pope francis: dear friends, excuse myself for not speaking english. translator: i have many different feelings moved by being here at ground zero where thousands of lives were taken in

a senseless act of violence and destruction. you can feel the pain here. it's palpable. the water we see running toward the center reminds us of all this life who left under the power of those who believed that destruction is the only way to solve conflicts. that silent cry of those who suffered in their own illogical violence of hate and revenge. the logic that could only cause pain and suffering, destruction and tears.

water falling also symbolizes our tears. tears shed for destruction of yesterday, who are joined by so much destruction today. this is a place where we cry, we cry the pain, being powerlessness that makes us feel when we see justice set aside, the inability to solve our differences. through dialogue. in this place we cry the unjust, death of the innocent because we were not able to find solutions

for the common good. it is water that reminded us yesterday's tears and today's tears. a few minutes ago amid some families of the first responders that fell, while performing their service, and in this meeting i was able to see how destruction is never impersonal, it's never abstract. it's not about things. above all, destruction has faith and a history, it is specific, it has names.

the family members show the face of pain, pain that leaves us speechless but that screams to heaven. but at the same time they were able to show me the other face of this attack. the other side of their pain. the power of love and a remembrance. the memory that does not leave us empty, on behalf of so many lost ones, these names are written here in the faces of these towers, so we can see them and we can touch them. and we can never forget them. among this pain, we can also

feel the capacity of heroic goodness that the human being is also capable of, the hidden force that we must always appeal to. at times the greatest pain and suffering, you were witness to the greatest acts of giving of themselves, of yourselves, and held a stretched out hand, life even, that may seem impersonal, loneliness, people were able to show the powerful solidarity of mutual help, of love. and self-sacrifice.

at that time, it was not about blood or origin or neighborhood or religion or political views. it was a matter of solidarity, a merging of brotherhood, it was a matter of humanity. new york firemen and women came in to the towers that were crumbling without much thinking about their own lives. many fell in their duty and with their sacrifice they allowed for so many others to survive. this place of death also is a place for life, saved lives.

a song that leads us to affirm that life will always triumph over the prophets of destruction, over death, and good will always win over bad, reconciliation and unity will prevail over hate and division. in this place of pain and remembrance, i am full of hope. because of the opportunity of the leaders representing so many religious traditions amidst of life of this great city.

i i hope our presence here sends a powerful sign over which to share and reaffirm the wish to be there, forces of reconciliation, forces of peace and justice in this community and throughout the whole world. even differences and discrepancies, it is possible to live in a world of peace. in the face of any attempt to make us all similar, it is possible and it is necessary to meet together with our different tongues, different cultures, religions, embrace our belief against anyone who would like to prevent that, because together today we have been invited to

say no to any attempt to make us all the same and to say yes to our differences, accepting reconciliation. for this we need to throw away the feelings of hate and revenge a and rancor. and we know this is only possible through a gift of heaven here in this place of remembrance. each one of us in their way, but together. i propose a moment of silence and prayer. let us ask, let the lord be the

gift of peace. peace in our homes. in our families. in our schools. in our communities. peace in all the places in which war seems to be endless. peace in the faces of the people in who have only seen pain. peace in this wide world that god has given us as our home, as a home for us all and for all. only peace. let us pray in silence.

in this way, the life of love will not be alive or forgotten, but it will be present each time we with try to be the prophets of construction and reconciliation, the prophets of

peace. ♪ peace on earth ♪

in perfect harmony withinre be peace

let there be peace on earth me let it begin with let there be peace let it be with me earthere be peace on begin with me ♪

[applause] ♪ >> thank you, thank you, young people's chorus of new york city. you're an icon of what this sacred site reminds us. and my brothers and sisters, in the spirit of hope and promise, of this sacred spot here in new york, i invite you to stand and exchange a sign of peace.

