John Boehner: A timeline of his career

Nov. 17, 1949: Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, as one of 12 brothers and sisters.

1968: Graduates from Moeller High School, a Catholic boys school, in Cincinnati, where he played football for legendary coach Gerry Faust.

1977: Graduates with bachelor's degree in business from Xavier University in Cincinnati. Marries Debbie Gunlack. They later have two daughters, Lindsay and Tricia.

1977 to 1990: Works at Nucite Sales, a business in the packaging and plastics industry. He eventually becomes president of the business.

1982 to 1984: Serves as trustee for Union Twp., now known as West Chester Twp., located in Butler County.

1984: Elected as a representative to the Ohio legislature. Serves three terms.

1990: Elected to the U.S. House. In his freshman year, joins the "Gang of Seven," which insists on publicly identifying all 355 members with overdrafts at the House Bank, a damaging scandal for those legislators.

1994: Is a key ally of Rep. Newt Gingrich as he leads the 1994 Republican revolution ending four decades of Democratic House control.

1995: Named GOP Conference chairman, the spokesman for the Republicans in the House. Later that year he hands out checks from tobacco lobbyists on the House floor when Congressmen were considering a bill to end a tobacco subsidy. He later defended the practice as legal, but agreed it could appear a conflict and led a move to forbid it.

1998: Loses his leadership post in the wake of the GOP's disappointing performance in the 1998 midterms.

2001: Works with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D.-Mass.) in the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act.

2001 to 2006: Serves as chairman of the House Committee on Education & the Workforce.

2006: Named House Republican leader after Tom DeLay (R-Texas) steps down. Authors the Pension Protection Act.

2007: Assumes minority leader position after the Republicans lose control of the House in the 2006 elections.

2008: Elected for a 10th term, named for a second term as House Republican leader

2008: Votes in favor of the TARP program, a $700 billion rescue of financial markets. Says it was needed to "save the free-enterprise system."

2009: Throws the Democrats' massive economic-stimulus bill to the House floor in a theatrical rebuke.

2010: Campaigns for Republican hopefuls, as analysts forecast that if the GOP wins the House in November, he will become speaker.

2010: Republicans win control of the House, while Democrats keep the Senate. Mr. Boehner coasts to re-election over his Democratic challenger, Justin Coussoule. "I'll never let you down," the presumptive speaker of the House tells tea-party supporters.

2011: Elected the 53rd Speaker of the House of Representatives. In remarks to the House shortly after he is elected, Boehner says Congress can no longer afford to "kick the can down the road" on grave issues confronting lawmakers such as job creation, rising health-care costs and increased federal government spending.

2014: Elected to represent the 8th Congressional District for a 13th term.

Sept. 25, 2015: Announces he will resign from Congress at the end of October.

Sources: Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal

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