John Boehner

John Boehner (1948)- (pronounced BAY-ner), is House Minority Leader, a U.S. Representative (R-Ohio's 8th Congressional District]]. Elected from a state legislature and a background in small business, he emphasizes smaller, more accountable government. "He has challenged Republicans in the 111th Congress to be not just the party of “opposition,” but the party of better solutions to the challenges facing the American people.

While he certainly will make strong statements for the Republican base, he has demonstrated the ability to work with Democrats, and form strong friendships. Besides being Catholic, he and the late Ted Kennedy had little in common, but the two always sponsored a fundraising dinner for Catholic schools. When he chaired the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee, considered among the most partisan in Congress, he worked closely with then-ranking minority member Rep. George Miller (D-California) to create the No Child Left Behind Act, bringing him to early meetings with President George W. Bush.

Early career

Upon his graduation, he accepted a position with Nucite Sales, a small sales business in the packaging and plastics industry, and eventually became president of the firm. While working in the private sector, he first was elected as Union Township trustee from 1982 to 1984 and then as a representative to the Ohio state legislature from 1984 to 1990.

Early House career

During his freshman year, Boehner and fellow members of the reform-minded “Gang of Seven" took on the House establishment and successfully closed the House Bank, uncovered "dine-and-dash" practices at the House Restaurant, and exposed drug sales and cozy cash-for-stamps deals at the House Post Office. He also adopted and has kept a personal “no earmarks” policy.

He became part of the leadership House Republican Conference, and was involved in drafting the Contract with America, a 100-day agenda for the 104th Congress that dominated the 1994 elections. Closely allied with Newt Gingrich, he was forced out of the House leadership in 1999 after losses in 1998. After losing his role in the leadership, he turned to the House Administration Committee. In September 1999, as Vice-Chairman of the House Administration Committee, John joined House leaders to announce the first-ever "clean" independent audit of the House, a reform he first called for as a member of the Gang of Seven in 1992.

Education

Education has been a personal cause. In 1994, working with Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), he secured passage of legislation allowing school districts pay for public school choice programs, under which parents could choose which public school their children would attend. Later, as chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, he co-wrote the bill establishing the first private school choice program in the District of Columbia, and worked with Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) to ensure parental choice provisions were included in the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act to reinforce its goal of bringing greater accountability to taxpayer-funded education programs.

Social services

In 2006, Boehner authored the Pension Protection Act, the most sweeping reform of America's pension laws in more than 30 years, which the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said “will make it possible for millions of Americans to save more now for a better future.”

He has strongly opposed government-run health care. In a commentary for the Detroit News, Boehner joined another Michigan Republican, Rep. Dave Camp to call the Democrats' proposal "a government-run monstrosity that increases costs, reduces quality and forces as many as 114 million Americans off their current plans, according to one independent analysis."

On November 5, 2009, he appeared with Michele Bachmann (R-Wisconsin) at the "Kill the Bill" Rally. He said "This bill is the greatest threat to freedom that I have seen."

Foreign policy

He supported the Iraq War enabling resolution and rejected the Iraq Study Group report.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in business from Xavier University in Cincinnati in 1977.