chair and gavel. the house majority leader kevin mccarthy of california a conservative is next in line. a few more calls here. this is ivan from norfolk, virginia. welcome. caller: hi. thank you so much for taking my call. on a normal day i would not give anyone of any party much credit. and i must say that i have more spect for boehner today than i've ever had. and it's my hope that more people in this government will take a page out of his book and, when they see that they are -- and that means the white house and that means also the supreme court, people at the supreme court, not just the

legislative branch, but people in the white house, people in the legislative branch, and people in the judicial, should take a page out of his book. this government sucks. i hate to say that. we have no moral compass and, you know, a lot of people in this country like to go and say that they're conservative or they're liberal and they're only just tags. they don't pay any attention to what these people are doing. they do nothing but make excuses, they make a lot of roblems that, you know, that really have spread us to a quagmire in this country. and i really have, as i said, i like to say that i have a lot of respect for him for realizing what is up, what is at stake. i think that if he had to pray

the prayer saint francis would say, make me a channel of thy peace, i think we should start -- we should send copies of that prayer to everybody in this government. because more of them need to start praying it and they need to get out when they realize that what they brought this country to. host: a couple more calls here. let's hear from ryan in manchester, new hampshire. democrats line. again, going to show you all of this news conference momentarily. hello. caller: thanks for having me on the show. i appreciate it and alove c-span. first, i just want to say that john boehner is the biggest disgrace that we've ever had as a united states speaker of the house. under his leadership this congress has done nothing. it has literally passed less bills than the do-nothing congress of the 1940's. this congress literally does less than nothing under his leadership and he should be ashamed of himself for the way he led this country off the racks.

none of the problems we're facing as a country and a world are being addressed because people like john boehner, our speaker of the house, and mitch mcconnell, as the senate president, they're just sitting on the government and their hands and doing nothing to solve the problems we're facing. host: our coverage of the speaker's announcement will continue this afternoon, coming up at 3:30 live.

speaker boehner:♪ my oh, my what a wonderful day ♪ i used to sing that on my way to work in the morning. less costly, more accountable government. over the last five years, our majority has advanced conservative reforms that will help our children and their children. we're now on track to cut government spending by $2.1 trillion over the next 10 years. we made the first real entitlement reform in nearly two decades. and we protected 99% of the american people from an increase in our taxes. we've done all this with a democrat in the white house. so i'm proud of what we've ccomplished. but more than anything, my first job is -- as speaker is to protect the institution. a lot of you know -- 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 -- but in june of last year when it became clear that the

majority leader lost his election, i didn't frankly believe it was right for me to leave at the end of last year. so my goal was to leave at the end of this year. so i planned actually on my birthday, november 17, to announce that i was leaving at the end of the year. but it's become clear to me that this prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution. so this morning i informed my colleagues i would resign from the speakership and resign from congress at the end of october. now, as you've often heard me say, this isn't about me. it's about the people, it's about the institution. just yesterday we witnessed the awesome sight of pope francis addressing the greatest legislative body in the world. and i hoped 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's the day i'm going to do this. as simple as that. that's the code i 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 and this country and i'm proud of what we've accomplished, especially proud of my team. you know, i've been here my 25th year here and i've succeeded in large part because i 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'm going to thank my family for putting up with this all these years. my poor girls who are now 37 and 35. their first campaign photo was in july of 1981, and so they've

had to endure all this. it's one thing for me to have to endure it. i've got thick skin. but, you know, the girls and my wife, they had to put up with a lot over the years. let me express my gratitude to my constituents who've sent me here 13 times over the last 25 years. you can't get here without getting votes. but -- i say this often. people ask me, what's the greatest thing about being speaker or about being elected official? it's the people you get to eet. i have tens of thousands of people in my own district that i would have not met other than the fact i decided to ran for congress. over the years as i traveled on behalf of my colleagues and the party, i've met tens of thousands of additional people

all over the country. and you meet rich people, you meet poor people, you meet interesting people. probably a few boring ones along the way. but i can tell you that 9.9% of the people i meet on the road anywhere could not be nicer than they've been. it's been -- really, it's been wonderful. it's been an honor to serve in this institution, and with that -- all right, junior, go ahead. reporter: speaker boehner, you were noticeably overcome with emotions yesterday. speaker boehner: really, what a surprise. [laughter] reporter: did you make this decision last night if the grace of pope francis led you to this decision? speaker boehner: no. no. yesterday was weernedful -- yesterday was a wonderful day. it really was. was i emotional yesterday, i think i was. i was really 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 very kind words to me about my commitment to kids and education. the pope puts his arm around me nd pulls me to him and said, please pray for me. well, who am i to pray for the pope but did i. reporter: if it wasn't the ope, then what was it? speaker boehner: listen, it's not about the vote. there was no doubt whether i ould survive the vote. i don't want my members to have to go through this. i certainly don't want the institution to go through this. especially when i knew i was -- i was thinking about walking

out the door anyway. so it's the right time to do it and frankly i am entirely comfortable doing it. reporter: mr. speaker, i heard you say before that a leader who doesn't have anybody following him is a guy taking a walk. speaker boehner: that's right. i have plenty of people following me. but this turmoil that's been churning now for a couple months is not good for the members and it's not good for the institution. and if i wasn't planning on leaving here soon, i can tell you i would not have done this. reporter: 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 they have a victory today, who feel you were pushed out. speaker boehner: no. the members -- i'm glad i made this announcement at the conference with all my republican colleagues because it was a very good moment to help kind of rebuild the eam.

listen, i feel good about what i've done. i know that i every day try to do the right things for the right reasons and try to do the right thing for the country. reporter: mr. speaker, how can this not be a moment for turmoil? [inaudible]you wanted to leave two years ago. you said it would keep the house in turmoil. there's going to be -- speaker boehner: well, i'm -- i'm going to be here for nother five weeks. i'm not going to leave, not going to sit around here and do nothing for the next 30 days. there's a lot of work that needs to be done. i plan on getting it as much as i can before i exit. reporter: does it make it easier to make tougher decisions, maybe relying on democrats to keep the government open? speaker boehner: no. i'm going to make the same decisions i would have made regardless of this. reporter: you've made no secret of your frustration that some

members of the far right and some outside groups used words like knuckleheads and some other words you can't use on television -- speaker boehner: probably. [laughter] reporter: did you just have enough? speaker boehner: i wouldn't describe it as having enough. hat's not it at all. when you are the speaker of the house, you're number one responsibility is to the institution. and having a vote like this in the institution, i don't think is very healthy. and so i've done everything i can over my term as speaker to strengthen the institution. and frankly my move today is another step in that effort to strengthen the institution. reporter: won't the next speaker face the same thing? speaker boehner: hopefully not. reporter: that's my question, mr. speaker. how will washington be different because you leave this institution?

what should people watching this expect the house and congress to do going forward if you're not here? speaker boehner: well, if we -- if the congress stays focused on the american people's priorities, there will be no problem at all. and while we have differences between democrats and 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. i talked to all my legislative leaders who i have a very good relationship with all of them. at the end of the day, the leaders will have to be able to work with each other, trust each other to find the common ground, to get things done. and so if the congress stays focused on what's important to the american people, they'll get along just fine. reporter: can you tell us how your conference reacted to the ews?

speaker boehner: i would say they were shocked, surprised. [laughter] reporter: maybe how the leadership itself reacted? speaker boehner: i told mr. mccarthy about two minutes before i spoke what i was going to do. i told him five times because he didn't believe me. i said, you better believe me. reporter: should mccarthy be the next speaker? speaker boehner: listen, i won't be here to vote on the next speaker but that's up to the members. having said that, i think that kevin mccarthy would make an excellent speaker. reporter: who is the first person you told and what did they say? speaker boehner: well, i told my wife. reporter: what did she say? speaker boehner: she said, good. [laughter] i told my chief of staff and i talked late yesterday. i told him i was thinking today might be the day. and i told him i'd sleep on it. so before i went to sleep last night i told my wife, i might just make an announcement tomorrow. what do you mean? what kind of announcement? tell them it's time to go.

