeff zeleny and man knu raji. what do you make of the announcement, e jeff? >> well, as dana did say, he did sleep on it. and we know that the ritual is to go to pete's diner, and so he did sleep it on and then began to advise the inner circle, but it is building and growing here. wolf, he said that he could

survive the leadership fight coming, but in his own statement he said that he wanted to step aside to avoid any leadership turmoil. and that is the big question here, because he has survived the leadership challenges in the past, but this is a different moment, because the anti-establishment mood that we have seen in the presidential campaign, that is alive and well here on capitol hill, and the same forces that are going here sh, and he decided yesterday after with one of the biggest and the most glorious days of his lea r leadership to finally bring a pope into this the building to finally deliver that joint session of congress speech is when he decided to leave, and it has been building for weeks if not months. >> and the first time that a pope has addressed a joint meeting of the united states congress. dana bash, how much pressure was boehner under from tea party conservatives and others in his own party? >> well, a lot. and it is unbelievable, and unprecedented how much pressure

he has been under, but it is the store i areline here for year. the difference is as jeff was saying is that kind of the anti-the establishment fervor out there has been building even more, and all you have to do, wolf is to look at some of the statements from some of the kind of the outside kconservative group, and those that john boehner himself has been more and more critical of at his own per peril, probably, but he had had enough of, and effectively declaring victory, saying that they feel that they have worked hard enough to push somebody like him -- >> and i have to interrupt, dana, because the president is speaking, president obama, once again about john boehner. >> and for president xi, you have experienced an economic downturn in your country with the stock market crisis, an investors globally have been concerned about the actions that you have taken with the currently exchange rate and i

want to know what you have said to president obama about the interventions will not have spillover effects into the global economy in the future. thank you. >> well, julie, i meant what i will say, i am not going to be prejudging howly be able to work with the next speaker, because i don't know who the next speaker is, and i suspect a lot of debate inside of the republican caucus about who they want to lead them, and in what direction. you know, it is not as if there has been a multitude of areas where the house republican caucus has sought cooperation previously, so i don't necessarily think that there is going to be a big shift. i do think that speaker boehner sometimes had a tough position, because there were members in his caucus who saw compromise of

any sort as weakness or betrayal, and when you have divided government, when you have a dem kocracy, compromise necessa necessary. and i think that speaker boehner had sometimes difficulty persuading members of the caucus that. hopefully they have learned some lessons from 2011, the last time that they sought to introduce a n non-budget item into the budget discussions. at that time, it was obamacare, and they were going to shutdown the government for that purpose. it ended up really hurt iing th economy, and slowing it down, and caused a lot of hardship and a lot of problems for a lot of people. because it turns out that government provides a lot of

vital resources. and our military provides us protection, and our agencies keep our air clean, and the water clean, and, you know, our, you know -- well, enough of that, because i want to interrupt the president, because the house speaker is going to make the announcement. john boehner. >> i want to fight for a smaller, and less costly and more accountable government and over the last five years the majority has advanced conservative reforms to help our children and their children. we are now on track to cut government spending by $2.1 trillion over the next ten years. we made the first real entitlement reform in nearly two decades, and we have proteched 99% of the american people from an increase in their taxes. and we have done all of this with a democrat in the white house. so i am proud of what we have accomplished. but more than anything, my first job as speak ser to protect the institution. a lot of you know that now know

that my plan was to step down at the end of last year. i decided in november of 2010 that when i was elected speaker that serving two terms would have been plenty. and in june of last year when it became clear that the ma jjorit leader lost the election, i frankly didn't think that it was right for me to leave at the end of last year, and so my goal was to leave at the end of this year, and soy planned to leave on my birthday november 17th to announce that i was leaving at the end of the year. but, it has become clear to me that this prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution. so this morning i informed my colleagues that i would resign from the speakership and congress at the end of october. now, as you have often heard me

