In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house, is a situation in which no one present objects to a proposal. The chair may state, for instance: "If there is no objection, the motion will be adopted. [pause] Since there is no objection, the motion is adopted" or in Westminster parliaments, "There being no objection, leave is granted." On the most routine matters, such as inserting an article into the Congressional Record, the chair may shorten this statement to four words: "Without objection, so ordered" or even to two words: "Without objection." If no member objects the motion is adopted, but if any member does declare his opposition the motion is not adopted and cannot be agreed to without a vote.

Unanimous consent can greatly expedite business by eliminating the need for formal votes on routine procedural questions in which the existence of a consensus is likely. The principle behind it is that procedural safeguards designed to protect a minority can be waived when there is no minority to protect.

That a bill, treaty or nomination passes by unanimous consent does not necessarily indicate that every member of the body would have voted in favor of the proposal.^[1] It is sometimes used simply as a time-saving device, especially at the end of the session. Sometimes members do not want a formal recorded vote on the issue, or know that they would lose such a vote and not feel a need to take the time. Conversely, raising an objection does not necessarily imply that the objector disagrees with the proposal itself; he may simply believe it would be better to take a formal vote.

In non-legislative deliberative bodies operating under Robert's Rules of Order, the unanimous consent device is often used to expedite the procedural consideration of uncontroversial secondary motions.

Sometimes unanimous consent can be assumed if the chair perceives that no one would raise an objection if he formally asked. For instance, if it is obvious that the members of an assembly are absorbed in listening to a speaker who has exceeded the time limits on debate, but is about to conclude his remarks, the chair may allow him to continue without interruption.^[2] Another example of this practice in the House of Representatives is when a series of votes has been interrupted by a speaker or other business. The chair will state, "Without objection, five minute voting will continue."

Certain rights of the minority can only be waived by unanimous consent. For example, in disciplinary procedures, "a single member can require the vote on the imposition of a penalty to be taken by ballot."^[3]

[edit] Government by unanimous consent

In his autobiography^[4] Nelson Mandela recounts episodes of Thembu government under a local chief conducted along the lines of unanimous consent. Quaker organizations also advocate this form of decision making.

[edit] References

William Lane Craig

Born	(1949-08-23) August 23, 1949 (age 62) East Peoria, Illinois
Era	21st-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Analytic philosophy
Main interests	Philosophy of religion, natural theology, philosophy of time, Christian apologetics
Influenced by Alvin Plantinga, Francis Schaeffer, Edward John Carnell, Stuart Hackett, John Hick, Wolfhart Pannenberg
Influenced J. P. Moreland, Francis Beckwith
Website	reasonablefaith.org

William Lane Craig (born August 23, 1949) is an American analytic philosopher, philosophical theologian, and Christian apologist. He is known for his work on the philosophy of time and the philosophy of religion, specifically the existence of God and the defense of Christian theism.^[1] One of his most notable contributions to the philosophy of religion is his defense of the Kalām cosmological argument, which is the most widely discussed argument for the existence of God in contemporary Western philosophy.^[2] He has authored or edited over 30 books including The Kalam Cosmological Argument (1979), Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology (co-authored with Quentin Smith, 1993), Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time (2001), and Einstein, Relativity and Absolute Simultaneity (co-edited with Quentin Smith, 2007).^[3]

[edit] Academic background

Craig received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Wheaton College, Illinois, in 1971 and two summa cum laude master's degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, in 1975, in philosophy of religion and ecclesiastical history.^[4] He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy under John Hick at the University of Birmingham, England in 1977 and a Th.D. under Wolfhart Pannenberg at the University of Munich in 1984.^[5] From 1980 to 1986 he was an assistant professor of philosophy at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He briefly held the position of associate professor of religious studies at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, from 1986 to 1987. From 1987 to 1994 Craig pursued further research at the University of Louvain, Belgium. Since 1996 he has held the position of research professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University in La Mirada, California.^[5]

[edit] Work

[edit] Philosophy of religion

Craig's primary contribution to philosophy of religion is his revival of the Kalām cosmological argument. In The Kalam Cosmological Argument, he formulates the argument in the following manner:

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence.
2. The universe began to exist.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence.^[6]

He defends the second premise by arguing that actual infinities and the formation of an actual infinite through continual addition are metaphysically impossible. Although he recognizes that axiomatized infinite set theory is logically consistent he maintains that the existence of actual infinities in the real world would lead to absurdities. For example, David Hilbert's famous "Hilbert's Hotel" thought experiment demonstrates how a fully occupied hotel would still be able to accommodate an infinite number of guests. Craig modifies the thought experiment by introducing operations such as subtraction and shows that subtracting identical quantities from identical quantities would have non-identical remainders.^[7] Since we have no evidence of such things in the actual world, Craig maintains that actual infinities are, for all intents and purposes, metaphysically impossible. Craig also argues that the thermodynamic properties of the universe and its expansion provide more evidence in support of premise 2.^[8]

Craig also develops an a posteriori argument against actual infinities which rests on the A-theory of time. He gives Bertrand Russell's example of Tristam Shandy, who writes his autobiography so slowly that it takes him one year to write down the events of one day. A similar temporal sequence would have occurred in an eternal universe. No matter how long it takes, an eternal universe would still not be 'actually infinite' and must have begun to exist.