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 today's the day. so my senior staff was having a meeting at 8:45 and kind of walked in before i opened the house and told them, this is the day. it's going to happen someday. why not today? reporter: do you know when the next election might be held? speaker boehner: no. reporter: what advice will you give kevin mccarthy based on your five years, what advice do you give him to avoid the same pitfalls that you've come across? speaker boehner: well, i tell kevin, if he's the next speaker, that his number one responsibility is to protect the institution. nobody else around here has an

obligation like that. secondly, i'd tell him the same thing i just told you. you just do the right thing every day for the right reasons, the right things will happen. you all know me. my colleagues know me. i'm always straight with them. you know, they may not like the answer they get but they'll get an honest answer every single time they come to my office. it's an easier way for me to do my job. reporter: you originally planned to announce it on your birthday. what factors weighed in on your decision to do this now? speaker boehner: just all this tuff i read about in the paper and -- i really don't want the institution to hurt and i don't want my colleagues hurt. i don't want -- i don't want to put my colleagues through all this. for what? yes. reporter: what are you going to miss? what will you miss? speaker boehner: what will i miss? of course all of you. [laughter]

i don't know i'm going to miss because i haven't missed it yet. i'll certainly miss the amaraderie of the house. let me tell you another story that was really kind of interesting. maxine waters and i, democrat from southern california, came here 25 years ago in the same class. now, you know, there's nothing about my politics and maxine waters' politics that is anywhere close, but yesterday about 5:30 she called my office. i got a note she called so i called her back. and she said, i watched you for 25 years here, we came here together and watched your career. and watched you today and she said, i just want to tell you something. i'm really proud of you. you know, listen, i got the best relationships on both sides of the aisle because i

treat people fairly and treat them honestly. but i'm going to certainly miss my colleagues. reporter: thank you, mr. speaker. go back to trying to take turmoil out of the house and stabilizing the institution. how do you think that it could become more stable? several republicans i talked to yesterday from your conference said they don't think a new speaker will mean any new outcome. how could it become more stable? speaker boehner: as i mentioned earlier, the fact i did this with my colleagues this morning, then we proceeded to have an hour and a half conversation, i thought was a unifying moment. between that and the pope's call for living by the golden rule yesterday, hope brings -- hope springs eternal.

reporter: talk about what you think your legacy, what your most important accomplishments, and what will you do on november 1, are you moving to florida? [laughter] speaker boehner: i was never in the legacy business. you all heard me say it, i'm a regular guy with a big job. i never thought i would be in congress much less i would ever be speaker. but people know me as being fair, being honest, being straightforward and trying to do the right thing every day on behalf of the country. i don't need any more. reporter: mr. speaker, you seemed very relieved. speaker boehner: zippidy do-da reporter: what are your plans next and you have spoken -- speak boehner: when you make a decision this morning, you haven't had -- really have anything what you will do in the future. i do know this. i'm doing this today for the

ight reasons, and you know what, the right things will happen as a result. thanks. >> please exit from the back due to the size of the crowd. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] >> house speaker boehner there talking about his resignation. something he says he decided upon very recently, early this morning, praying over it, talking with pope francis and finding some inspiration there as well. we're going to take your phone calls. want to hear what you think about speaker john boehner's decision to resign from congress. numbers up on your screen. host: we'll be taking a look back too at some of the statements that have been made. president obama meeting with the president of china. he also, during joint news conchings in the rose garden, talked about the resignation, praising john boehner for his decision and saying that he

looked forward to working with whomever the republicans decide to put in a leadership position. also want to let you know too, at 3:00 eastern time today we're going to be doing a live of our a live session "news makers" program. we're going to hear from the chair of the republican study committee. and that is texas congressman bill flores. he's going to be joining us live and we'll take your phone calls as well during that. but let's take a look too at the president. he spoke at the rose garden, a tweet here just from huffington post politics. president obama saying that he praises boehner upon his resignation. we'll take a look at that in just a moment. but a few of you are still on the phone lines. want to get to your calls. andrew's calling from somerset, kentucky, republican. caller: hi. i would just like to say that generally speaking i think i've always been a support of senator boehner or excuse me,

representative boehner. but as i considered the fact that he's decided to resign this morning, i'm kind of thinking that it may be a good thing for our country that he does resign. i've always believed that it's a critical thing in our country, that we be a country of laws and a country that upholds the laws that it has. over the past six years, it seems to me that congress is sort -- has sort of abandoned its responsibility of upholding the laws of our country. and that in particular the executive and judicial branches of our government have really trampled all over the legislative branch and i think senator mcconnell and representative boehner have a responsibility in that. and with boehner gone, perhaps we can get a leader in the house that maybe will insist that our laws be upheld. that's what i'm thinking this morning. i hope it all goes well for our country. host: thanks. frank's on the line, las vegas,

nevada, democrat. is that las vegas, nevada, there? frank? caller: no. new mexico. yeah. i'm glad that everybody realizes part of the united states, las vegas, new mexico. i'm calling on regard to boehner. the only thing i would say is he showed no respect at all for the president of the united states. he thought he was over the president. i thought that that was wrong. i felt he should have more respect. and showed more respect. a lot of the problems we have nowadays with our budget and everything has to do with wars. and we have to realize that we gain nothing but wars. and the money we spend, we're so far in debt, russia wants to get into a war over there in syria. but let the russians spend their money. get in a war like we did before. they're going to find out, it's a mess. they're not going to solve

anything over there. we should just sit back and watch them spend their money. we're bankrupt already. it's just time. that's all i needed to say. thank you. host: thanks for the call, frank. republican line, ana's joining us from florida. caller: yes. i wanted to say that my heart goes out to boehner. i believe he's a good man. he's stepping aside because he wants to, i mean, god bless him, and take care of him. but i think we need to get nancy pelosi out of there. that's the one that needs to get out of there. our country is in bad shape. ever since obama took over and messed this stuff up with the medicine and the medical stuff, my husband had good insurance d now we have just the other

insurance for old people like me that are going to be 80. but i praise god i'm still alive to praise him. and others that get their hands up and praise him too. thank you so much. i hope god gives you a blessed day. host: thanks. on to san diego, california. democrats line. we've got jinette. caller: hi. i respect boehner more today because him and all the republicans disrespected president obama bec h because h and he's a democrat. and the only job they wanted to get done was make him a one-term president. they didn't want us to have health care. i need health care. a lot of people need hea health care. i love my health care. all a he did was talk, let the

voters down by not getting anything done that makes this country great again. host: thanks for the call. we're going to be taking your phone calls throughout the afternoon. but first let's take a look on the heels of speaker john boehner making his announcement that he would be resigning at the end of october, president obama was holding a joint press conference in the rose garden and he addressed the speaker's resignation a little bit during his remarks. president obama: on john boehner, i just heard the news as i was coming out of the meeting here. it took me by surprise. i took the time prior to this press conference to call john directly and talk to hit -- to him. john boehner's a good man. he is a patriot, he cares deeply about the house and the

institution in which he served for a long time. he cares about his constituents . and he cares about america. we have obviously had a lot of disagreements and politically we're at different ends of the spectrum. but i will tell you he's always conducted himself with courtesy and civility with me. he has kept his word when he made a commitment. he's somebody who has been gracious and i think maybe most importantly he's somebody who understands that in government, in governance, you don't get 100% of what you want, but you have to work with people who you disagree with, sometimes strongly, in order to do the people's business. who ot going to prejudge the next speaker will be. that's something that will have

to be worked through in the house. d i will certainly reach out immediately to whoever is the new speaker to see what his or her ideas are and how we can make progress on the important issues that america faces. the one thing i will say is that my hope is there's a recognition on the part of the next speaker, something i think john understood, even though at times it was challenging to bring his caucus along, that we can have significant differences on issues but that doesn't mean you shut down the government, that doesn't mean ou risk the full faith and credit of the united states, you don't invite potential financial crises, you build roads and pass transportation

bills and you do the basic work of governance that ensures that our military's operating and that our national parks are open and that our kids are learning. and there's no weakness in that. that's what government is. in our democracy. you don't get what you want 100% of the time. so sometimes you take half a loaf, sometimes you take a quarter loaf. that's certainly something that i've learned here in this office. i'm looking forward to working with the next speaker and in the meantime, john's not going to leave for another 30 days, so hopefully he feels like getting as much stuff done as he possibly can and i'll certainly be looking forward to working with oim on that. host: we're taking your phone calls. we want to hear what you think about the story of the day, speaker of the house john boehner deciding he's going to be resigning at the end of

october. numbers up on your screen. we've got a couple calls here to go to. henry in daskenport, florida, independents line. what do you think? host: well, it couldn't have come any sooner. for me. i think he, as well as mcconnell, need to go. i think when we voted in a conservative house and senate, when the elections came around, we thought something was going to be done. but it seemed to be that what happened is that we were betrayed. america feels betrayed by boehner and mcconnell. and the party. they feel like they've been hung out to dry. as far as i'm concerned, good ridance, i hope he has a good life ahead of him, i hold nothing against him personally, but as far as in government, it

was a wrong fit. host: all right. call from west virginia, oak hill, on the democrats line. ina? ginita. go ahead. caller: back here a few years ago, thank you for having me, by the way, back here a few years ago he was instrumental in wanting the government shutdown. my little friend came to me in tears wanting to know how she was going to meet her bills, etc., etc. i explained to her that the politicians in washington take what we would have for our little check every month for their lunch or brunch or whatever, and they don't care about us. i think this is a good day, that he's stepping down, but why today, when the pope is here? i think that something that big that's hitting our country, he should not take away from that and i don't think it was very classy. thank you for having me.