say this isn't about me, it is about the people, about the institution. just yesterday we witnessed the awesome sight of pope francis address iing the greatest legislative body in the world, and i hope that we will all heed his call to live by the golden rule. but last night i started to think about this, and this morning i woke up, and i said my prayers, as i always do, and i decided, you know, today is the day i am going to do this. as simple as that. that is the code i have always lived by. if you do the right things for the right reasons, the right things will happen. and i know good things lie ahead for this house, in this country, and i'm proud of what we have accomplish and especially proud of my team. you know, i have been here for my 25th year here, and i have succeeded in large part because i have put a staff together and a team together, many of which

have been with me for a long time. and without a great staff, you can't be a great member, and you certainly can't be a great speaker. i am going to thank my family for putting up with this for all of these years, and my poor girls who are now 37 and 35, and their first campaign photo was in july of 1981. and so they have had to endure all of this, and it is one thing for me to have to endure it, because i have thick skin, but, you know, the girls and my wife, they have had to put up with a lot over the year, and let me express my gratitude to my constituents who have sent me here 13 times over the last 25 years, and you can't get here without getting votes. but, and i said this the often when people ask me, what's the

greatest thing about being speaker? or about being an elected official? and i say it is the people that you get to meet. i have met tens of thousands of people in my own congressional district that i never would have met other than the fact that i decided to run for congress. over to years as i travel on behalf of my colleagues and the party, i have met tens of thousands of additional people all over the country, and you will meet rich people, poor people, interesting people, and eh, probably a few boring ones along the way, but i can tell you that 99.9% of the people that i meet on the road, anywhere could not be nicer than they have been. it has been really, really it has been wonderful. ah, it has been an honor to serve in this institution, and with that, i -- all right, june mr. boehner, you were obviously

overcome we motion yesterday. >> really? what a surprise! >> and i am curious as you reached this decision last night, did the presence of pope francis lead you to this decision? >> no, yesterday was a wonderful day. and was i emotional? i was emotional in a moment that really no one saw. as the pope and i were getting ready to exit the building we found ourselves alone. and the pope grabbed my left arm, and said some kind words to me about my commitment -- to kids and education. and the pope put his arm around me and kind of pulls me to him and he says, please pray for me. well, who am i to pray for the pope? but i did.

>> and the pope and the -- >> look, it is not about the vote, and look, i don't want my members to have to go through this and i don't want the mem r members of the institution to go through this and certainly when i thought about walking out the door anyway, and so it is the right time to do it, and frankly, i am entirely comfortable to do it. >> mr. speaker, i have heard you say that the leader who has nobody following you have a guy taking a walk. so -- >> i have plenty of people following me, but this turmoil that has been churning now for a couple of months it is not good for the members, and it is not good for the institution. and if i wasn't planninging on leaving here soon, i can tell you that i would not have done this. >> and if i may continue, there are people who are on the right in your caucus, and even outside

of the institution who have been wanting you to step down for some time, who feel that they have a victory today, and do you feel that you were pushed o eed? >> no. the members -- i am glad that i made this announcement at the conference with all of my republican colleague, because it was a very good moment to help to kind of rebuild the team. listen, i feel good about what i have done. i know that i, everyday, i have tried to do the right things for the right reason, and tried to do the right thing for the country. >> mr. speaker, how can you say that this is a moment of turmoil, and you thought about leaving two years ago, and not leave the house in turmoil, and yet with the government threatened to shutdown for the debt' ceiling and the barn burnr of the leadership -- >> well,ly be here for another five weeks, and i'm not going to

leave, and i'm not going to be sitting around here for 30 days, because there is a lot of work to be done, and i plan on getting as much of it done as i can before i exit. >> and as a result of, does that make it easier to maybe make some tougher decisions, and to maybe leave the government open? >> no, i will make the same decisions regardless of this. >> and mr. speaker, with some of the decisions of the outside flank who have used words like knuckleheads, and words that we can't use on tv. >> probably. probably. >> have you had enough, and how will anything be -- >> no, no, let me tell you. i would not describe it as having had enough. that is not it at all. when you are the speaker of the house, your number one responsibility is to the institution, and having a vote like this in the institution i don't believe is very healthy. so i have done everything that i