♪

[applause]

♪ [applause] ♪

[applause]

♪ what is later in the day, following a visit to a school in harlem, he traveled to madison square garden -- four audience estimated to be 18,000 people. here is a look at his entrance

into madison square garden. [applause] ♪

[applause]

♪ [applause] ♪

[applause] ♪ >> the c-span networks feature american books in american history. estates's visit to the interview saturday, as he travels from new york to photo. live coverage starts at 4:30 p.m. eastern as pope francis speaks at independence hall. at 7:30 p.m., he attends the festival of families -- part of the world meeting of families.

our road to the white house coverage continues, as harvard professor and presidential candidate lawrence lessig talks about his decision to run for president, and his suggestions to change the system. and on c-span2 at 10:00 p.m., fox news host bill o'reilly speaks on his latest book, " killing reagan." on sunday afternoon at 1:00, author and investor doug casey sits down with book tv in las vegas to discuss his latest book on politics and economics. on american history tv on c-span3, saturday evening, starting at 7:00 eastern, we are live at gettysburg college to celebrate dwight d. eisenhower's birth. susanis grandchildren,

and marianne. on real american, and archival visitocumenting the 1963 of the king and queen of afghanistan to the data states, which included a meeting with president kennedy and a grade through washington, d.c. >> in a morning party caucus, speaker of the house john boehner told his congress that he will resign his post in congress next month. he is facing the threat of a floor vote on whether he should stay on as speaker. it is a formal challenge that hasn't happened in more than 100 years. he discussed his reasons for resigning at a news conference. this is about 20 minutes. this is a stunning and abrupt end -- speaker boehner: ♪ my oh my

what a wonderful day ♪ i 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 have 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 clear to me that this prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution. so this morning i informed my colleagues that i would 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 was in july of 1981. 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 wonderful. 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 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 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.

do you 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. >> mr. speaker, how can this not be turmoil, 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 i have 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 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 -- my 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. 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 seem very relieved.

speaker boehner: ♪ zipp a dee doo dah ♪ >> 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. but i do know this. i'm doing this today for the right reasons and the right things will happen as a result. >> reaction to the speaker's announcement came from members of his party, the president, senate leadership and from some of the republican residential candidates.

>> the honor of john boehner this morning. to the idiocyast of those in our party who seek to divide us. >> [inaudible] >> i will let the speaker answer that question. it was emotional for a lot of people but i think everyone hopefully recognized the honor of john boehner this morning. >> we heard along period of up applause, wasf that after he made the announcement? >> it was. >> i can hear that you are upset, tell us why. >> it is just an emotional

moment. party whothose in our continue to insist on shutting down the party and they can claim a small victory today. remarkable person and we need to recognize that today. >> boehner said he didn't want it to be be a issue. do you think this will move the party forward or do you think they will unite now? mr. jolly: john boehner has removed himself as the issue facing our party so we need to have a family conversation within our conference in the next four weeks to decide what to do next. >> do you expect a shutdown? mr. jolly: i absolutely hope not. i think with the speaker's decision, the odds of us shutting down are much less likely. >> and why is that? mr. jolly: because the shutdown caucus has a small victory and they can move forward saying there's perhaps a bigger battle they can fight in the coming weeks. >> do you think that's why the speaker is stepping down, to avoid a shutdown? mr. jolly: you have to speak to him. i can't speak to his intent.

>> look, it's a difficult -- it's a difficult conference to manage. it is the largest majority since the 1920's. it has an undercurrent of some people at the extreme right of our party that have a sufficient voting block, that are always going to have the capacity to put some pressure on the outcomes in our conference. so, again, it's a very difficult conference to manage but i think he's done it very well. >> will the next speaker have an easier time? won't the next house speaker have the same constraints? mr. womack: i believe the next person in line, whomever that is, is going to face the same difficult task of keeping a very broad conference together. i think that's going to be the case. you can change the faces and the

names and the leadership chairs, but the pressures are still going to remain the same. >> do conservatives understand that? mr. womack: i think so. i think everybody in our conference understands that. we've had a lot of very serious family meetings over the last few years. and we understand what divides us as a conference. i wish we had a little better feeling for how if we were more united what better things, more accomplishments we could achieve as a body. so anyway, thank you. >> this is a condition of his own making right here. >> and so you don't know who you would want to be the next speaker at this point? mr. massie: i'm going to listen to what the candidates have to say and whether they understand how this republic is supposed to work and whether they respect

