Reports: House Speaker Boehner Resigning

A day after John Boehner’s long push to get a Pope to speak to Congress was fulfilled, various reports have the House Speaker resigning both his speaker's post and congressional seat by the end of next month.

Boehner has been under pressure to resign from conservatives unhappy with the leadership.

He reportedly told other members of his party Friday morning (Sept. 25), which may have been why a media ownership hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. was pushed back to 10 a.m. at the last minute.

Once the hearing did begin, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Communications Subcommittee, called it a sad day and said Boehner has her "respect and gratitude."

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said he would "miss John" --Boehner is also from Illinois--and asked the witness' indulgence if the committee members' thoughts were sometimes elsewhere.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.