Craig has also contributed to the problem of divine foreknowledge (the compatibility of God's omniscience with human freedom). He analyzes current discussions of time travel, retrocausality, special relativity, and Newcomb's Paradox and brings them to bear on theological fatalism (most often supported by strongly Augustinian theologies, particularly Calvinism).^[9] Rejecting fatalism^[10] he defends the middle knowledge view (also known as Molinism).^[11] According to this solution, prior to actualizing a possible world God knows everything that does or will happen as well as how free creatures would act if placed in any particular circumstance. Craig considers that this also provides the answer to the question of how God foreknows future contingents.^[12]

[edit] Philosophy of time

Craig is a presentist and defends the A-series of time. He rejects J. M. E. McTaggart's famous argument against it, describing it as "an engaging and recalcitrant brain teaser that no one takes seriously," but also argues against hybrid A-B theorists because they are all refuted by McTaggart's paradox.^[13] He argues that McTaggart's objection does not succeed as it employs an incoherent combination of a B-theoretical ontology with A-theoretical temporal becoming.^[14] According to Craig, if one adopts a neo-Lorentzian interpretation of special relativity the A-theory can be reconciled with the theory of relativity.^[15]

In terms of God's relationship to time, Craig argues that God must exist in time if he is to be regarded as a causal agent. He rejects the view that God could exist timelessly with creation as he did sans creation on the grounds that nothing outside time could have temporal interactions with the world. Critics such as Paul Helm maintain that Craig’s objections against divine timelessness is itself incoherent because "There can be no temporal 'and then' for a timelessly eternal God."^[16] Craig responds to this charge by arguing that God's timeless and temporal phases are not related to each other as "earlier" and "later."^[17]

[edit] Other views

Craig is a critic of metaphysical naturalism^[18] and New Atheism^[19] as well as a defender of Reformed epistemology.^[20] His work as a New Testament historian focuses on a defense of central Christian doctrines, specifically Jesus' resurrection from the dead. In The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus, Craig reviews the historical debate and provides a critical analysis of David Hume's arguments against testimony of miracles, examines New Testament material dealing with the resurrection, and concludes that the resurrection is the most plausible explanation of the historical data.^[21] Craig maintains that the theory of evolution is compatible with Christianity.^{[22][page needed]} Although he does not fully endorse intelligent design,^[23] he thinks it may be a viable alternative to evolution.^[24] He is a fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture^[25] and a fellow of the International Society for Complexity, Information and Design (ISCID).^[26]

[edit] Debates

Craig has publicly debated prominent atheists Richard Carrier, Stephen Law, Peter Millican, Robert M. Price, Sam Harris, Antony Flew,^[27] A. C. Grayling,^[28] Lawrence Krauss,^[29][30] Victor Stenger,^[31] Peter Atkins,^[32] and Christopher Hitchens.^[33] and prominent Muslims such as Shabir Ally and Jawal Badawi ^[34]