can over the term as speaker as a step to strengthen the institution. >> and will there be a -- [ inaudible ]. >> hopefully not. >> and what should people watching this expect the house and the congress to do going forward if you are not here? >> well, if we -- if the congress stays focus odd on the american people's priorities, there is no problem at all. now while we have differences between the democrats and the republicans, the goal here as one of the leaders is to find the common ground. listen, i talked to president bush and president obama this morning and i talked to all of the legislative leaders who i have a very good relationship with all of them, because the

leaders at the end of the day have to work together and trust each other to find the common ground to get things done, and if the congress stays focused on what is important to the american people, they will get along just find. >> and can you tell us thou party conference reacted to the news? >> oh, i'd say they were shocked, surprised. >> more on that, maybe how the membership, itself reacted? >> well, i told mr. mccarthy about the two minutes before i spoke, what i was going to do, and i had to tell him five times, because he did not believe me. and i said, well, you better believe me. >> and do you believe he is going to be the next speaker? >> listen, i won't be here to vote on the next speaker, but it is up to the next members, and having said that, i would say that kevin mccarthy would make an excellent speaker. jackie? >> what is the first person that you would call on to say? >> well, my wife. >> what did she say? >> good.

[ laughter ] >> my chief and i talk and i said today is the day. and he said to sleep on it. so before i went to sleerngs i told my wife that i just might make an announcement tomorrow. and what kind of announcement? tell them that it is time to go. and so, this morning i woke up, and walked up to starbucks as usual and got my coffee and came back and read, and walked up to pete's diner and saw everybody at pete's, and got home and thought, yep, i think that today's the day. and so the senior staff was having a meeting a 8:45 and so i opened up the house and i said today is the day. and it is going to the happen some day and why not today. >> and do you think that -- >> no.

>> what do you think that kevin mccarthy based on the five year s that he could do to avoid the same pitfall s ths that you have across? >> well, i thought that i told kevin that if he is the next speaker that his number one duty is to protect the institution. nobody else around here has an obligation like that, and secondly, i would tell him the same thing they just told you, if you do the right thing everyday for the right reasons, the right thing is going to happen. you know me and my colleagues know me, and i am straight with them, and they may not like the answer they get, but they will get the honest answer, and that is the easy way to do the job. >> and if it wasn't easy, why now? >> well, just all of the stuff that i read about in the paper,

and -- you know, it is i don't want the institution hurt or my colleagues hurt, and for what? yes. >> what will you miss? >> pardon me? >> what will i snisz. >> well, of course, all of you. >> i don't know what i will miss, because i have not missed it yet. i will certainly miss the camaraderie of the house. i -- let me tell you another story that is really interesting is that maxine waters and i, a democrat from southern california came here 25 years ago in the same class. now, you know, there is nothing about my politics, and maxine waters politics that is even anywhere close, but yesterday about 5:30 she called my office, and i got a note that she call and so i called her back, and

she said, i have watched you for 25 years here, and we have come here together and i have watched your career, and i watched you today and she said, i just want to tell you something, i am really proud of you. you know, listen, i have got the best relationships on both sides of the aisle because i treat people fairly and honestly, and i will certainly miss my colleagues, yes. >> in trying to take the turmoil out of the house and make it more stable, what when i talked to other people from the conference, they said that, in the leadership -- >> as i mentioned that i did this with the colleagues this

morning and we proceeded to have an hour and a half conversation, i thought it was a unifying moment. and between that and the pope's call for live big the golden rule yesterday, hope springs eternal. >> can you talk about what you think that the legacy is while you are leaving and what will you do on the november 1st, are you moving to florida? >> i was never into the legacy business. you know, you have all heard me say that, i'm a regular guy with a big job. i never thought that i would be in congress much less speaker. people know me as being fair, honest and straight forward and trying to do the right thing everyday on behalf of the country. and that is -- i don't need