host: thanks for the call there. from west virginia. a look here at one -- something of what ginita was talking about. the group of seven, this gang was called, or gang of seven, back in the day, when the speaker was newt gingrich and a number of conservative members of the caucus taking the rein notice house and of course there john boehner. pennsylvania, democrats line, go ahead, carl. caller: all i can say is, we should have the pope talk to few more of the people, if that's the results of him talking to boehner. he could help us clean the house. that's the best thing i could come up with. i appreciate your call. host: thanks for the call. caller: let's see if we can't get the pope to talk personally to a few of the other keys. thank you.

host: st. petersburg, florida, independent line. caller: hello? host: hi. you're on the air. caller: hi. how are you? host: very good, thanks. caller: i'm trying to do well. a lot of people know my nickname is cotag. but thank you for having me on. what i really wanted to say is, i'm glad that he resigned. i think anybody that does not have any sympathy for the mentally disaged or the poor, the homeless, -- disabled, or the poor, the homeless, should resign in our government. i also believe that people in our government could take a cut of heir own pay instead raising taxes and putting the burden on the american people. host: you feel speaker boehner was that kind of person? caller: in a way, i think he was. because it takes more than one voice to destroy america. maybe he could have been more

-- fighting more strongly for the welfare of the poor and the homeless and the disabled. host: all right. crystal's calling, new bedford, massachusetts, democrat. you've got the floor. caller: thank you, c-span, for taking my call. i just want to say, i am so happy that speaker boehner is leaving. i really think that the pope had some kind of affect on him. honestly. i mean, this guy's blatant disrespect for president obama was just so blatant. he just seemed to be so prejudiced against poor people and black people and just people of color. i am so glad that he's leaving. and obama was on television saying that he was, you know, speaking like highly of him, saying he was gracious and i'm like, he was anything but gracious to obama.

but obama goes out with class, as usual. thank you for taking my call. host: let's take a look at one of the people who could replace speaker john boehner. this is kevin mccarthy, california. he says, it takes profound humility to step down from a position of power and john's depth of character is unmatched. host: possibly taking his seat. we could see what's going to be happening there on the house as they decide who their new leader will be. michael's on the line, richmond, virginia, independent. hi, michael. caller: hi. yes. i'm a veteran and also an independent voter that leans toward the democrats. john boehner, i have all due respect for him. much more than he showed our commander in chief, president obama. with that being said, i do have

respect for john boehner and i have more respect for him now because he lost the leadership of his party and with that he had to lead, he had to follow or get out of the way. he lost the leadership, i know he wuents be able to follow -- he wouldn't be able to follow, so by resigning he's getting out of the way. i appreciate him for that. thank you. host: on to scottsdale, arizona a, angie on the line, rp. -- republican. caller: hi. good afternoon. i would like to say that i have a really great respect for mr. ehner and his republican vote. i'm not really sure if , erybody knows what his job the speaker of the house is. he has no control over everything. cannot control what other

members have. he has a specific job to do and everybody blames him that he has only so much power in there. so he did what he could do to make good things. he can only do so much. can only do so much work, other representatives -- he can only do so much with the president. all the power he can have and all he can do with the president and for all the people in there calling and saying that he disrespect the president, i'm sorry, he was he only his job and -- host: he also talked earlier today about comparing trying to work with some people in the house, trying to keep all the frogs in the wagon. so i think he also saw it as a

pretty difficult job as well. bob's on the line, tampa, florida, democrat. hi, bob. caller: hi. ok. tampa, florida. i just heard about the speaker's resignation. i was watching msnbc and chris matthews came on and he made a comment. i think you know who chris matthews is. nd's a host of "hardball" on msnbc. ok. anyhow, his idea fit just with my idea. several months ago the senate passed a comprehensive bipartisan ill, a bill with republicans on it. and yet boehner refused to bring it up for a vote in the house. and we thought at the time, and

i think now, if he brought it up in the house, it would probably pass. it would have to take all of the democrats and some of the republicans but it boose. the president could sign it -- it would pass. the democrats could sign it and our immigration problem would be well on the way to being solved. i think that's what he should do. he's third in line to be the president of the united states. he's speaker of the whole house. and he should let the whole house vote and then he'll be remembered in the history books. host: thanks for the call there. let's take a look at some tweets from reporters here --

host: call from milton, wisconsin, independent line. hi, jean. caller: hi. i called to say i am so happy he's gone. and next time they want to close down the government, congress should not be paid either. that's all i got to say. thank you, thanks, bye. host: thanks for the call. take a look at what the senate leadership had to say about john boehner. john boehner saying he would leave his position of leadership and also his seat at the end of ofpblgt -- october. >> these are the things that come to mind when i think of john boehner. he's an ally, he's a friend.

he took over as republican leader at a very difficult time. er for his party. -- for his party. some said 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 dispirited republican minority into the largest republican majority since the 190s. -- 1920's. that's a legacy few can match. he flew across the country more times than he can count to support members of his conference, to recruit new members to the cause and as the leader of a new majority, he turned the tide in congress and brought conservative reform in many areas. he worked tirelessly to provide

hope to those who dreamed of a better life and to middle class families who struggled under the weight of this administration. john knows what it's like to struggle and to dream of something better. he's lived it. young man from redding, ohio, yielding a bar towel who could one day yield the gavel of the u.s. house of representatives, it reminds us of the continuing promise of this country. we all know yesterday was an incredibly important event for the speaker. it was his aim to bring the same spirit of grace that has always guided his life to others. he only had to look out onto the capitol lawn to see what he achieved. and that he chose this moment to make this decision means

he's willing to leave us in a similar spirit. i know we'll all have more to say then, but for now, thank you. senator reid: i, like america, was stunned this morning to learn that john bainer is going to resign in the if you -- john boehner is going to resign in the new few weeks. i've had a relationship with john boehner for a long time. his becoming speaker of course made those relations much more close. i have not always agreed and i wasn't always happy with what john told me, but he never, ever misled me. he never, ever told me something that wasn't true and i accepted that. i got where i understood john boehner very, very well.

his word was always good. we had a lot of dealings, so-called back channel meetings , everyone knows that a lot of things that we do are not in the public eye. certainly some things we worked on together perhaps wouldn't have worked out very well in the public eye, but there are things we had to do to get things done. i had a very good relationship with john boehner. my staff got along with his. he's had two chiefs of staff and they've both been terrific to work with. my staff has reached out to them on several occasions in very difficult times and they had a good relationship. i have no doubt that everything that john boehner has done has been done with fact in mind that he was doing his best for

the people of his district in ohio and our country. he had a very difficult job, mr. president. you served under john boehner as presiding officer, know what a tough job he had. he had this faction, that faction, that faction, and a couple more. by ousting a man like john boehner, a good man like john boehner, he's a conservative republican, but his problem is that john boehner's been pragmatic. he realizes there comes times a deal. have to make and i say to the presiding officer and everyone within the sound of my voice, i note president eisenhower, never met him, never saw him, but ronald reagan, i was here when he was president. he had conservative country

dentials -- country dentials, but -- credentials. but ronald reagan was somebody who understood the art of compromise. who else could have worked out omething with the soviet union ? i'm not sure there's anybody. ronald reagan was able to do that. but i'm so concerned. i am seeing the republican party not the party of dwight eisenhower as i've studied him or the man ronald reagan as i knew him. i just think it's very, very sad that the tea party caucus, the republican leaders have graced to win seats in 2010, i guess now have taken over control of the party. to say that i will miss john boehner is a tremendous nderstatement. i looked out for him in ways that i could, and he looked out

for me in the ways that he could. i will always consider john boehner my friend and i look forward to working with him until he leaves. i understand this will be in late october. but i'll continue to work him as i have in the past, to try to do what i think is the right thing for the country as i'm confident he will. and hopefully we'll continue some place there in the middle to get things done. i've gotten things done with john boehner that i wasn't happy with. and he wasn't happy with what we had to come up with. but sometimes you do the best you can. i wish john boehner the very best in the future. whatever i can do to make his life more pleasant, i'll be happy to do that. whether it's setting up a golf game for him in las vegas or helping him in some government manner, i'll do whatever i can because john boehner, as far as i'm concerned, is a good man

and it's a gross understatement to say i will miss him. i will. host: take your phone calls on the resignation announced today of the house speaker, john boehner, get to a couple of your phone calls here in just a minute. also just replaying some of the events of the day, the speaker's remarks will have those later in the 3:00 hour eastern time. numbers up on your screen. host: we've got lisha on the line from dayton, ohio. democrat. caller: yes, ma'am. i've been waiting for this day a very long time. for eight years biner's -- boehner's been in control. he wants to stop my social security. i'm on disability.