[edit] Bibliography

• The Kalām Cosmological Argument. London: MacMillan. 1979. ISBN 157910438X / ISBN 978-1579104382
• The Cosmological Argument from Plato to Leibniz. London: MacMillan. 1980. ISBN 1579107877 / ISBN 978-1579107871
• The Son Rises: Historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Chicago: Moody Press. 1981. ISBN 9781579104641 / ISBN 978-1579104641
• Apologetics: An Introduction. Chicago: Moody Press. 1984. ISBN 0802404057
• The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus during the Deist Controversy. Toronto: Edwin Mellen. 1985. ISBN 0-88946-811-7
• The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom. Grand Rapids: Baker Bookhouse. 1987. ISBN 1579103162 / ISBN 978-1579103163
• The Problem of Divine Foreknowledge and Future Contingents from Aristotle to Suarez. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1988. ISBN 9004085165 / ISBN 978-9004085169
• Knowing the Truth About the Resurrection. Ann Arbor: Servant. 1988. ISBN 089283384X / ISBN 978-0892833849
• Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus. Toronto: Edwin Mellen Press. 1989. ISBN 0889466165/ ISBN 978-0889466166
• Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom: The Coherence of Theism I: Omniscience. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1990. ISBN 9004092501 / ISBN 978-9004092501
• No Easy Answers. Chicago: Moody Press. 1990. ISBN 0802422837 / ISBN 978-0802422835
• Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology (with Quentin Smith). Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1993. ISBN 978-0198263838
• The Tensed Theory of Time: A Critical Examination. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. ISBN 0792366344 / ISBN 978-0792366348
• Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? A Debate Between William Lane Craig and John Dominic Crossan. Grand Rapids: Baker Bookhouse. 1998.
• God, Are You There?. Atlanta: RZIM. 1999. ISBN 1930107005 / ISBN 978-1930107007
• The Tenseless Theory of Time: A Critical Examination. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2000. ISBN 9780792366355 / ISBN 978-0792366355
• God, Time and Eternity. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2001. ISBN 9781581342413 / ISBN 978-1581342413
• Time and The Metaphysics of Relativity. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2001. ISBN 0 7923 6668 9
• Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time. Wheaton: Crossway. 2001. ISBN 9781581342413 / ISBN 978-1581342413
• What Does God Know? Atlanta: RZIM. 2002. ISBN 9781930107052
• Hard Questions, Real Answers. Wheaton: Crossway Books. 2003. ISBN 9781581344875 / ISBN 978-1581344875
• God?: A Debate Between a Christian and an Atheist(with Walter Sinnot-Armstrong). New York: Oxford University Press. 2003.
• Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (with J.P. Moreland). Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press. 2003.
• Creation out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration (with Paul Copan). Grand Rapids: Baker Bookhouse. 2004. ISBN 0801027330
• Reasonable Faith. Wheaton: Crossway. 1994. rev. 3rd ed. 2008. ISBN 0891077642 / ISBN 978-0891077640
• On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook. 2010. ISBN 1434764885 / ISBN 978-1434764881

[edit] See also

• List of American philosophers

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: William Lane Craig

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: William Lane Craig

• Reasonable Faith William Lane Craig's personal website
• Faculty webpage
• Comprehensive Debate list
• Interviews from the program Closer to Truth
• Works by or about William Lane Craig in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Audio files at bethinking.org

William Lane

William Lane (6 September 1861 – 26 August 1917) was a journalist, advocate of Australian labour politics and a utopian.^[1]

[edit] Early life

Lane was born in Bristol, England, eldest son of James Lane, from Ireland a Protestant Master Gardener, and his English wife Caroline, née Hall.^[1] When Lane was born his father was earning a miserable wage, but later his circumstances improved and he became an employer. The boy was educated at Bristol Grammar School and showed ability, but he was sent early to work as an office boy. Lane's mother died when he was 14 years of age, and at age 16 he migrated to Canada, then to the United States, where he worked first as a printer, then as a reporter for the Detroit Free Press (1881), there meeting his future wife Ann MacGuire. In 1885 they migrated to Brisbane, Australia, where Lane immediately got work as a feature writer for the weekly newspaper Queensland Figaro, then as a columnist for the newspapers Brisbane Courier and Evening Telegraph, using a number of pseudonyms ("Lucinda Sharpe", which some consider to be the work of Annie Lane, William Wilcher and "Sketcher").

A life-long abstainer from alcohol, in 1886 he created an Australia-wide sensation by spending a night in the Brisbane lock-up disguised as a drunk, and subsequently reporting the conditions of the cells as "Henry Harris". Lane's father was a drunk who impoverished the family.^[1]

With the growth of the 7-2 labour movement, "Sketcher"'s columns, especially his "Labour Notes" in the Evening Telegraph, increasingly promoted labourist philosophy, and Lane himself attended meetings supporting all manner of popular causes, speaking with his "American twang" against repressive laws and practices and Chinese immigrants.

After becoming the de facto editor of the Courier, Lane departed during November 1887 to found the weekly The Boomerang, "a live newspaper, racy, of the soil", in which pro-worker themes and lurid racism were brought to a fever-pitch by both "Sketcher" and "Lucinda Sharpe". He became a powerful supporter of Emma Miller and Women's suffrage. A strong proponent of Henry George's Single Tax Movement, Lane became increasingly committed to a radically alternative society, and ended his relationship with the Boomerang due to its private ownership.

In May 1890 he began the community-funded Brisbane weekly The Worker, the rhetoric of which became increasingly threatening towards the employers, the government, and the British Empire itself. The defeat of the 1891 Australian shearers' strike convinced Lane that there would be no real social change without a completely new society, and The Worker became increasingly devoted to his New Australia utopian idea.

The Workingman's Paradise, an allegorical novel written in sympathy with the shearers involved in the 1891 Shearer's Strike, was published under his pseudonym John Miller in early 1892. In the novel Lane articulated the belief that anarchism is the noblest social philosophy of all. Through the novel's philosopher and main protagonist he relates his belief that society may have to experience a period of State socialism to achieve the ideal of Communist anarchism. Mary Gilmore, later a celebrated Australian writer, said in one of her letters "the whole book is true and of historical value as Lane transcribed our conversations as well as those of others".

