--- title: John Boehner Resigns: What Happens Next in the House description: House Speaker John Boehner's abrupt resignation has turned what is usually a sleepy time in Congress into a political fight. canonical: https://time.com/4051390/john-boehner-resignation-aftermath/ author: Jay Newton-Small article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-27T19:58:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:01:28.647Z article:section: Politics og:title: Boehner’s Departure Sets Off House Races og:description: The speaker leaves a void. og:url: https://time.com/4051390/john-boehner-resignation-aftermath/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bfdf0aa64525ac2/698865b0e20a8764e1a8d7b7/gettyimages-490005270.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3160 og:image:height: 1778 og:image:alt: House Speaker John Boehner Announces His Resignation At The Capitol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Boehner’s Departure Sets Off House Races twitter:description: The speaker leaves a void. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bfdf0aa64525ac2/698865b0e20a8764e1a8d7b7/gettyimages-490005270.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Boehner’s Departure Sets Off Legislative and Political Races > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Sep 27, 2015 7:58 PM UTC  John Boehner announces his resignation during a press conference on Capitol Hill Sept. 25, 2015 in Washington, DC. John Boehner announces his resignation during a press conference on Capitol Hill Sept. 25, 2015 in Washington, DC. Astrid Riecken—Getty Images  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Sep 27, 2015 7:58 PM UTC The autumn before the Iowa caucuses all eyes are usually out on the campaign trail, with Presidential politics overshadowing anything that might be happening in what is usually a fairly sleepy Washington. Not so this year thanks to House Speaker John Boehner’s abrupt resignation, which has served to tear up the legislation and political calendars. Boehner’s October 30 departure has set off two racing clocks: first, a legislative one as he seeks to “clean the barn up a little bit before the next person gets here,” as he told _Face the Nation_ on Sunday. On the table: funding for the government for the next year, raising the debt ceiling, funding the Ex-Im bank, a multi-year transportation infrastructure bill, tax extenders vital to the business community and a reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration. Clearing all these decks in the next month would take a herculean effort by the Speaker and, given that most would have to pass on the backs of Democratic votes, it could “flare up some tender wounds,” said Rep. Pete Roskam, an Illinois Republican. But, given his imminent departure, Boehner no longer cares much about such wounds. The second clock is the leadership race expected to happen after Boehner leaves. And the jockeying has already begun. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is Boehner’s likely successor as Speaker, but as he moves up a rung, the positions under him are all already in flux. Republican Whip Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican who won his seat last year in the wake of former Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s surprise primary loss in a nod to the growing power of the right flank, of which Scalise was a vocal part, should theoretically move into the No. 2 slot of majority leader. But Scalise has been plagued by accusations of racism after it was revealed he’d spoken before a white supremacist group in 2002\. Scalise said he did not realize the group’s affiliation at the time. Scalise could face a challenge from the current No. 4 House Republican, Washington Republican Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, the highest-ranking Republican woman on the Hill, or from Roskam, who is close with McCarthy. Roskam and McCarthy together wrote the 2010 Pledge to America, the GOP’s updated Contract with America, that helped the party win the majority. And Roskam served as McCarthy’s chief deputy when McCarthy was whip from 2011 to 2014. **Read More:** [_This Is the Prayer John Boehner Read at His Resignation_](http://time.com/4050091/catholic-prayer-john-boehner/) It is still early in the race and, of course, there are other positions: Republican Whip, the No. 3 slot, and House Conference Chair, the No. 4 slot. The question is how much of a challenge McCarthy, Scalise, McMorris-Rodgers and Roskam might have from the party’s right flank, whose discontent led to Boehner’s departure. Boehner was facing a potential no confidence vote before he resigned and on Sunday he warned his rank-and-file against believing in empty promises from “false prophets” on the right. Boehner’s ambitious legislative agenda in the next 30 days could be complicated by McCarthy’s race to succeed him. As majority leader McCarthy runs the House floor, but much of his time will likely be absorbed by campaigning to ensure he has to votes to become speaker and to get his team elected to the positions he’d like to see. In a bid to slow at least one of these racing clocks, Roskam has won support for the conference to meet for an extended session next week to take a breath and examine how they got here and where they’re going. “We’ve just had a speaker step down because he didn’t enjoy the support of enough members to move forward, and that is incredibly consequential thing. It’s something we need to think about and discuss,” Roskam said. “Because if we don’t deal with this, in four to six months time the shine will be off the penny of the new leaders and we’ll be right back where we are.” But both clocks are already counting down and a crowded presidential field is complicating both processes. Time for GOP introspection might be as hard to come by as unity for a party that is fighting itself as much as it is the clock. **Read Next:** [_House Speaker John Boehner Calls It Quits_](http://time.com/4049977/john-boehner-resigns/) ### 7 Times World Leaders Addressed Congress  Pope Francis, addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress with with Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Sept. 24, 2015, urging legislators to work together to solve problems and avoid polarization Jim Lo Scalzo—EPA  Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, addressed Congress on March 3, 2015, urging a stop to the Iran nuclear talks. His policy positions are often controversial, but he enjoys a privileged position when it comes to visiting the legislature, this was his third visit to Congress. Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images  Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Prime Minister, and King Hussein of Jordan shake hands following a joint address to Congress on July 26, 1994\. In the second of two Arab-Israeli appearances, Jordan's leader appeared with Israel's prime minister to celebrate their peace treaty. The treaty, signed the next month, ended a 46-year state of war. David Rubinger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Nelson Mandela addresses Congress on June 26, 1990\. At the time, he was president of the African National Congress. Apartheid was still law in South Africa and Mandela had only just been released from prison a few months before his appearance before lawmakers. Kevin Larkin—AFP/Getty Images  Benazir Bhutto, prime minister of Pakistan, addresses Congress on June 7, 1989\. She was the first woman elected to lead an Islamic state, and she remains Pakistan's only woman prime minister to date. After serving two non-consecutive terms, she was exiled to Dubai in 1999\. She returned to Pakistan in 2007 to run for the office again, and was assassinated. J.Scott—AP  Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, addressed Congress on Feb. 20, 1985\. She was the first female head of state to do so who was not a monarch. Bob Daugherty—AP  Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin respond to applause in the chambers of the U.S. House of Representatives during a joint session of Congress on Sept. 18, 1978\. A day earlier, the leaders had signed the historic Camp David accords, which ended 30 years of war and led to a peace treaty between the two nations in 1979. AP  Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, addressed Congress on April 12, 1962\. He was deposed in 1979\. No Iranian leader has addressed a joint session since. 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