i have multiple screr owe sis. and people conscious multiple sclerosis. people can't afford this high cost of medicine. i have medicine that costs $300 to get filled and i have to pay for that. and i just don't think getsed middle class people. we're not middle class anymore. we're down at the totem pole. no matter how hard -- my husband works and do what he needs to do to take care of the house, it's still not enough because the way he wants to play politics in office. and i'm so happy and pleased today that he recognized the pope. it took the pope to let him know that, you're not for peace. u're all about confusion and breaking up and disrespectfulness and i just think, i just think it was the perfect thing for him to do for the world. host: do you think whoever

takes over after john boehner is going to make those issues any better for you? caller: truly, not really. but i'm just praying to god that the person that gets his job will not be so confrontational and can work to both parties and come the correct solution for america, the american people that's on disabilities, for any reasons at all, our troops, their family. i just hope they take all of this stuff that's been happening for the last eight years and turn it around and can work with the new president of the united states. host: republicans line, we have bob here waiting, calling from bountiful, utah. caller: hi. yes. i attended a meeting with my particular representative,

chris stewart. chris took the time to kind of set the record straight and help us understand why we were all frustrated with the lack of progress in our federal government. things being -- not being addressed that needed to be addressed. and he very specifically said, since we have assumed leadership in the house and senate, the house has passed a number of bills that have gone on to the senate and then filibustered by harry reid and the democrats. in other words, the bills are not being addressed at all. senate -- [inaudible] -- with only 41 people and that's what's going on. that's why there is no progress. i'm sure that john boehner is just as frustrated with the lack of progress that we all are. as an example, we have an entitlement that is due to go

bankrupt in about a year. the president will not address that particular problem and says that the next president will have to address it. you just had a caller regarding the subject of an entitlement, to assist in those people who are handicapped and have difficulty. the affordable care act is not sustainable in its current particular situation. the reason that we're having some of the entitlements go bankrupt is because we have so many people that are being assisted that have never paid a nickel into the entitlement through taxes. host: just want to get a couple calms in here. thanks for the call there from utah. independents line, we haval an calling from -- we have alen calling from washington, d.c. caller: hi, it's great to be with you. i've been studying the student loan problem for many years.

over 10 years now. i can tell you that of all the legislatorses in congress or the senate, john boehner is primarily -- he was head and shoulders above the rest -- as being responsible for the removal of free market protections from student loans. including bankruptcy protections, the right to refinance student loan debt. john boehner has been the worst friend of crony capitalists at least on the student loan problem that i can name. the $1.5 trillion that this nation is now encumbered by is directly attributeable to john boehner. -- family al connections, familial connections, he got his daughter a job over a game of golf, receiving the most money from the student loan

interest that was clearly for the banks and clearly against the citizens and completely against free market principles, i might add, are very telling about john boehner. i would only request that mr. boehner, in the month that he has left in congress, he, at minimum, return the standard bankruptcy protections that are afforded to our citizens by our nation's constitution. he should have never done this should have never been a party to the removal of bankruptcy protections for student loans. and he must absolutely return them before he leaves office. host: thanks for the call there in d.c. one more call here from washington. dr. winberry. democrats line. caller: yes. good afternoon. am i on? host: you are, go ahead. caller: yes. i am in the district. i was surprised this morning at the resignation of the speaker. but really it was not

unexpected. he seems to be between a rock and a hard place with the far right members of his conference. i think probably he would like to do the right thing, that being compromise and meet the democrats. but the members of the conference that are so far to the right, i think he saw the hand writing on the wall and, had he not resigned, possibly they would have removed him. think a replacement could be his -- the -- i guess it's the majority leader mccarthy or possibly nancy pelosi. i think from my high school civics, the speaker of the house does not have to be a member of the house of

representatives. if i recall from my high school civics. maybe we could find someone who is not in government at all that would come in to lead the house of representatives. host: right now it looks like, after getting a tweet here from jake sherman, texas delegation is meeting in the capitol, discussing their leadership options. then one more tweet here -- host: nancy's on the line. savannah, georgia, republican. hi, nancy. caller: hi. i just wanted to say that i think john boehner did a very, very good job with what he was dealt with. the president only said that he had the power of the veto and the power of the pen and the hone and harry reid always was filibustering. i heard everyone say it was up to john bainer to take care of

these social issues. the spanish lady that you had really made the most sense because she understands that john boehner is not in charge of all of these things and it takes the whole place to put it together. but you have to look at the president who honestly insisted that he would veto almost anything that the republicans tried to put through. so i do wish john boehner the very, very best. i think he was a wonderful gentleman, true to the country and a very good man -- american. host: thanks for the call. let's take a look here. we spoke to a reporter earlier and talked a little bit more about speaker boehner's resignation and what it means. host: scott wong is a senior reporter from the hill. why is the speaker stepping down? guest: he's stepping down because of enormous pressure from conservative members in his own g.o.p. conference who have been pressuring him to stand firm and fight tooth and nail against any federal dollars for planned parenthood.

these conservatives have been threatening to shut down the government at the end of this month, by next week in fact, over this planned parenthood issue. the speaker and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell realized that would be disastrous for the g.o.p. party. in the middle of a big election year. so the speaker fell on his sword and says, we are going to push through a clean government funding bill, we're going to keep the government open and in doing so i will sacrifice myself and resign from the speakership and step down from congress. host: you tweeted that close boehner allies were visibly frustrated in recent days. now we know why. was this news sudden to them and sudden and unexpected to the broader conference as well? guest: it certainly was sudden

to the -- even boehner's closest friends in congress. nunes, who had made some very aggressive remarks towards these conservatives, just days ago, calling them right wing marxists and nancy pelosi republicans, he was clearly, you know, visibly upset over efforts to depose the speaker. he said that he only found out this morning at the meeting. cathy mcmorris rogers, the number four republican leader, part of boehner's leadership team, said somebody slipped her a note right before the meeting saying, boehner was going to resign after meeting. kevin mccarthy, who is presumed to be the speaker in waiting says, he tells us that he only found out two minutes before the meeting began. so this was very sudden. but of course the timing of his resignation is important. it comes one day after a historic day at the capitol yesterday, with pope francis

addressing a joint meeting of congress, the first time ever that's happened and something that was very meaningful to speaker boehner, who himself is a catholic. host: the speaker host: the speaker addressed the turmoil in his conference in his statement. he said it's my view that the turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution. to that end, i will resign the speakership and my seat in congress on october 30. address nation doesn't clearing that up or getting a continuing resolution in the house. how does that get done? guest: i think the way that gets done is a group of more moderate moderate ies, republicans, will be teaming up

with nancy peso -- pelosi to pass through a cleaned bill, that will anger conservatives because it would con teen funding for planned parenthood, but the upside is the goth wouldn't shut don and the g.o.p. wouldn't be blamed for a shutdown in the middle of this election year. i think the speaker also recognized that there were a number of other fiscal issues that were going to be coming up late they are fall in which he would be having the same sort of ght with the party's right side. so this was an issue that was untenable, it's not going to go away. he was going to continue to have to deal with these conservatives in his own party and i think he realize head had come to the end and wanted to go out with a bang and did so with inviting the pope and having a very