[edit] New Australia Colony

Contriving a division among Australian labour activists between the permanently disaffected and those who later formed the Australian Labor Party, Lane refused the Queensland Government's offer of a grant of land on which to create a utopian settlement, and began an Australia-wide campaign for the creation of a new society elsewhere on the globe, peopled by rugged and sober Australian bushmen and their proud wives.

Eventually Paraguay was decided upon, and Lane and his family and several hundred acolytes from New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia departed Mort Bay in Sydney in the ship Royal Tar on 1 July 1893.

New Australia soon had its crisis, brought on by the issues of inter-racial relationships (Lane singled out the Guarani as racially taboo) and alcohol. Lane's dictatorial manner soon alienated many in the community, and by the time the second boat-load of utopians arrived from Adelaide a year later, Lane had left with a core of devotees to form a new colony nearby named 7-2.

Eventually Lane became disillusioned with the process, and returned to Australia in 1899.

[edit] Later life

Lane then went with his family to New Zealand. After initial melancholia, he soon refound his old verve as a pseudonymous feature-writer from 1900 for the newspaper New Zealand Herald ("Tohunga"), only this time as ultra-conservative and pro-Empire. He had strong racial antipathy toward East Asians, and during World War I he developed extreme anti-German sentiments. He died on 26 August 1917 in Auckland, New Zealand, having been editor of the Herald from 1913 to 1917, much admired, having lost one son Charles at a cricket match in Cosme in Paraguay, and another Donald on the first day of the ANZAC landings (25 April 1915) on the beaches of Gallipoli.

[edit] References

This article cites its sources but does not provide page references. You can help to improve it by introducing citations that are more precise.

• Gavin Souter's account of Lane and New Australia in his A Peculiar People
• Peter Bruce's thesis (Univ Sydney) The Journalistic Career of William Lane.
• Larry Petrie (1859-1901) - Australian Revolutionist? by Bob James
• Whitehead, Anne (1997) Paradise Mislaid — in Search of the Australian Tribe of Paraguay University of Queensland Press, St. Lucia
• Serle, Percival (1949). "Lane, William". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson. http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogL.html#lane1. Retrieved 2009-09-07. 

[edit] External links

• Workingman's Paradise at Project Gutenberg
• Workingman's Paradise, Pdf at University of Sydney

John Boehner
61st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office January 5, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Nancy Pelosi
House Minority Leader
In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011
Deputy	Roy Blunt (2007–2009) Eric Cantor (2009–2011)
Preceded by	Nancy Pelosi
Succeeded by	Nancy Pelosi
House Majority Leader
In office February 2, 2006 – January 3, 2007
Deputy	Roy Blunt
Preceded by	Roy Blunt (Acting)
Succeeded by	Steny Hoyer
Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Workforce
In office January 3, 2001 – January 3, 2006
Preceded by	William Goodling
Succeeded by	Howard McKeon
Chairman of the House Republican Conference
In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 1999
Preceded by	Dick Armey
Succeeded by	J.C. Watts
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 8th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1991
Preceded by	Buz Lukens
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives from the 57th district
In office January 3, 1985 – December 31, 1990
Preceded by	Bill Donham
Succeeded by	Scott Nein
Personal details
Born	John Andrew Boehner (1949-11-17) November 17, 1949 (age 62) Reading, Ohio, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Deborah Gunlack (1973–present)
Children	Lindsay Boehner Tricia Boehner
Residence	West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio
Alma mater	Xavier University
Profession	Business consultant
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature
Website	Speaker of the House Friends of John Boehner Fighting for Freedom. Making a Difference. John Boehner - 8th District of Ohio
Military service
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1968 (8 weeks)

John Andrew Boehner ( /ˈbeɪnər/ BAY-nər;^{[notes 1]} born November 17, 1949) is the 61st^[1] and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from Ohio's 8th congressional district, serving since 1991. The district includes several rural and suburban areas near Cincinnati and Dayton, and a small portion of Dayton itself.

Boehner previously served as the House Minority Leader from 2007 until 2011, and House Majority Leader from 2006 until 2007. As Speaker of the House, Boehner is second in line to the presidency of the United States following the Vice President in accordance with the Presidential Succession Act.