the fact there are 435 members here that each represents 750,000 constituents. >> and why do you think the conditions were right to push boehner out of office? mr. massie: i'm not quite sure what you mean. >> there's a lot of pressure on boehner. why do you think this was a moment where he said he had enough? mr. massie: you know, we just came back from an august recess, five weeks of town halls and the american people spoke. and they can see through what's happening out here. it's a farce, a theater. the american people are tired of it. the american people said, stop it, and everybody heard that at their town hall. i think members related that to the speaker when they returned after their town hall. i think it's not accidental that the timing happened after we returned from a recess, where people got in touch with their constituents. >> is there going to be a government shutdown? mr. massie: i don't know what

the president has planned. >> do you think you can put a clean bill on the floor? mr. massie: he said he is. >> and is he leaving congress at the end of october? mr. massie: that's what i understood. >> do you think that will make things better up here? mr. massie: depends if the next speaker respects the grievances that are in the motion to vacate. >> so you're still going ahead with the vote? >> what i'm hearing is they are ready for a change in washington. the base of the party has asked for this change for two to three years and it's happening. we'll see what will come out of conservatives. >> do you expect speaker mccarthy to -- mr. huelskamp: i won't speak to that it's a matter of conservatives working together as a team. when we decide who we'll work for and hopefully get elected that will be made a decision as a whole, not one at a time.

>> what other possibilities are out there? what other members could be elected speaker? mr. huelskamp: i think 200 have that in their mind. i heard -- i'm not nominated. i was not there at the beginning of the meeting. this idea that happened in 2010. when i first came up here in 2010, the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, there wasn't competition. hopefully there will be competition. if people move we'll see. >> do you expect the whole leadership to be shut down? mr. huelskamp: it depends. i do not know what to expect. i think house conservatives will be sitting down shortly. we've had many of these discussions for 2.5 years. i've been involved in many of those.

a lot of them i have not. what happened with eric cantor in five days they had that locked up once he lost, i don't think that will happen this time. there is dissatisfaction up and down. >> what was the mood in the room? mr. huelskamp: people said they were shocked and stunned, including other leaders claimed they didn't know before it was announced. he's had a long distinguished service on lo of different issues. i agree, john boehner, i think it's time for new leadership. >> [inaudible] mr. huelskamp: no, nobody said that. he's the speaker, a very powerful position. some issues he's done a great job. distinguished service since 1990. but i think we're looking for a new leader that's of this century and ready to move forward so we have a unified republican party as which move into 2016. >> what do you think this means for the -- mr. huelskamp: actually, i don't know why he did this.

it's clear if a vote was called, he didn't have the votes to sustain himself as speaker if nancy pelosi didn't help him out. makes a very vulnerable position. i was pretty confident we had plenty of votes to prevent that. >> was does this mean for a clean c.r., do you expect one? mr. huelskamp: i don't know what that means. this would be a time, if someone will stand up and say, how do we win this battle? because john boehner was taken down a path that was guaranteed to lose. >> i don't know, the next speaker will have a tough job. i'm not happy with the circumstances under which he's departing but clearly, you know, john boehner is a good and decent man. he's a principled man. and yet he understood he had a responsibility to lead and govern. and there are some around here who didn't share that vision.

and all i can say is the next speaker is going to have to -- >> do you think he made a right decision? rep. dent: that's a personal decision. i'm not going to second guess his decision. it's his decision, not mine. i really don't like the circumstances under which he's leaving. >> what do you mean by that? what do you mean by that? does it have an impact of the possibility of a shutdown? rep. dent: we will have a clean bill next week. i feel reasonably confident that we're going to pass a clean continuing resolution. there will probably be some more drama between now and then. >> some kind of quid pro quo, he's leaving so there will be a clean bill? rep. dent: he said there will be a clean bill. >> a lot of conservatives were wanting a showdown about planned parenthood. do you think they backed off their claims? rep. dent: i don't know about that. i think a clean resolution will be passed and it will happen before the deadline. hope it does. accidents happens around here, as we all know. as i was watching the pope

yesterday, i was getting text message from family members, they said, is boehner crying? there's no crying in congress today. >> a genuine sacrifice his resignation today. he's a personal friend and i'm a personal friend of his. i'm disappointed he's stepping aside. >> [inaudible] mr. rogers: well, i think anyone can look at what he's done here and not conclude this was an act of grace. great stature. and i hope that would translate into support. thanks. >> the divisions driving him out of the speakership going to remain when he moves on? i mean, who else can run the house republican conference? rep. rogers: well, we got a lot of talent in that caucus.

