John Boehner has announced that he will resign from office as Speaker of the House at the end of October, due to the intense scrutiny of a right-wing faction in the House of Representatives. As Boehner was attempting to devise a plan for next year’s federal budget, this group accused Boehner of not reflecting truly conservative values in his ideas.

    Every year, Congress must pass a federal budget. A group of radical conservatives known as the Tea Party threatened to not pass the federal budget unless the government were to completely defund Planned Parenthood. Failing to pass the federal budget leads to a government shutdown.

    Planned Parenthood is a government program that provides contraceptive devices as well as family planning and other parenting advice. It also gives abortions to women should they request one. The Tea Party is completely against abortions, and mainly for that reason, they want Planned Parenthood not to be funded by the government.

    John Boehner did not see Planned Parenthood as a major issue in the federal budget, especially not one to shut down the whole government down for. Planned Parenthood only received about $500 million of this year’s $3+ trillion federal budget. Also, abortions count for about 3% of the services that Planned Parenthood provides, yet it is the center of most Planned Parenthood debates. Boehner thinks that there are more pressing issues in society today, and he was then accused by the Tea Party of not being a true conservative.

    This group decided that if Boehner would resign from office, they would pass the federal budget and try to elect a more conservative Speaker. Boehner chose to resign.

This definitely not the first fiscal clash the Speaker has had with conservatives. He has had many issues like this over his long tenure. “Unfortunately, this issue has been the final one of his career”Boehner, turning 65 this November, was planning on resigning at the end of the year. However, he is saddened by the fact that he had to end his term so abruptly.

    Congress has already started the race for a new speaker. He/she will be chosen when Boehner’s term ends.