anymore than that. >> and do you seem -- >> zippity doo dah zippity doo day. >> and what about -- >> well, when you make a decision this morning, you don't have any time to think about what you will do in the few chu, and i have no idea, but i do know this, i'm doing this today for the right reasons, and you know what, the right things are going to happen as a result. thanks. all right. the speaker of the house, john boehner announcing the resignation, and emotional and obviously holding back tears when he spoke of the 25 years in the house of representatives, and he said that he would announce that he was resigning on november 17th, his birthday that he would be resigning by the end of the year, and he decided to accelerate that because of an important vote coming up, and vote that could be very damaging to the house of representatives as an institution. i want to bring in manu raju,

and gloria borger, and also kevin madden, our cnn contributors, and now, manu, can you explain to us, what is so important about that vote that he woke up saying that for the good of the institution and the house of representatives that he needed to quit. >> well, wolf, this started in the end of right before the august recess, there was an effort by representative mark meadows from north carolina to vacate the chair, and what that is essentially means is that a vote on whether or not to keep john boehner as speaker. what we know, wolf, there are 25 republicans who are going to be voting against john boehner, and they did it in the beginning of the year, and what they were hoping to get is more than 29 republicans to vote against john boehner, and if they did get more than 29 republicans, then boehner would need to rely on democratic votes to keep his job as speaker. and now, that would have really

undermined him, his standing among the republicans in the conference, and in addition to that, we have been hearing for weeks about how the fact that boehner had become toxic in a lot of the districts that the republicans, the districts that even supporters off john boehner, and those republicans were hearing so many complaints about the speaker and his tenure, and so if they were to cast a vote that it would have hurt them politically, and you heard boehner reference that in the press conference now saying that he did not want the members to take a tough vote. so it is very clear that he would have had to work very hard to keep his job, and had to convince the members to vote for him, and a lot of the guys have taking votes that could hurt them politically and he did not have the stomach to go through it especially since he had made the decision internally to quit, and the matter is when, and the timing worked out perfectly for him, because of the pope's departure and speech and now he can leave on sort of the high

note, wolf. >> and he can certainly. and manu, stand by, and everybody else, because dana bash was inside of the room with that news conference, and she is going to join us, and we will continue to follow the breaking news of the resignation of the speaker of the house john boehner right after this. dayquil liquid gels and go. hey buddy, let's get these but these liquid gels are new. mucinex fast max. it's the same difference. these are multi-symptom. well so are these. this one is max strength and fights mucus. that one doesn't. uh...think fast! you dropped something.

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this easy-to-understand guide will answer some of your questions and help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that's right for you. i am sad, because i have a great respect and affection for speaker boehner. i was a bit surprised, but i also knew that john was under a lot of pressure, and also tired. it is tough handling this everyday. and you know, somebody said that being a majority, the speaker is like herding cats, and you know, or frogs in a wheelbarrow, and so, you know, i can understand. >> the reaction is now pour iin

into the sudden resignation of speaker of the house john boehner and you saw him make that announcement a few moments ago. we are back with the reporters and analysts. gloria borger, all of us were stunned, and he did provide a little bit more detail and context of why the decision was made today. >> and john boehner is somebody who cares an awful lot about the institution, and as he said today, and he is one of the politicians who will actual ly tell you what he is thinking, and he said today, he didn't want the institution to go through another tough vote. he kept using the word turmoil. clearly, it was not a fight for his speakership that he relished, and when, you know, you know that you have a problem with your troops when president obama is saying nicer things about you than many of your fellow republicans like rick santorum or ted cruz for example as dana pointed out earlier, some of the people were virtually cheering john

boehner's decision. so, he felt that for himself, i am sure that he was sick of it. and for the good of the party, that he ought to leave as he said it is something that he would do in november, and so he moved it up. and he moved it up a bunch. and wolf, the fight among house republicans, reflects the fight in the republican party at large that we have been seeing during the obama years. and you know, what is going to go on in that house now is what is going on in the republican primaries with the more modern candidates who see themselves under assault by the outsiders who are quite successful and to the people who are to the right of them, and that is playing out everywhere in republican politics right now. >> and it is. and dana, did we know that the speaker was plan og on this november 17 -- that the speaker was planning on this november 17th date to the resign in the