[edit] Early life, education and career

Boehner was born in Reading, Ohio, the son of Mary Anne (née Hall) and Earl Henry Boehner, the second of twelve children. His father was of German descent and his mother had German and Irish ancestry.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} He grew up in modest circumstances, having shared one bathroom with his eleven siblings in a two-bedroom house in Cincinnati. His parents slept on a pull-out couch.^[7] He started working at his family's bar at age 8, a business founded by their grandfather Andy Boehner in 1938.^[7] He has lived in Southwest Ohio his entire life. All but two of his siblings still live within a few miles of each other; two are unemployed and most of the others have blue-collar jobs.^[8]

Boehner attended Cincinnati's Moeller High School and was a linebacker on the school's football team, where he was coached by future Notre Dame coach Gerry Faust.^[9] Graduating from Moeller in 1968, when U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War was at its peak, Boehner enlisted in the United States Navy but was honorably discharged after eight weeks because of a bad back.^[10] He earned his B.A. in business administration from Xavier University in 1977, becoming the first person in his family to attend college, taking seven years as he held several jobs to pay for his education.^[7]

Shortly after his graduation in 1977, Boehner accepted a position with Nucite Sales, a small sales business in the packaging and plastics industry. He was steadily promoted and eventually became president of the firm, resigning in 1990 when he was elected to Congress.^[4]

[edit] Early political career

From 1982 to 1984, Boehner served on the board of trustees of Union Township, Butler County, Ohio. He then served as an Ohio state representative from 1985 to 1990.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

In 1990, Boehner ran against incumbent congressman Buz Lukens, who was under fire for having a sexual relationship with a minor. He trounced Lukens in the primary, taking 49 percent of the vote. This was tantamount to election in the heavily Republican 8th District. He has been reelected 10 times with no substantial opposition, and even ran unopposed in 1994.

[edit] Gang of Seven

During his freshman year, Boehner and fellow members of the Gang of Seven took on the House establishment, Republicans and Democrats alike, and successfully closed the House Bank (House banking scandal), uncovered "dine-and-dash" practices at the House Restaurant, and exposed drug sales and illegal cash-for-stamps deals at the House Post Office.^[11]

[edit] Contract with America

Boehner, along with Newt Gingrich and several other Republican lawmakers, was one of the engineers of the Contract with America in 1994 that helped catapult Republicans into the majority in Congress for the first time in four decades.

[edit] Legislative accomplishments

From 1995 to 1999, Boehner served as House Republican Conference Chairman which is the party caucus for Republicans in the United States House of Representatives. In this post, he was the fourth-ranking House Republican, behind Gingrich, Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay. There he championed the Freedom to Farm Act that, among other provisions, revises and simplifies direct payment programs for crops and eliminates milk price supports through direct government purchases.

Following the election of President George W. Bush, Boehner was elected as chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee from 2001 until 2006. There he authored several reforms including the Pension Protection Act and a successful school choice voucher program for low-income children in Washington, DC.^[12] He was also a major force in the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, saying it was his “proudest achievement” in two decades of public service.^[13]

[edit] Leadership challenge

In the summer of 1997 several House Republicans, who saw Speaker Newt Gingrich's public image as a liability, attempted to replace him as Speaker. The attempted "coup" began July 9 with a meeting between Republican conference chairman Boehner and Republican leadership chairman Bill Paxon of New York. According to their plan, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Boehner and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out. However, Armey balked at the proposal to make Paxon the new Speaker, and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich about the coup.^[14]

On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he was voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker, which would allow for the possibility that Democrats—along with dissenting Republicans—would vote in Dick Gephardt as Speaker. On July 16, Paxon offered to resign his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly. Paxon was the only unelected member of the leadership group, having been appointed to his position by Gingrich.^[15]

[edit] Congressional leadership

Boehner, as House Minority Leader, campaigns for fellow Ohio Congressman Steve Stivers (left) during the 2010 midterm elections

In 1998, Boehner was ousted as the chairman of the House Republican Conference, after his party lost five congressional seats.^[16]

In an upset, Boehner was elected by his colleagues to serve as House Majority Leader on February 2, 2006. The election followed Tom DeLay's resignation from the post after being indicted on criminal charges.

Boehner campaigned as a reform candidate who wanted to reform the so-called "earmark" process and rein in government spending. He defeated Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri and Representative John Shadegg of Arizona, even though he was considered an underdog candidate to Blunt. In the second round of voting by the House Republican Conference, Boehner defeated Blunt with 122 to 109 votes. Blunt kept his previous position as Majority Whip, the No. 3 leadership position in the House. (There was some confusion on the first ballot for Majority Leader as the first count showed one more vote cast than Republicans present,^[17] due to a misunderstanding as to whether the rules allowed Resident Commissioner Luis Fortuño of Puerto Rico to vote or not).^[18]

After the Republicans lost control of the House in the 2006 elections, the House Republican Conference chose Boehner as Minority Leader. While as Majority Leader he was second-in-command behind Speaker Dennis Hastert, as Minority Leader he was the leader of the House Republicans. As such, he was the Republican nominee for Speaker in 2006 and 2008, losing both times to Pelosi. While the Speaker is nominally elected by the full House, in practice he or she is almost always chosen by the majority party.