successful visit by pope francis yesterday. host: and who's the top name being mentioned to replace speaker bayne her guest: speaker boehner's number two, the majority leader kevin mccarthy of california is the prohibitive favorite, seen as somebody who could lock up 218 votes necessary to be elected speaker. but i'm expecting some sort of challenge from a red state lawmaker, given that mccarthy has been closely aligned with boehner and hails from the bluest of blue states, california. host: scott wong is senior staff writer at "the hill." read more at thehill.com and llow him on twitter, @scottwongdc. host: and back to your calls,

rhonda from oceanside, california. caller: hello, kind of hard to follow mr. wong there. but i just want to say something i observed in watching mr. boehner's speech. that i didn't think he had it in him. i thought he was a complete sellout with the rest of the g.o.p. and in listening to his speech, i heard someone ask him about his legacy, and he said he wasn't a person looking for, never been a person about legacy , one was creating one against the american people and the loss of the american people having any kind of say to their needs and the g.o.p. taking over with the loss of interest of the american people voting and for him to meet -- for bayner to

meet the pope and finally have a come to jesus moment, as you could say, i saw some real sincerity there and i was touched. it is a good time for him to bow out because it's just going to get worse. i think it's going to be a repeat of when obama came to office and the g.o.p. had built a wall of, no crossing the line or working with them. host: veronica, do you have an idea of who you'd want to replace him is this or what kind of leader you want in that role? caller: oh, i wish i was that knowledgeable. but it is such an important -- all iand i can only can say is go, bernie. host: and from dayton ohio, republican. caller: yes. i'm calling about john boehner's

-- his resignation. and to me, he and the congresspeople just didn't get anything done. maybe it's because they didn't want to work with him, that's the way i kept hearing it, and they didn't want to work with president obama, and they were always fighting him. it was just like in the senate and congress, that's all they've been doing is fighting, fighting, fighting. scandal, scandal, scandal. it's like that's all they want to do is have hearings on people and it's nothing about jobs, it's nothing about health care, i know that they're against obamacare but have something else. if you're against that, have something else, have another health care. but they didn't -- they never had come up with anything like that. and they just seemed like they

was against the poor folk the middle class people, all the time. don't keep you know, us from being at least successful and living comfortable lives so, you know, i'm sorry he stepped down but that's just the way it goes when people work with the leadership. host: right. charles, let's take a look here at some tweets, from fox news reporter chad pergram. process one, unclear if kevin mccarthy of california succeeds boehner, if so, the house g.o.p. will pick a new majority leader. if scalise moves up, then there'll be a vote for the whip. after boehner leaves the house

he'll have 246 republicans. the number to elect the speaker is 218. process three, if the house votes for speaker, if there's no successful candidate on the first ballot, house keeps voting. process four, speaker gillette took four ballots in 1923 to get re-elected, record is 1856, 133 ballots over two months to elect nathaniel banks speaker. and let's look at some of what marco rubio, presidential candidate and senator from florida had to say about the resignation of the speaker and he actually announced it during the values voters summit this morning. mr. rubio: we'll see how things go.

just a few minutes ago, speaker boehner announced he will be resigning. cheers and applause] and with all due respect to people that serve in government, it is important at this moment, with respect to him and the service he's provided to our country, it's not about him or anybody else, i'm not here today to bash anyone, but the time has come to turn the page. the time has come to turn the page and allow a new generation of leadership in this country. host: again that values voters summit under way. check it out on our companion network c-span3. and look at a tweet sent out by the speaker himself, john

boehner. say, i succeeded in large part because i put together a great staff, many of whom have been with me for a listening time. there's a look inside his offices. also want to let you know that at 3:30 p.m. eastern time, about 20 minutes away, we'll take you live to our "newsmakers" interview today, that will be with congressman bill flores, he'll be interviewed by david herzonhorn of the "new york times." stay with us for that at 3:30 while we take more of your phone calls. matthew calling from illinois, democrat. i, matthew, you're on. caller: i'd first like to say, first time c-span caller. host: welcome. caller: thank you. next i'd like to say i've never been a big fan of speaker boehner but after i thought about it today, he has a heck of

a job controlling all sorts of fringes of his party and i would like to say thank you, mr. speaker, and god bless you in your future. thank you. host: thanks for the call there. bill from connecticut. caller: hi. i want to echo the woman caller from a few callers back who was the democrat who said go bernie, i want to sago, bernie sanders myself. regarding john boehner. i fear now that we're going to get someone obviously much more conservative, like kvetch mccarthy who is a tea partier, very close to the right wing tea party point of view of the republican party. and i think this is dangerous and it's going to make the ideological divide even worse, far worse. i think as a democrat myself a liberal progressive democrat and an atheist also myself, i'm concerned about not only

fundamentalist christianity aligned with the republican party, which it is, but also gerrymandering in many, many states, which is how, starting in 2010, with the gerrymandering, republicans were able to capture so many districts for the house of representatives. with the senate as well as the president, the whole state votes for senators and the whole state votes for president. but with the congress, the districts, like john boehner's district or any other congressional district, it can be gerrymandered so you can get virtually 95%, 9 % republicans voting and a small minority who are democrats or independents, they can work it out so that almost certainly republicans as well as incumbents in general, even democratic incumbents but in this case republicans, republicans in congress, always keep winning and that's how you get more of a divide in the country. so i just think buzz of gerrymandering, the republicans do far, far, far worse than democrats.

that's why we're in such an ulterly ultra divisive era in our country. host: let's look at what some of the immediate fallout, i guess you could call it from speaker boehner. this is from cq news. host: ron is on the line from california. republican. hi, ron. caller: how you doing today in host: good, thanks. caller: just got a comment on the boehner issue. congress and everything in general. i expect everybody's, you know,

opinion on the situation but i'm going to tell you what the biggest problem in america is, people are too programmed, they don't learn what's really going n. boehner actually, people don't realize, he took $5 million to ass the t.p.p. mccarthy who is coming behind him is the same kind of person. i'm a republican myself but really we're, all these people are talking about who is doing what, we're replacing him with the same kind of person, these corporatists, we need somebody who cares about america, gets in there. we need somebody from a red state, somebody not, you know, these rich kind of mccarthy type

people, but that's what they'll replace him with. talk about rubio, rubio actually, he was the last vote for the t.p.p. if it wasn't for if him, the t.p.p. wouldn't have been passed. i like donald trump a lot but you know, donald trump, people need to stop -- get off their mind about the way he talks and all that and find out what he's always about. host: i want to get one more call in here, michael son the line, independent. we'll take a look at john boehner's resignation, his statement to the reporters during the news conference, but michael go ahead. you've got the floor. caller: can you hear me? host: yeah. go ahead. caller: ok, i'm a disabled veteran, retired disabled. and i took care of government while i was in the service for 0

years and was wounded and let go. but anyways, what people aren't addressing is the problem which i see, when the bushes were in office we had cap and trade. one of our last presidents. and then all of a sudden you see another president come in, a emocrat, who puts in another product, the bailout, basically and you see politicians taking from the middle income, we had to pay for t.o.p. and the ilout and the -- and we -- they hurt the middle income people so bad that main street is no longer, i mean, it's been so bad for main street and wall street, the execs are getting

paid bonuses. the insurance companies are off -- up up in the air, they're making money, but the middle income people are no longer viable. and i see both sides of the spectrum. of the aisle. they're planning the american government. host: all right, michael, thanks for the call. we want to take a look at what speaker boehner said earlier today in his press conference. also a reminder, 3:30 a few minutes from now, we'll be taking you lye to our "newsmakers" program and hear from the chair of the republican study committee, bill flores of texas. but first a look back at speaker boehner's press conference. >> ♪ my, oh, my, what a wonderful day ♪ used to sing that on my way to work every morning.