house seat and speaker, because that came as a surprise to me? >> no, he announced it here and a surprise to everybody, and perhaps the nearest and the dearest knew it was the plan, but no, he -- we absolutely didn't know that was the plan, but i am not sure if you heard that my question to him was about something that i have heard him say in private more than one time when he is discussing how hard it has been to be speaker, and especially when he has been trying to figure out how to nevermind make deals on major pieces of legislation like for example trying to shrink the debt or the e deficit or the deal with entitlements burk keeping this institution running when you think about it, it is kind of mind boggling that, that is all we are talking about here which is required constitutionally by congress to fund the government, and he is tauklking about how hd it is to somehow i have to find

a way to get people behind me in the caucus, and that is why he said if you are not, and a leader without people behind you have a guy taking a walk, and that is what he meant, and it is harder and harder for him to be able to corral everybody, and as you have all been talking about as we reported earlier, the fact of the matter is that the newest fight over the fiscal, the fiscal deadline coming up, and the fact that the government, if the congress does not approve more money, it will run out of money on october 1st, and he has seen this money so many times, and if he does what is in his heart to come opromize to make sure that the institution does well, he has to have more problems from the right, and that is what he is trying to avoid. look, the bottom the line, if you take a step back, you won't see as much on the democratic side, and i am hearing it in the hallways especially today that there are conservative groups

outside groups who raise money, and are funded for the sole purpose of trying to tear down their own fellow republicans in leadership, and that is something that has really torn the party apart, and it is about the inner, the inner turmoil within the party and the ideology, but it is really making it difficult, and not something that we see so much on the democratic side. >> and kevin madden, you worked with speaker boehner for a while, and you know him quite well, and all of us saw how choked up he was and how he held back the tears, and yesterday when the pope delivered a speech before congress, and what did he do over the past few years as speaker of the house that so angered or irritated some of the tea p tea party supporters and some of the conservatives in effect to force him to step down? >> well, look, i think that most of all, i think that there is a disagreement over tactics. so many of the new freedom caucus or the tea party contingent inside of the house, they wanted to be much more

confrontational. oftentimes, the disagreement was on the end game was. oftentimes like the government shutdowns, and that worked against those that were in favor of the shutdown. you saw the republican generic ballot drop in double digits when the government had shutdown, and so a lot of the tactics backfire and they were tactics that john boehner did not agree with, and they all ultimately agreed philosophically of what to do, and every republican up on capitol hill want ted to repeal obamacare, and mar joy of the the republicans wanted to de-fund planned parenthood, but there were realities that he want wanted to agree with, but his greatest strength is that he spent an inordinate amount of time, and he was dedicated to the process of listening to members of the congress, and

when you have divisive of a congress as this one, it is important to make sure that you have a way to listen to voices inside of the caucus, and that is something that john boehner did very well, but what happened is that john boehner became the flashpoint and as the speaker l alluded to in the press conference, this is not about him. he is a selfless public servant, and he does not want the divisions to be about him, and the members to take a tough vote about him, and the process of stepping aside is vintage john boehner. he is about the institution, and that is at the core it is about being a team player so that the conference can move forward with new members. >> all right. standby, and everybody standby and more than one republican leader will not be sad to see john boehner leave the position, and i'm talking about the republicans, and most of them under the tea party category who have accused the speaker for not fighting hard enough for core

conservative issues and compromising with the democrats, and one of those republicans unhappy with john boehner is matt salmon who went so far as to predict a shake-up in the majority party leadership, and the congressman is joining us now, and what is your immediate reaction to the speaker's announcement? >> well, i was surprised as everyone else that he resigned, but i applaud him for doing so. it is a selfless act and when anybody is the issue, and instead of the issues at hand, it is time to move on. and it is a selfless act, and i congratulate him, and it is very is very difficult, and i think for us to move forward without serious conflict, and, you don't see this kind of thing happen in washington, d.c., very often, and your panelists say it doesn't happen, and that is