According to the 2008 Congress.org Power Ranking, Boehner was the 6th most powerful congressman (preceded by Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander M. Levin, Dean of the House John Dingell, and Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey, all Democrats) and the most powerful Republican.^[19] As Minority Leader, Boehner served as an ex officio member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

[edit] Speaker of the House

Boehner is greeted as the House Speaker by U.S. President Barack Obama, before the 2011 State of the Union Address.

On November 17, 2010, Boehner was unanimously chosen by the House Republicans as their nominee for Speaker,^[20][21] all but assuring his formal election to the post when the new Congress convened with a Republican majority in January 2011. He is the first Speaker from Ohio since fellow Republicans Nicholas Longworth (1925 to 1931) and J. Warren Keifer (1881 to 1883). He is also the first Speaker who has served both as majority and minority floor leader for his party since Texas Democrat Sam Rayburn.

As Speaker, Boehner is still the leader of the House Republicans. However, by tradition, he normally does not take part in debate (though he has the right to do so) and almost never votes from the floor. He is also not a member of any House committees.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Connections to lobbyists

In June 1995, Boehner distributed campaign contributions from tobacco industry lobbyists on the House floor as House members were weighing how to vote on tobacco subsidies.^[22] In a 1996 documentary by PBS called The People and the Power Game, Boehner said "They asked me to give out a half dozen checks quickly before we got to the end of the month and I complied. And I did it on the House floor, which I regret. I should not have done. It's not a violation of the House rules, but it's a practice that‘s gone on here for a long time that we're trying to stop and I know I'll never do it again."^[23] Boehner eventually led the effort to change House rules and prohibit campaign contributions from being distributed on the House floor.^[24]

A September 2010 New York Times story said Boehner was "Tightly Bound to Lobbyists" and "He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R.J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.".^[25]

[edit] Smithsonian

In November 2010, Boehner, along with Minority Whip Eric Cantor, called for the cancellation of an exhibit in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery after he learned that it featured a video by David Wojnarowicz, A Fire in My Belly, that contained an image of a crucifix with ants crawling on it. Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said, "Smithsonian officials should either acknowledge the mistake and correct it, or be prepared to face tough scrutiny beginning in January when the new majority in the House moves [in]."^[26]

[edit] Political positions

Boehner introducing then-president George W. Bush in Troy, Ohio in 2003.

A profile in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said, "On both sides of the aisle, Boehner earns praise for candor and an ability to listen."^[27] The Plain Dealer says Boehner "has perfected the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable."^[28]

Boehner has been classified as a "hard-core conservative" by OnTheIssues.^[29] Although Boehner does have a conservative voting record, when he was running for House leadership, religious conservatives in the GOP expressed that they were not satisfied with his positions. According to the Washington Post: "From illegal immigration to sanctions on China to an overhaul of the pension system, Boehner, as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, took ardently pro-business positions that were contrary to those of many in his party. Religious conservatives — examining his voting record — see him as a policymaker driven by small-government economic concerns, not theirs."^[30]

Boehner has received a "0" rating from the Human Rights Campaign in the last three congressional sessions, voting against the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, the Early Treatment for HIV Act, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Boehner voted for a Federal Marriage Amendment. In a letter to the Rights Campaign, Boehner stated, "I oppose any legislation that would provide special rights for homosexuals... Please be assured that I will continue to work to protect the idea of the traditional family as one of the fundamental tenets of western civilization."^[31][32]

On May 25, 2006, Boehner issued a statement defending his agenda and attacking his "Democrat friends" such as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Boehner said regarding national security that voters "have a choice between a Republican Party that understands the stakes and is dedicated to victory, and a Democrat Party with a non-existent national security policy that sheepishly dismisses the challenges of a post-9/11 world and is all too willing to concede defeat on the battlefield in Iraq."

Boehner is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.^[33]

[edit] Military spending

Boehner has called on the President to justify spending for military operations against terrorists.^[34]

[edit] Financial crisis

On September 18, 2008, Congressman Boehner attended a closed meeting with congressional leaders, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and was urged to craft legislation to help financially troubled banks. That same day (trade effective the next day), Congressman Boehner cashed out of an equity mutual fund.^[35]

On October 3, 2008 Boehner voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP),^[36] believing that the enumerated powers grant Congress the authority to "purchase assets and equity from financial institutions in order to strengthen its financial sector."