my mission every day is to have a smaller, less costly, more accountable government. over the last five years our majority has advanced conservative reforms that will help our children and their children. we're now on track to cut government spending by $2.1 trillion over the next 10 years. we made the first real entitlement reform in nearly two decades. and we've protected 99% of the american people from an increase in taxes. we've done all of this with a democrat in the white house. so i'm proud of what we accomplished. more than anything, my first job as speaker is to protect the institution. i'll have you know -- a lot of you know, 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 ave been plenty. but in june of last year, it

became clear that the majority leader lost his election, i frankly didn't believe it was right for me to leave at the end of last year. so my goal was to leave at the end of this year. so i planned, actually on my birthday, november 17, to announce i was leaving at the end of the year. but it's become clore to me that this prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution. so this morning i informed my colleagues that i would re-sign from the speakership and resign from congress at the end of october. now, as you've often heard me say, this isn't about me. it's about the people, it's about the institution. just yesterday, we witnessed the awesome sight of pope francis addressing 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 thinking about this. this morning i woke up and said my prayers, as i always do, and i decided, you know, today's the day i'm going to do this. as simple as that. that's the code i've always lived by if you do the right things for the right reason the right things will happen. i know good things lie ahead for this house in this country and i'm proud of what we've accomplished, especially proud of my team. i've been here, this is my 25th year here. i've succeeded in large part because i 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'm going to thank my family for putting up with us all these years. my poor girls who are now 37 and 35, their first campaign photo 1981. july of

so they've had to endure all this. it's one thing for me to have to endure it, i've got thick skin. but the girls and my wife, they've had to put up with a lot over the years. let me express my gratitude to my constituents who have sent me here 13 times over the last 25 years. you can't get here without getting votes. i say this often, people ask me, what's the greatest thing about being speaker? or about being an elected official? and i said, it's the people you get to meet. i've met tens of thousands of people in my own congressional district that i would never have met other than the fact that i decided to run for congress. over the years, as i have traveled on behalf of my colleagues and the party, i've

met tens of thousands of additional people all over the country. you meet rich people you meet poor people, you meet interesting people, probably a few boring ones along the way. but i can tell you that 99.9% of the people i meet on the road, anywhere, could not be nicer than they've been. it's been -- it's been wonderle. it's been an honor to serve in this institution. with that, all right, junior, go ahead. >> you were noticeably overcome with emotion yesterday. speaker boehner: really? what a surprise. >> did you reach this decision last night, did meeting pope francis lead you to this decision? speaker boehner: no, no. yesterday was a wonderful day.

i was emotional yesterday. and i was really emotional in a moment that no one saw as the pope and i were getting ready to exit the build, we found ourselves alone. and the pope grabbed my left arm and said some very kind words to -- to my commitment kids and education. the pope put his arm around me and kind of pulled me to him and said, please pray for me. well, who am i to pray for the pope? but i did. >> [inaudible] speaker boehner: it wasn't about the vote. i don't want my members to go through this, i don't want the institution to go through this, especially when i knew i was thinking about walking out the

door anyway. it's the right time to do it and i'm entirely comfortable doing it. >> mr. speaker, i've heard you say before that a leader who doesn't have anybody following him is just a guy taking a walk. speaker boehner: that's right. i've got plenty of people following me but this turmoil that's been churning now for a couple of months is not good for the members and it's not good for the institution. if i wasn't planning on leaving here soon, i can tell you i would not have done this. >> if i may continue. there are people who are on the right in your caucus and even outside of this institution who have been wanting you to step down for some time who feel that they have a victory today. who feel you were pushed out. speaker boehner: no. the members -- i'm glad i made this announcement at the conference with all my republican colleagues because it was a very good moment to help

kind of rebuild the team. listen, i feel good about what i've done. i try to do the right thing for the right reasons and tried to do the right thing for the country. how can this not be tur mile, you talk about the turmoil. you have to keep the government open. speaker boehner: i'm going to be here for another five weeks. i'm not going to sit around here and do nothing for 30 days. there's a lot of work that needs to be done. i plan on getting as much of it done as i can before i exit. >> as a result, though, does that make it easier to make some tougher decisions, maybe work with democrats to keep the government open? speaker boehner: i'm going to

make the same decisions i would have made regardless. >> you have made no secret of your frustration with the far right members of your caucus, you've called them words like knuckleheads and probably some words you can't use on television. speaker boehner: probably. >> have you just had enough? speaker boehner: i would not describe it as having had enough. that's not it at all. when you're 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 think is very healthy. so aye done everything i can over my term as speaker to strengthen the institution and frankly my move today is another step in that effort to strengthen the institution. >> won't the next speaker face the same problems? speaker boehner: hopefully not. >> that's my question, how will

washington be different because you leave this institution? what should people watching this expect the house and congress to do going forward if you're not here? speaker boehner: if we -- if the congress stays focused on the american people's priorities, there will be no problem at all. and while we have differences between democrats and republicans, the goal here, as one of the leaders, is to find the common ground. i thought president bush and president obama this morning, i talked to all my legislative leaders who i have a very good relationship with all of them. at the end of the day, the leaders have to be able to work with each other, trust each other, to find the common ground, to get things done. and so the congress stays focused on what is important to the american people, they're going -- they'll get along just fine. >> can you tell us how your conference reacted to the news? speaker boehner: i'd say they were shocked.

>> can you elaborate a little more? maybe how the leadership reacted? speaker boehner: i told mr. mccarthy about two minutes before i spoke what i was going to do. he didn't believe it. i said, you better believe me. >> should mccarthy be the next speaker? speaker boehner: i'm not going to be here to vote on the next speaker, that's up to the members. having said that, i think kevin mccarthy would make an excellent speaker. >> who is the first person you told and what did they say? speaker boehner: i told my wife. >> what did she say? speaker boehner: good. i told my chief of -- my chief and i -- chief of staff and i talked late yesterday. i told him i was thinking that today might be the day. and i told him i'd sleep on it system of before i went to sleep, i told my wife, i said i might make an announcement tomorrow.

what do you mean, what kind of announcement? well, it's time to go. so this morning i woke up and went up to starbucks and got my coffee, read, walks up to pete's diner, saw everybody at pete's and got home and thought, yeah, i think today's the day. so my senior staff was having a meeting at 8:45, i kind of walked in before i opened the house and told them, this is the day. it's going to happen someday, why not today? >> do you know when the next election might be held? speaker boehner: no. >> what advice would you give kevin mccarthy to avoid the same pitfalls you had? speaker boehner: i'd tell kevin, if he's the next speaker, that

his number one obligation is the institution. nobody else has an obligation like that. i'd tell him the same thing i told you. do the right thing every day, for the right reasons and the right things will happen you all know me, my colleagues know me. i'm always straight with them. they may not like the answer they give but they'll get an honest answer every single time they come to my office. it's an easy way for me to do my job. >> you originally planned this announcement on your birthday. if it wasn't the pope, what factor weighed on your decision to do it now? speaker boehner: just stuff i read about in the paper, you know, it's -- i really don't want the institution hurt and i don't want my colleagues hurt. i don't want to put my colleagues through all this. for what? >> what will you miss? speaker boehner: what will i

miss? of course, all of you. i don't know what i'm going to miss because i haven't missed it yet. i'll certainly miss the camaraderie of the house. let me tell you another story. that was really kind of interesting. maxine waters and i, democrat from southern california, came here 25 years ago in the same class. now, you know, there's nothing about my politics and maxine waters' politics that's even anywhere close but yesterday about 5:30 she called my office. i got a note she called so i called her back. and she said, i've watched you for 25 years here, we came here together, i've watched your career. and i watched you today and i just want to tell you something. i'm read -- i'm really proud of you. listen, i've got the best

relationships on both sides of the aisle because i treat people fairly and treat them honestly and i'm going to miss, certainly i'm going to miss my colleagues. >> going back to the theme of trying to take someone out of the house and stabilize the institution, how do you think that it will become more stable? several republicans i talked to today said they don't think a new speaker will mean any new outcome? -- any new outcome. so how could it become more stable? speaker boehner: as i mentioned earlier, the fact that i did this with my colleagues this morning, then we proceeded to have an hour and a half conversation, i thought was a unifying moment. and between that and the pope's call for living by the golden rule yesterday, hope springs eternal.