true. you don't see country before the ambition, and i congratulate the speaker for doing this. >> and you supported the speaker for ree lek s shis shun in 2012 2014 and why not supporting him now, and what forced you now to change your position? >> look, i'm a representative of the people that sent me to washington, d.c., and they have been very, very clear. i caught more guff from my voters over my votes for john boehner both times than any other thing, and i would like to reflect the will of my people, and the will of the people and i represent them. and the second thing is that we promised many, many things if we took the senate, and those things have not materialized and i think that they at least expect us to fight the fight, and you don't always win and you don't expect to always win, but you do expect to fight the fight, and that is what the voters expect us to do, and that is evidence across the country

why the three top poll getters in the presidential race are all people who have never held public office, and people are sick and tired of business as usual, and they are ready for us to fight on principle for the things that we believe. the speaker said that in his press conference that if we do the right thing, then good things will happen, and i couldn't agree more, and he is right on with that. >> who do you want to see replace him? >> i think it is early right now, and we won't have to face that vote until the end of october when the speaker leaves, and i think that the reasonable thing for us to do is to sit down with some of the would-be leaders and pick their brain and find out if they are going to have the ten nasty to mount the challenges to be the loyal opposition -- tenacity to mount the challenges to the opposition, and we will then

have robust leadership. >> will you throw your hat in the ring? >> no, there are great people who will do the job, and i will intend to support one of those folks. >> thank you, matt salmon from arizona. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. and we will have more comment on this, and also, look at this, folks lining up in central park as it is one of the pope's stops later on this af r afternoon, and we will have a preview of what is coming up in later hours coming up. people don't have to think about

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too late, we're about to take off. these dissolve fast. they're new liquid gels. and you're coming with me... wait, what?! you realize i have gold status? do i still get the miles? new mucinex sinus-max liquid gels. dissolves fast to unleash max strength medicine. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this. let's get back to the breaking news this hour, and the announcement by the house speaker john boehner that he is stepping down at the end of october giving up the position as speaker and also retiring from the house of representatives and indiana congressman is part of the leader isship chairman of the

house policy committee, and thank you for joining us, and are you interested in the house speaker job? >> no, it won't be running for speaker, wolf. today, the american people have seen why john boehner's colleagues love him, and agree with john boehner or not, he is a good man, and person of faith and at peace with himself who has always tried to put his country first. >> but not all of the republican colleagues love him, and we heard matt salmon say that in his district in arizona the biggest grief he got was voting for john boehner that he twice voted for him, and voted for john boehner as speaker of the house, and that is why he has turned against him and that is something that you have heard from other republicans. >> yes, the american people are frustrated and they are looking for the house to step up, and do more, and john has had big victories and losses, too, but now, we have to capitalize on the opportunity that john has given us, and it is an

opportunity to come together. you know, after this decision is now made, we can come together, but we are still going to have the same president and the significant minority in the senate, and our opportunity to make a difference for this country is going to be when we stand together on conservative principles. >> and one of the issues in recent weeks is funding for planned parenthood and the government is going to be running out of money by october 1st and the new fiscal year, and the government going to run out of money, and budget for the government to keep operating, and the president is not going to let planned parenthood funding go away. >> nobody wants to stop funding the government, and we do want to stop the atrocities of planned parenthood as well, and i am confident that we will do that and confident that we will keep the government open. >> when did you find out that the speaker was going to be stepping down? >> i found out this morning, and we all knew that the pope was a major event in the speaker's

life and amazing historic day in the country's history, but it is a surprise and few hours' old and hard to believe, because he has been the speaker my entire time here in congress. >> who do you want to be the speaker? >> strong people run, and kevin mccarthy will be in a strong spot, but we are hours out of this, and we are going to be in a spot to listen to those running, and the path forward, but kevin has done a strong job, and he would be a strong speaker going forward. >> and peter king, and i am quoting him now, and he said that crazies in the republican party have taken over the house. and he is saying that a small minority force has forced the speaker to resign. do you agree? >> well, i have at lof of respect for speaker king, but the speaker said that this is a time to come forward and come together, and this is a time when the speaker has put the institution first, and i think that as a conference, we have to come together and put our differences aside and focus on the areas that we agree, and that is what i am going to be