we'll see how -- who develops. >> will you support mr. mccarthy? rep. rogers: we'll know in due course of time. certainly i have great respect and admiration for him. he's done a whale of a job as leader, so he will be on my list. >> how much do you think his decision would tie to the big fight over planned parenthood and government funding and a potential shutdown? mr. rogers: well, i'm sure it must have been a big part of his consideration. there are a number of other things. a new grandchild, for example, and a desire to spend more time with his family. but i was thinking, you know, as one of the crowning moments of his life, not just his speakership, but his life was

yesterday with his long-standing 20-year-old desire to have the pope address the joint session of congress which came true, a dream came true, but all the while he must have been thinking so much about the upcoming decision that he would announce to us today. a bittersweet day for him, but i congratulate him on being a great speaker over these years. 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 directly and talk to him. you know, john boehner 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. 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 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.

and 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 you neglect 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. and so sometimes you take half, sometimes you take a quarter. 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. mcconnell bang -- mcconnell: grace under pressure. friend. ally and a

he took over republican leadership at a very difficult .ime defeatism,ave into he kept up the fight. did he was able to transform a broken and dispirited minority into the largest republican geordie since the 1920's. that is a legacy that few can match. he flew across the country more times than i can count to recruit new members to the cause. new majority of a 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. families whoss struggled under the weight of this administration. john knows what it is to struggle and dream of something better. he has lived it. ohiong man from reading, who would one day wield the gavel of the u.s. house of her presented gives. it reminds us of the continuing promise of this country. know that 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. you only had to look onto the capital lawn to see what he achieved. made thishat he

decision shows he is willing to leave us in a similar spirit. i know that we will have more to say than that for now, thank you, my friend. reed: mr. president, i was stunned to learn that john boehner is going to resign in the next few weeks. relationship with john boehner for a long time. speaker made those relations much more close. i haven't always agreed, and was not always happy with what john told me, but he never ever misled me. he never told me something that wasn't true.

i accepted that. i got to where i understood john boehner very well. his word was always very good. he had a lot of dealings, so-called back channel meetings. everyone knows that a lot of things we do is not in the public eye. certainly, working together may not have worked out very well in the public eye, but there are things we have to do to get think son. i had a great relationship with john boehner. my staff got along terrifically with his staff. they were both terrific to work with. my staff has reached out to his on difficult occasions and they had a good relationship. doubt that everything

that john boehner has done, has been done with a fact in mind that he was doing his best for the people and his district in ohio. , youd a very difficult job served under him, you know what a tough job he had. he had this faction, that faction and a couple more. by ousting the good man like john boehner, he is a conservative republican, but his problem is that john boehner has been pragmatic. he realizes that there comes a time when you have to make a deal. i say to the presiding officer everyone within the sound of

my voice, i did not know president eisenhower, i never met him or saw him, but ronald reagan, i was here when he was president. he had conservative credentials. but ronald reagan was somebody who understood the art of compromise. who else could have worked out something with the soviet union? i'm not sure there is anybody. ronald reagan was able to do that. mr. president, i am so concerned. the republican party, not the party of white eisenhower, -- dwight eisenhower, or ronald reagan as i knew him, i just think it is very sad that the tea party have taken over control of the party. to say that i will miss john boehner is a tremendous

understatement. i looked out for him and the ways that i could. 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 it will be late october. i will continue to work with him, as i have in the past, to do what i think is the right thing for the country. hopefully we will continue someplace there in the middle to get things done. sometimes you do the best you can. i wish john boehner the very best in the future. make hisi can do to life more present, i will be happy to do that. whether it is setting up a golf vegas, or helping