Speaker Boehner meets with President Obama at the White House during the 2011 debt ceiling increase negotiations

Boehner has been highly critical of several initiatives by the Democratic Congress and President Barack Obama, including the "cap and trade" plan that Boehner says would hurt job growth in his congressional district and elsewhere. He opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and said that, if Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, they would do whatever it takes to stop the act. One option would be to defund the administrative aspect of the Act, not paying "one dime" to pay the salaries of the workers who would administer the plan.^[37] He also led an opposition to the 2009 stimulus and to Obama's first budget proposal, promoting instead an alternative economic recovery plan^[38] and a Republican budget (authored by Ranking Rep. Paul Ryan, R-WI).^[39] He has advocated for an across-the-board spending freeze, including entitlement programs. Boehner favors making changes in Social Security, such as by raising the retirement age to 70 for people who have at least 20 years until retirement, as well as tying cost-of-living increases to the consumer price index rather than wage inflation, and limiting payments to those who need them.^[37]

In 2011 Boehner called the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act “one of our highest legislative priorities.”^[40][41]

[edit] Political campaigns

[edit] 2006

In the November 2006 election, Boehner defeated the Democratic Party candidate, U.S. Air Force veteran Mort Meier, 64% to 36%.^[42]

[edit] 2008

In the November 2008 election, Boehner defeated Nicholas Von Stein, 68% to 32%.^[43]

[edit] 2010

Boehner was opposed by Democratic nominee Justin Coussoule, Constitution Party nominee Jim Condit, and Libertarian nominee David Harlow; but won the 2010 election.^[44]

As Republican House Leader, Boehner is a Democratic target for criticism of Republican views and political positions. In July 2010, President Barack Obama began singling out Boehner for criticism during his speeches.^[45] In one speech, Obama mentioned Boehner's name nine times^[46] and accused him of believing that police, firefighters, and teachers were jobs "not worth saving."^[47]

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] Personal life

Boehner and his wife Debbie were married in 1973, and live in the Wetherington section of West Chester Township. They have two daughters, Lindsay and Tricia.^[50]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 2006: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2005) pp 1328–32.

[edit] External links

Find more about John Boehner on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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• Speaker John Boehner official site for the Speaker's Office
• Congressman John Boehner official U.S. House site
• Friends of John Boehner official campaign site
• The Freedom Project political action committee
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Appearances at the Internet Movie Database
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Works by or about John Boehner in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Truth-O-Meter Profile at PolitiFact.com
• Profile at SourceWatch
• Candidate information from Our Campaigns

v t e Speakers of the United States House of Representatives Muhlenberg Trumbull Muhlenberg Dayton Sedgwick Macon Varnum Clay Cheves Clay Taylor Barbour Clay Taylor Stevenson Bell Polk Hunter White Jones Davis Winthrop Cobb Boyd Banks Orr Pennington Grow Colfax Pomeroy Blaine Kerr Randall Keifer Carlisle Reed Crisp Reed Henderson Cannon Clark Gillett Longworth Garner Rainey Byrns Bankhead Rayburn Martin Rayburn Martin Rayburn McCormack Albert O'Neill Wright Foley Gingrich Hastert Pelosi Boehner

v t e Majority Leaders of the United States House of Representatives Payne Underwood Kitchin Mondell Longworth Tilson Rainey Byrns Bankhead Rayburn McCormack Halleck McCormack Halleck McCormack Albert Boggs O'Neill Wright Foley Gephardt Armey DeLay Blunt (acting) Boehner Hoyer Cantor

v t e Minority Leaders of the United States House of Representatives Bailey Richardson Williams Clark Mann Clark Kitchin Garrett Garner Snell Martin Rayburn Martin Rayburn Martin Halleck Ford Rhodes Michel Gephardt Pelosi Boehner Pelosi

v t e Republican Party Leaders in the United States House of Representatives Payne Mann Mondell Longworth Tilson Snell Martin Halleck Martin Halleck Martin Halleck Ford Rhodes Michel Armey DeLay Blunti Boehner Cantor (i) - interim

v t e Ohio's 8th congressional district Wilson Stanbery Mclene Ridgway Vanmeter Thurman Taylor Corwin Stanton Shellabarger Johnston Hubbell Hamilton Beatty Lawrence Keifer Finley Keifer Little Kennedy Hare Strong Lybrand Warnock Ralph D. Cole Willis Key R. Clint Cole Fletcher Mouser Fletcher Smith Betts Powell Kindness Lukens Boehner

Roger Wicker
United States Senator from Mississippi
Incumbent
Assumed office December 31, 2007 Serving with Thad Cochran
Preceded by	Trent Lott
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi's 1st district
In office January 3, 1995 – December 31, 2007
Preceded by	Jamie Whitten
Succeeded by	Travis Childers
Mississippi State Senator
In office 1987–1994
Personal details
Born	Roger Frederick Wicker (1951-07-05) July 5, 1951 (age 60) Pontotoc, Mississippi
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Gayle Wicker
Children	Margaret Wicker Caroline Wicker McDaniel Wicker
Residence	Tupelo, Mississippi
Alma mater	University of Mississippi (B.A., J.D.)
Occupation	Attorney
Religion	Southern Baptist
Website	Roger Wicker, United States Senator
Military service
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1976-2004
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel

Roger Frederick Wicker (born July 5, 1951) is the junior United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party. In December 2007 he was appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott. He subsequently won the 2008 special election for the remainder of the term. Wicker served in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Mississippi's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2007.