trying to do, and the vast majority of the colleagues are trying the do, and as i mention ed to you before, wolf, we have the same challenges. we have president obama and a sizable minority of the democrats in the senate who are opposed to us in most issues. we will do our best job as >> a little turmoil in the republican leadership in the house of representatives right now. congressman, thank you very joining us. >> thanks, wolf. more large crowds gathering here in new york city. people hoping to get a glimpse of pope francis. he's got more on his really packed itinerary including a school visit, a trip through central park, mass later tonight at madison square garden. a live report from new york, after this quick break. today, jason is here to volunteer to help those in need. when a twinge of back pain surprises him. morning starts in high spirits but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger.

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we return to the day's other major stories. two visible events are next on the pope's schedule. 4:00 p.m. eastern he will visit an elementary school in east harlem. then back into the pope mobile for a ride through central park. rosa flores is in east harlem at the school. . describe the anticipation level at that school right now. >> reporter: wolf, so many emotions culminate in this particular event. here is why. i have to take you back a little bit. when we left rome on the papal plane and pope francis gave that first gleeting reeting to journe said i'm very emotional because i just met refugees from syria

that were taken in by the vatican. so imagine that. that was in rome. here at this location he is going to be meeting with refugees from mexico, peru, africa, honduras. so when the pope has encounters with immigrants, with refugees, he gets very, very emotional. i've talked to some of the people who are anticipating to meet the pope and they are very, very emotional. so it's going to be a very emotional encounter here because of that. now add to that the fact he's going to be meeting with students, young children. e we know that pope francis just gl glows with emotion whenever he meets children. about the neighborhood, this is a neighborhood that has a lot of public housing. so a lot of people in need. so three tier, if you will, a trinity of emotions that could culminate here.

i want to show you the school where he will be meeting these students. most of the students that attend this school are hispanic and african-american. students will be meeting. pope francis here. more than two dozen students from four different schools. and again, a lot of these kids very, very happy and excited to be able to meet the pope. and if the emotion that we have seen from pope francis is any indication as to what is going to happen inside this building, it's going to be a beautiful thing, wolf. >> it it certainly will be. this particular school, a lot of catholic schools in the new york city area. why did he pick this particular school or why did the catholic leaders say this is the pope's most important stop here in new york city? >> you know, pope francis usually chooses a school, a

place, a community that's in need. we saw it in south africa when he visited south america. e he very much zeros into the communities that are in need, that are hurting. one of the reasons why this community is hurting is because their church was closed. i want to show it to you. it's right behind the school. the cross you see, that's the church that was closed back in 2007. there's actually an effort in this community to bring it back. i spoke to a woman earlier today that said that she hopes to have two minutes with pope francis so that she can explain to him the importance of opening churches again in communities. she said, we'd love to have a place of worship. i have learned in this little park area, sometimes on the weekends, people just get together to read scripture or just to have a spiritual moment because they don't have a

church. so wolf, imagine if this woman has a chance to share her story with pope francis, i would not be surprised if he decides to open this church in harlem just because, again, in response to the needs of the community, the e emotions that he's going to feel when he meets immigrants, refugees, children in an area that is very much in need. wolf? >> our lady queen of angels school, thank you very much, rosa. this is cnn's special live conch of two major stories unfolding right now. the first, the speaker of the house of representatives stunning the nation by announcing he will resign next month. the man apparently helped accelerate this decision. pope francis is in the middle of an historic day here in new york city from world leaders at the united nations to 9/11 first

responders, the 78-year-old pontiff is reaching out to them all. and many others in between. soon he will visit the children that our lady queen of angels school in harlem. he began by speaking to the united nations general assembly. he then visited the ground zero memorial where e he joined an incredible event of religious solidari solidarity. the pope then walked the museum dedicated to september 11th disaster. here are some of the highlights of the holy father's day so far. >> i have many different feelings involved by being here at