John Boehner re-elected as US House Speaker despite conservative challenge

January 8, 2015

Representative was re-elected as Speaker of the   on Tuesday despite a right-wing rebellion of 25 members. Boehner's appointment as Speaker passed with 216 of the 408 votes. Senator was also sworn in on Tuesday as the  majority leader, marking the first time in eight years when Republicans have controlled both the House and Senate.

The challengers to Boehner came primarily from the libertarian and hard right wing of the party, sometimes associated with the. One — — simply voted 'present' while the remaining twenty four voted for a variety of other candidates. Twelve voted for Representative, three voted for Representative , two voted for Representative , and two for Representative. There were also votes for Representatives, and , as well as votes for Senators  and.

Two of those voting against Boehner, Daniel Webster and, were not reappointed to the. Speaking to reporters, Boehner said the House Republicans were "going to have a family conversation, which we had this morning, about bringing our team together".

Reacting to his removal from the Rules Committee, Richard Nugent stated: "I’m not on Rules, I will tell you that [...] But it's not really clear that I couldn't get back on it. I carried a lot of water on the Rules Committee, took a lot of tough votes." Webster said he was less interested in being on the Committee: "Do you see people running to get on it?"

Following the election of Boehner and McConnell, the White House announced President would veto planned legislation by Republicans to start the construction of the  oil pipeline. White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters: "If this bill passes this Congress, the president wouldn't sign it".