[edit] Early life

Wicker was born in Pontotoc, Mississippi on July 5, 1951, the son of Wordna Glen (née Threadgill) and Frederick T. "Fred" Wicker.^[1] He served as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives when he was 16.^{[citation needed]} He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science and a law degree from the University of Mississippi where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity.^{[citation needed]}

After graduation, Wicker served as an officer in the United States Air Force from 1976 to 1980.^[2][3] Starting in 1980, he was a member of the Air Force Reserve; he retired from the Reserve in 2003 as a lieutenant colonel.^[2] Wicker served as a judge advocate.^[4]

[edit] Early political career

Wicker began his political career as a member of Trent Lott's political counsel. He then served in the Mississippi State Senate from 1987 to 1994, representing a district that included Tupelo. He was the first Republican elected to the legislature from Northern Mississippi since Reconstruction.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

[edit] Elections

In 1994, Democrat Jamie Whitten declined to seek re-election; he had represented the 1st District for 54 years, a historical record at the time. Wicker finished first in a crowded six-way Republican primary; the other big name in the primary, former U.S. Attorney Bob Whitwell, finished 600 votes short of the other runoff spot. In the runoff, Wicker defeated attorney Grant Fox with 53 percent of the vote.

In the general election, Wicker defeated Fulton attorney Bill Wheeler, capturing 63 percent of the vote,^[5] making him the first Republican to represent the 1st District in over a century. However, this was not considered an upset, as the 1st has always been a rather conservative district (especially in the Memphis suburbs). The last time it supported a Democrat for president was in 1976, when Jimmy Carter carried the district. Before then, Mississippi had not supported the official Democratic candidate since 1956 (it voted for George Wallace in 1968). Although Whitten had a nearly unbreakable hold on the district, it had been considered very likely that he would be succeeded by a Republican once he retired.

Then-Rep. and Mrs. Wicker visit with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai

Wicker was reelected six more times without much difficulty, never dropping below 60 percent of the vote.

[edit] Tenure

He was formerly a member of the House Appropriations Committee. He was also Deputy Republican Whip.

In Congress, Wicker worked on issues related to medical research and on economic development for his home state. He advocated private-public partnerships to bring investment to rural areas. Wicker also worked for veterans' issues while serving as a member of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Subcommittee.^[6] In his final year as Representative, Wicker topped the list in earmarks.^[7]

[edit] U.S. Senate

[edit] Committee Assignments, 112th Congress

• Senate Committee on Armed Services
  • United States Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Airland
  • United States Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
  • United States Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower (Ranking Member)
• Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Economic Policy
  • Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
  • Subcommittee Securities, Insurance, and Investment
• Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
  • Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
  • Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance
  • Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
  • Subcommittee on Science and Space
  • Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security (Ranking Member)

• Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs

• Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

[edit] Caucus memberships

• Congressional Human Rights Caucus
• Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus
• International Conservation Caucus
• Interstate 69 Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Sportsmen's Caucus
• Tennessee Valley Authority Congressional Caucus

[edit] Tenure

At a press conference on December 31, 2007, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour appointed Wicker to fill the Senate seat vacated by Trent Lott on December 18, 2007.^[8] He was sworn in by the clerk of the U.S. Senate just prior to that news conference.^[9]

Wicker ran for the remainder of Lott's term in the November 2008 special election against Ronnie Musgrove, Barbour's predecessor as governor. He won the seat with 55% of the vote. Wicker's resignation from the House also triggered a May 13, 2008 special election to fill the vacancy in the House, which was won by Democrat Travis Childers.

On September 16, 2010, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Wicker as representative of the United States to the Sixty-fifth Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.^[10]

[edit] Electoral history

Official photo as U.S. Representative.

This section requires expansion.

The following is a partial summary of Wicker's election results.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Personal life

Wicker is married to the former Gayle Long of Tupelo. They have three children: Margaret and son-in-law Manning McPhillips; Caroline and son-in-law Kirk Sims; and McDaniel; and one granddaughter, Caroline McPhillips. The Wickers reside in Tupelo, where he is a deacon at First Baptist Church.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

United States Air Force portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roger Wicker

• Official Senate website
• Official campaign website
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Profile at SourceWatch

v t e United States Senators from Mississippi Class 1 Leake Holmes Ellis Reed Ellis Black Trotter T. Hickman Williams Henderson Speight Davis McRae S. Adams Davis Ames Pease Bruce George Money J. Williams Stephens Bilbo Stennis Lott Wicker Class 2 T. Hill Williams Reed R. Adams Poindexter Walker Chalmers Foote Brooke Brown Revels Alcorn Lamar Walthall McLaurin Walthall Sullivan McLaurin Gordon Percy Vardaman Harrison Eastland Doxey Eastland Cochran