>> talk about what you think your legacy is, your accomplishments and what are you going to do first? speaker boehner: i was never in the legacy business. you all heard me say it, i'm a regular guy with a big job. i never thought i'd be in congress, much less ever be speaker. but people know me as being fair, being honest, being straightforward. and trying to do the right thing every day on behalf of the country. i don't need any more than that. >> speaker boehner, you see very relieved. ♪ >> what are your plans, also, have you spoken to -- speaker boehner: when you make a decision this morning you haven't had any time to think about what i'm going to do in the future. i have no idea. ut i do know this.

i'm doing this today for the right reasons and the right hings will happen as a result. host: a lock at speaker john boehner before he became speaker in 1990. this is the gang of seven. they took on the house banking scandal. the post office scandal. we've got charles taylor of north carolina here. rick santorum, former presidential candidate. jim nussel of iowa, frank riggs and john dolittle of california, and there's speaker john boehner, 1990. becoming part of the group that worked with newt gingrich on the contract for america and announcing today he would be resigning his office at the end of october. let's bring you updates on that, of course we'll be following as the republican december side who their new leader will be. also want to let you know we'll be taking you live to "newsmakers" shortly, we'll be

talking with the chair of the republican study committee, congressman bill flores, joining us, texas congressman, and he'll e interviewed by david herzenhorn and susan varicchio. stick with us shortly for that. we'll be bringing you livement let's take a look at some of the other announcements today and remarks regarding speaker john boehner's decision that he's going to be stepping down. president obama talked about it during his joint news conference with the president of china in the white house rose garden. president obama: on john boehner, i just heard the news as i was coming out of the meeting here. so it took me by surprise. i took the time prior to this press conference to call john irectly and talk to him.

you know, john bayner is a good man. he is a patriot. he cares deeply about the house, an institution in which he's served for a long time. he cares about his constituents. nd he cares about america. we have obviously had a lot of disagreements and politically we're as -- we're at different ends of the spectrum but i will tell you he's always conducted himself with courtesy and civility with me. he has kept his word when he made a commitment. e is somebody who has been gracious. and i think maybe most importantly, he's somebody who understands that in government, in governance, you don't get 100% of what you want, but you have to work with people who you disagree with, sometimes strongly, in order to do the people's business.

i'm not going to prejudge who the next speaker will be, that's something that will have to be worked through in the house. reach out ertainly immediately to whoever is the new speaker to see what his or her ideas are and how we can make progress on the important issues that america faces. the one thing i will say is that my hope is there's a recognition on the part of the next speaker, something i think john understood even though at times it was challenging to bring his caucus along, that we can have significant differences on issues, but that doesn't mean you shut down the government. neglect n't mean you

the full faith and credit of the united states. you don't invite potential financial crises. you build roads to pass transportation bills, you do the basic work of governance that ensures that our military's -- our military is operating and that our national parks are open and that our kids are learning. and there's no weakness in that. that's what government is. in our democracy. you don't get what you want 100% of the time. half, sometimes you take sometimes you take a quart . that's certainly something i've learned here in this office. so i'm looking forward to working with the next speaker. in the meantime, john is not going to leave for another 30 days, so hopefully he feels like getting as much stuff done as he possibly can and i'll certainly be looking forward to working with him on that.

host: remarks from president obama earlier today during his joint news conference with the president of china. you'll find all our kverage today regarding speaker john boehner's announcement that he's re-signing at the end of october right at our home page, c-span.org. click the link and find all of our coverage there. we'll take you live now to "newsmakers." [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] susan: welcome to this friday edition of "newsmakers," our guest is representative bill flores, chairman of the committee, 170 members strong. before coming to congress three terms back he was a 30-year energy executive. thank you for being with us. representative flores: thank you, i'm glad to be with >> our two reporters, david and

susan. we hear from the congressman about your statementful you just released a statement calling for unity in the party. mr. flores: yes. >> this party has been fractured. how does it become unified and then we'll turn to susan. mr. flores: i think today was a significant emotional event for the republican conference in the house. i think any time you have one of those significant emotional events it gives you a chance to back up and to reassess where you are and what our objectives are. one of the challenges we've had as a republican conference is that even though we've all been fairly unified on the positions we would like to achieve, the outcomes, we haven't always agreed on tactics and in some cases, our ability to be successful in achieving the outcomes we wanted didn't -- wasn't as successful as we would have liked because we had disagreements over how to get there. so my hope is that now that we've gone through this event

today, the speaker's resignation, that this gives us a chance to look at what the end state is. and the end state is to have an outcome. we'd like to have better economic growth for the country, address the fiscal challenges for the country, limit the federal government to its constitutional limited role. we'd like to get the regulatory regime back in its statutory box. and we'd like to rebuild our national security in a very unstable world. so i think this gives us a chance to look at what those goals are and to figure out how do we unify so that we can achieve those goals. susan: we heard from the speaker about what he said to the republican conference this morning. you were there. can you tell us about it, how he announced it and what the reaction was from people in the room and what your reaction was when you first heard the speaker ay he was going to resign. mr. flores: he eframed it as,

when he was first elected as speaker, he was going to serve for four years. when eric cantor lost the primary and we had to change majority leaders he decided to stay on for another year. he was planning on staying through the end of this calendar year. then he looked at the state of the conference and the fact that there was disunity and that there could be another tough vote to reaffirm his speakership which i think would have passed fairly easily but he decided, for the good of the conference, why put everybody through that vote? so he felt like it was time to go ahead and let him get out of the way. so he's not the subject. he doesn't become the problem to us achieving those common goals that we have in the conference. susan: what was the reaction in the room, and what did you think when you heard him announce it? mr. flores: i think all of us were pretty stunned. we were stunned at first but then we thought, you know this man has mode the most selfless decision you could expect any

leader to make and so i think we , for the next hour and a half or so, we heard person after person come up to the to the microphone and give positive tom about what john boehner has done for this country and what he's done for our conference. so i think that it became a point, gave us a rallying cry so that we can come back together and unify. so i think we he really lead the stage for us to have that unification. david: when speaker boehner said he delayed his decision to step down because eric cantor had lost, there's no obvious successor, do you interpret that as a signal that kevin mccarthy is the next speaker? or who do you think should be the next speaker? mr. flores: no, speaker boehner kept his cards close to his vest he probably has an opinion but he can't let us know in any way, shape or form what his opinion is as far as what the leadership

team should look like. david: he told us that kevin mccarthy would make an excellent speaker. do you agree with that? mr. flores: kevin has been around long enough that he knows what the challenges are. he's got the leadership potential to do that. as far as me personally, i have not taken any positions at this point. i have had several calls today about people running for various positions. but i will keep those to myself at this point. as soon as i determine who i think the best candidates are. but really, this has been a fairly -- fairly traumatic day. so i think we need to let the dust settle before we start picking things out. i'm in a position as chair of the republican study committee, it's not appropriate for me to come out publicly endorsing any candidate that said, i think we will probably have, not probably, we are likely to have some sort of forum so that every person running for any leadership position can come to

the 170-plus r.s.c. member we was and make their case about why they're the best leader. susan: when will we have some idea about leadership elections? it's already end of september, we've got about five weeks, when do you think we'll know about leadership elections and who is running? mr. flores: we already have some feel for who is running. given the diligence of the press i'm sure you guys have a better idea than i do. but that said, speaker boehner announced hisres. ig nays, he said we would have new leadership elections in october. i think it would probably be better to do them earlier rather than later. and so my hope is, if i were the person putting the calendar together, i would say let's announce next week that we're going to have leadership elections the second week of october. that to me would be sort of the sweet spot so you have some time for the new leadership team to

make the transition into their new roles. david: one of the great things about covering the capitol, at least for us reportest, is swer interacting with the people we cover. i want to ask about something you said in the speaker's lobby as you were voting. you said you thought speaker boehner announced this decision to resign to save the house. what's he saving the house from? what's been the challenge? mr. flores: i think a lot of people have known for quite a while that we, even though we're in the majority, have not all been on the same page. he had k he felt like become the focal point of the angst about the house. that he thought he would step aside so that the house could reunify and move forward and do the will of the american people stem of i think -- you know,

when i went to town hall meet this is summer, people expressed frustration with washington, they expressed us from ration with congress they expressed fruts ration with various members of leadership teams. i tried to back them up and say, let's walk through this. the house has passed over 340 bills that reduce the deficit that spend our money more wisely that reduce the regulatory onslaught that we have, that rebuild our military and those have all gone and died at the senate. so if you want to be frustrated be frustrated with where the problem lies and that's with the senate's inability to do things we have done. we have been very productive. if you look at the metrics in terms of what's been coming through the committee, what's coming to the floor, what's passed and going to the senate, the house has done a heck of a job, much better than my first two terms in congress. so the american people are frustrated because it feels like the kuok is not standing up to

the president and stopping the problems the american people are feeling with what he's doing to them. begs the 's -- that question, what's not going to change is the senate. what will the next speaker do differently to appease frustrations? mr. flores: if we as the g.o.p. conference can come together and put up stronger votes without a lot of the back chatter over, you know, fighting act tactics and be unified, it may give our senate brothers and sisters a chance to fight more vigorously than i think they have so far. and candidly, i'd like, there are several of us that have gotten frustrated that we've got a rule in the senate, the filibuster, that has no constitutional basis. that's holding up the ability of congress to completely fulfill its article 1 responsibilities under the constitution.