him in some government manner, i will do whatever i can because john peter is a good man. it is a gross understatement -- because john boehner is a good man. it is a gross understatement to say that i will miss him. sen. rubio: we will see how things progress. just a few minutes ago, speaker boehner announced that he is resigning. [cheers and applause] with all due respect to the people that serve in government, it is important with respect to him and the service he provided for our country, it is not about

him or anybody else, and i am not here to bash anyone, but the time has come to sir -- turn the page. [applause] cruz: do you want to know how much each of you terrify washington? yesterday, john boehner was speaker of the house. applause]d thank you so much for being here. i have been here to every single value voter summit, and i was in was the everyday, i introduced by chuck grassley. d a little bithawe iout what to say, and he said

have known rick santorum for 20 years and he has not changed a bit. i think that is about as high a competent as you can get in the town of washington dc. [applause] someone step down today who and my opinion changed a bit and it was probably time for him to have stepped down to start a new chapter here in washington dc. [applause] trump: i have been saying for a long time, and i was just telling david, who said i am not a politician and am not politically correct. i think that is a great thing. i love this guy, over here. and so tired of the time the effort of all of us. we have a country that is in such danger, and such trouble. to be politically correct, every word is measured. i went to great schools, i went to an ivy league school.

it is so easy to do, but who wants to do it? we have to get back to business. we are going to have a very interesting period of time. maybe it starts today because speaker boehner, some people like him on a personal asus. -- personal basis. do people like him on a personal basis? anybody? we want to see the job being done properly. i don't understand, they get elected and are full of vim and vigor, they will change things and get rid of obamacare, they will do all of these things. they come to these magnificent vaulted ceilings and what happens? they become different people. >> a look at the headlines in the power post, house speaker john boehner to resign at the end of october. joining us for a look at what

happened and what might be next is paul kane. what are some of the main issues that led to speaker boehner announcing his resignation today? kane: he has been a speaker for almost five years and for almost every day on the job, the first thing he has had to do is battle with this conservative contingent. people, from 10-40 depending on the issue of the moment, who have been agitating for the most confrontational approach to dealing with barack obama. to settle down after his understudy eric cantor admitted june, boehner that he wanted to retire, but cantor was gone and he felt like he wanted to be a veteran presence. months, things have settled down but there were

still constant chirps from conservatives. controversiale videos revealing abortion practices by planned parenthood. for the last two months, conservatives have taken that issue and said, what we have to do is shut down the government. to force obama and the democrats to come to the table, and agree to shut off all funding for planned parenthood. democrats have made clear that is not the case. they have made clear and demonstrated that they are not willing to support planned parenthood still, it was a roughly only $500 million per year that they got, in the organization said none of that money goes to abortion practices. they were ready to stand and fight democrats. boehner knows if they go down this alley to a shutdown that it will be the republicans who get blamed. host: other house republican

leaders, how have they reacted and when did they find out? >> early this morning, boehner made the decision. after seeing pope francis he made the decision that he would not put everyone through this decision of shutting down the government or force a vote on they kidding his speakership -- vacating his speakership. he did not tell his fellow members of leadership until about two minutes before their closed door meeting. they were shocked. he said he had to tell kevin mccarthy five different times. yes, kevin, i am retiring. now that is going to set off another chain reaction of events, to try to replace boehner, to try to replace mccarthy -- host: chain reaction. >> a chain reaction and, does

will fall -- and dominos will fall. they have to figure out, what direction do they want to go? will there be some ideological challenges from the far right? host: what about this freedom caucus? what are they saying about this resignation? the freedom caucus is this breakaway group of about 40. they don't officially release all the names. they say they have about 40 republicans who used to be part of the normal caucus, but they broke away from that informed their own group. they have been the far right agitators. jim jordan of ohio. they want to try to get one of their own into one of the leadership ranks. they feel that they forced

boehner's and in the last week or so -- hand in the last week or so, and they want to get one of their own up there. these are 40 of the most conservative guys and they have to appeal to a group of 246 republicans. they have to broaden their reach beyond their group of 40. do you think we might see those elections happen? mr. kane: the last time there was any need for a leadership election was june of 2014. eric cantor's stunning defeat in his own primary. in that case, boehner had decided he would stick around another year or two. he did not want another long, drawnout battle. he said let's hold a snap election and they held it nine days later. oneost on a tuesday and week and two days later they had

elections. this time there might be more positions up for grabs, and potentially more candidates. now,ght be two weeks from or a lengthier assess, but boehner has made clear that he is out of here friday, october 30. host: who do you think they will put forward? mccarthy? some of the other likely candidates? is very: kevin mccarthy much likely to be the republican nominee for speaker. there would be a floor vote, he does not have a lot of opposition. he is generationally younger and closer in age to a lot of the conservatives. they don't necessarily trust him, but they see him as generationally closer to them. there might be a nominal challenge, which is what happened in 2014 when he moved up to majority leader, but i

think the bigger fight is going to be for the number two post. that is where you are going to crop ofole ideological divisions. steve scalise, he is the majority with now, he will want to move up to number two. when these opportunities come open you have to move up the ladder. number four is rogers. she has been eyeing a challenge to scalise already. she could be in the hat. there will only be a different southern conservative and a lot of people are looking at tom price. he might be able to win southern voters as well as the freedom caucus. peter, who was a member of leadership but lost out in the merry-go-round of the last round

of leadership races. host: we will keep an eye on this with you and followed -- follow you on twitter @pkcap itol. thanks, so much. welcome to this's special live edition of c-span "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 you. host: our two questioners, david and susan. we hear from the congressman about your statement. you just released a statement calling for unity in the party. mr. flores: yes.

host: 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 say he was going to resign. mr. flores: he framed 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 his resignation, 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 reporters, is 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. so i think he felt like he had 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

system 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 frustration 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. susan: what's -- that begs the 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 made a selfless decision to stop 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 why he's taking a certain stand. 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 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 in the senate that allows us to put something on the president's desk, it makes perfect sense, that adheres 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 likely not to buy that. david: let's refocus the question on the next need.

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 language 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 laid 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 responsible spending and 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 democrats 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 ought to behave like we're in the majority and set the agenda. we've tried to do that but then the tactics of what have caused the 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, 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 above 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 focus of 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 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 the president doesn't like our bill, it could wind up being a part of the grand bargain or some other must-pass piece of legislation, spending bill or a debt ceiling bill. susan: what about those who argue, it could hurt energy prices here or hurts the cause of green energy, what about critics who say that the

exporting of crude oil is something that shouldn't happen? how do you respond to that? mr. flores: should we stop exporting chevys next, should we stop exporting wheat, flour, corn? why is oil any different than any other product that's produced by the american people? how can they justify picking one product out and say, oh, you can't export that? we want to export everything else. this is the president who republicans helped him get a free trade -- get fast track authority. because he wants to be known as the free trade president. why does he want to block one particular commodity? it doesn't make sense. >> notwithstanding the different world views you described between the president and republicans earlier, are there any other issues you see a possibility for cooperation on in the months ahead, in the last

year and change of his presidency? for instance, we heard pope francis yesterday talk about immigrants. is there any chance on immigration democrats and republicans might find common ground or other issues in your mind? mr. flores: there could be. but i think there are some building blocks we have to get out of the way first. the american people are frustrated with the lack of security along our borders. they're frustrated that we don't have a visa entry, exit and enforcement system in place. they're frustrated because they feel like their jobs have been displaced by people who have come over the border, so i think if -- in order to have the more -- the deeper dialogue about how do you fix an immigration system, we've got to have a border security bill, we're going to have that in the house in the next few weeks. we've got to have an interior enforcement bill, which is a visa entry and exit tracking, possibly with more robust e-verify. once you get those done, and americans feel like, ok, congress has got our back and we feel like we've stabilized the situation, then we can have a discussion.