so i'd say any time that you have an institutional rule that is getting in the way of the constitution and getting in the way of congress' ability to do its job, that will need to be segregated to the constitution. david: even beyond the senate, you have a democratic president. the constitution provides him with veto power and you don't have the votes in the house to override a veto. you described some of the colleagues as trying to burn the house down these last few months. what or who would satisfy them? when they're willing to shut the government down to prove a political point, knowing that it can't succeed, can't get past the veto or the senate, what do you think would satisfy them? mr. flores: my hope is they feel like they've accomplished something today. i don't know that they did. i think the speaker decided, has stopa selfless decision to the disunity in the house.

so i many -- so my hope is we can rejoin and work together. we do have a president who doesn't see rules the same way we do but the american people don't get a chance to see that because what they see is the president does this, or one of the president's agencies do this, or takes some action, and you see congress appear to not do anything when really if you unpack this picture over here, the house has done a lot to stop him, either through defunding or authorizing activity to stop it or to change the law or to rein him in but they don't see congress doing that. if the filibuster rules change, things we're doing in the house, pass the senate and go to the president and then suddenly, instead of looking like the congress isn't doing anything, you see a president that has to explain his abs to the american

people. why is he putting his cronies ahead of the american people? why is he putting the regulatory institution ahead of the interests of the american people? why is he putting environmental radicals ahead of the economic interests of people who would just like to see their paychecks grow? so let him explain it. that's what happens if we put the constitution ahead of this institutional rule that's called a filibuster. then he has to explain it and he'll have a lot tougher time. right now, harry reid has been his firewall. has prevented him having to explain to the american people certain stand. a david: do you think people realize harry reid is a democrat. mr. flores: i don't. i go back home and help my fellow republican caucus members

and those folks are saying the same thing. they look at congress as not doing anything. from the outside looking in, yes, it looks like we're not doing anything. but half of it is and half of it's not. i think if we started having things flow out of that down to the 16 blocks to the white house, that the american people say, aha, now we see what the real problem is. it's a president that views the world differently than i do. my family has been hurt because my paycheck hasn't gone up for seven or eight years and i'm -- my health care costs are higher. and all the problems that they're facing. susan: speaking of a filibuster, can you talk about how the house may move forward on spending legislation that passed both chambers and made it through both chambers. sounds like a temporary funding bill that will make it past the september 30 deadline. beyond that, you need a grand

bargain with democrats. can you talk about what that might look like and how we might get through fiscal 2016 with a compromise bill? mr. flores: i don't know what that looks like. we hear about a grand bargain but i have yet to hear about anybody taking part in bargaining for the grand bargain. what we have done for the republican study committee, going back a couple of weeks ago, when we assess what's happening as of october 1, there is no spending bill out there. until the senate filed theirs yesterday or the day before. the day before, excuse me. so we decided, let's do something bold. so we put together, the republican study committee, responsible spending and accountability act. and it is as close to regular order as any spending bill done in my 4 1/2 years in congress. it takes the six appropriations bills that passed the floor of the house that had great policy riders to rein in the white

house's overreach, and also had six other appropriations bills that were reported out of the appropriations committee, and it has policy riders to deal with iran and other hot button issues. so, in my conversations with leadership, which are going to have to start over now, in my conversations with leadership, they were impressed that we put something together because of a big, bold plan that passed the -- would it pass the senate in its current form? probably not. if you lift the filibuster? absolutely it would. then the president would decide if the president were to veto he'd have to explain to the american people why he wants to shut the government down. susan: it feels like that brinksmanship that the public has frowned upon year after year. doesn't that pose a risk to the republican party, especially as we enter this pivotal election year, that they may be viewed negatively as they often are in these situations where there's a showdown over spending. do you think about that?

is that something republicans talk about? mr. flores: we do think about it, yes. that's reason if a hutdown -- shutdown occurs because the house and senate can't agree on anything, i believe we as republican would be hurt because of that. however, if we're unified, both house and senate, and then have the rule structure demt senate that allows us to put something on the president's desk, it makes perfect sense, that admeres -- adhere's to the budget caps, rebuilds national security and funds our defense department the way it should be funded, stops the regulatory assault by various agencies around town and puts american families first, i think we can win that argument and let the president go on defense to try to defend his position to support all the things that he's been doing. the president is highly unpopular. and about 70% of the country thinks we're on the wrong track. and we need to let -- if we put bills on his desk, then he can

explain to the american people why his position is the right one and the american people are ikely not to buy that. david: let's refocus the question on the next fede. wednesday night the fiscal year ends. the senate leadership, senator mcconnell, the majority leader, republican from kentucky, said he's prepared to send over to the house a clean temporary spending bill. at this point, in light of speaker boehner's resignation, do you expect you and your fellow republicans will support that temporary spending bill to get through the next few months to december? or do you expect it will continue to be a fight because it doesn't include in the lang badge now defunding planned parenthood that republicans want. mr. flores: that's like the iran deal as well. you've got 70% of americans worried about a bad iranian deal the president has made and we need language to deal with that. the plan that our leadership

lead out this morning includes a c.r. that goes back with some riders on it. my guess is that the senate probably strips those out and tries to send a clean one to the senate. excuse me, to the white house. that would not garner a lot of republican support. it would probably gather a combination of some republicans and a lot of democrats that would pass. i don't like that. i would rather do something bigger and bolder like the responsibility -- responsible spending accountability act that we're proposing but again you've got to put the constitution ahead of the -- ahead of this filibuster rule. >> so you think dels in the house will come forward in light of the speaker's -- mr. flores: that's what's happened in the past. i don't like that. if we're in the majority we can ought to behave like we're in the majority and set the agenda. we've tried to do that but then the tacticics of what have caused the diskuehnity --

disunity. david: your colleagues would prefer to shut the government down? mr. flores: there are a handful that would like to shut the government down. i think we learned from october to have 2013 that that's not necessarily a good idea. in my view we shouldn't take it off the table but we shouldn't say it is off the table. that's -- i would never say, hey, wever we've got to shut the government down. i don't think that's a good tactic. on the other hand, we can't say hey, we're not going to shut the government down. you leave all your tools in the toolbox so you can have a negotiation with not only the senate but also with the president. >> we have about 10 minutes left. on this friday among the many things happening, many of the republican presidential candidates are speaking to a conservative conference. when senator rubio announced the speaker's decision to stand up,

that room stood up in a standing ovation and senator rubio's comment, it's time to turn the page on a new generation of leadership. will this have an impact on the presidential election? mr. flores: it could. if we could reunify as a conference, and i think we will under a different leadership team, i think we'll be more effective because we'll agree on tactics and get things done more quickly than we have. that could pave the way for a smoother, for a presidential election that is more in our favor. >> what does it mean for the candidates, like jeb bush, who are seen more as the consensus candidates as opposed to the senator rubios and senator cruz? mr. flores: that's bave my pay grade. >> but you've been following this. mr. flores: i have been following this. to the extent that congress doesn't become the foe coufs the

problem -- a lot of presidential candidates have been throwing rocks at congress. i think it's been unfair. the house has done its job. the breakdowns have been in the senate. we've had a lot of senators come to the house and try to tell us how to do our job. but nonetheless, we've been doing that. not always as smoothly as we'd like to. but we've been doing it. and i think to the extent that congress doesn't become the issue anymore, then those candidates have to look at the american people in the eye and say why they're the best candidate inis -- instead of throwing bricks at us. i think it does, i think, allow the spotlight to be fully on those candidates which is where it needs to be. >> now turning to energy legislation if we could. mr. flores: my favorite subject. susan: there's been talk on capitol hill about exploring crude oil -- exporting crude oil. the senate and house both agree

that we should be exporting crude oil. senator mcconnell has talked about talking to the president about that as part of the grand bargain at the end of the year that would include spending legislation. could there be some agreement with the white house work democrats on a bill to export crude oil? how do you see that shaping up at this point? is that something that can be accomplished in congress at all, or this year if possible? mr. flores: i think so. we've got bipartisan support to lift the ban on the export of american crude. and i think the american people are somewhat frustrated that the iranians suddenly will not have an export ban but the united states still has one. that's an easy argument to explain to americans and i think we'll get this passed. the house will vote on this sometime early in october. on the bill that just passed through the energy and commerce committee last week. and i feel pretty confident we'll get a good number of democratic votes. if for some reason