what do you do with a visa system that's totally broken? i have high-tech companies in the austin part of my district who are begging to hire every ph.d. we can, but we're sending them back to other countries. it's hard to have that discussion until you get the building blocks out of the way. once do you that then i think we can have a calmer discussion. and then have the discussion about, what do you with the 11 million or 12 million that are here that came here illegally? >> we have about five minutes left. there are those who would argue, especially your freedom caucus friends on the further right than you, would say, well, we're bringing all these h-1 visa folks to work, why not train our own unemployed to do these jobs? we're also hear being companies like disney who are bringing in foreigners to take over the jobs of workers who are already trained to do this high-tech work here. so that's part of the divide over immigration reform and it really also illustrates how the divide within the republican conference on this.

how do you guys have a dialogue about this? or do you? do you talk to the freedom caucus folks on your right about these issues? is that the center of where all this can be worked out? because you're all conservatives, but this clearly is a divide between the republican study committee that you had and the freedom caucus who make up a lot of the members who pushed out the speaker. mr. flores: it's really interesting you said that. i don't think there's anybody in the freedom caucus that's to the right of me. actually, if you look, most of the members of the freedom caucus are members of the republican study committee. we do differ on tactics. i mean, i've tried to be a statesman for positive conservative change, to get legislation across the line. and that's where i think we are. if you go through and pick individual members out of the freedom caucus, and i can name names if we have more time, and they feel about the same way on immigration reform as i do.

do i agree, yes, we need to be training our own work force as well. but in the interim, if you've got a company in my district, a high-tech company in my district, that needs workers, and there are no qualified american today, then we ought to build a visa system that takes care of that. but also understand that we've got to do something to fill the pipeline to the educational system here. so i can see you weld both of those together and come up with the ultimate solution that makes america better off. david: with these sorts of tactics, aggressive tactics, that you've called trying to burn the house down, aren't your colleagues raging against the system that's made america great, let this country stand apart? how do you convince them to sort of get over that age anger and accept that the system works the way it works? try to work within it? mr. flores: my hope is that the speaker's resignation, whether it was right or wrong, but my hope is that now that there is not a target for the angst in

the house, that we can work together, that we can sort of say, hey, let's calm down, let's take a deep breath, let's take a step forward, and make sure, hey, do we still believe in these same goals? do we still believe in advancing the cause of opportunity for hardworking american families? and protecting our freedoms and our constitutional liberties? do we believe in national security? do we believe in fixing the fiscal train wreck that's washington? do we feel like we ought to rein in the regulatory machine and protect american values? i think they'd say yes. and so once you get them to say yes, and say, how do we work together to get to that? david: a lot of people tell us the next speak already face the same dynamic. within just a matter of days, the next speaker will end up facing the same exact kind of animosity that john boehner was facing, who is also, as i'm sure you'd admit, a fairly conservative member of congress, with a long record of conservative votes. mr. flores: it's really interesting. i think that's one of the things

that rank and file americans don't realize, is how conservative john boehner really was in terms of a voting record. i don't think people appreciated that. nonetheless, yes, i mean, the new speaker that comes in is going to have to reach out and unify a caucus, a conference that has had some serious disagreements over tactics. not over the outcome, but over the tactics, so -- and i'm going to do my best as the leader of the largest caucus in congress, i mean, there are over three times as many members in our organization than there are in republican senators in the senate. but at the same time, i think one of the things that would really make the trains run better around a here in terms of confronting these issues head-on is to have the senate drop the filibuster rule. harry reid already set the precedent. we're not trying to reinvent the wheel here. >> that is it for our time.

congressman bill flores, who is the chairman of the 170-member strong republican study committee, with us live on this friday afternoon on what's become a day for the history books when a sitting speaker of the house announces his resignation and thanks to david of "the new york times" and susan of the "washington examiner" for your questions. mr. flores: that all of y'all. thank you for inviting me. [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] >> tomorrow or live coverage of pope francis continues. at 4:30 he will speak at independence hall and it 7:30 he attends the festival of the families. pope francis spent the day in new york city. he addressed the u.n. general assembly. he spoke about the ongoing conflict in the middle east, the iran nuclear agreement. this is about one hour and 10

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>> the meeting of the general assembly is called to order. this morning we shl