John Andrew Boehner was born on 17 November 1949, and is a former Republican congressman best known for having been the House speaker, a position he held from early 2011 to October 2015. He rise to power began by becoming a Republican congressman in 1990, at that time the youngest member. Over his tenure he always held his ground as a staunch conservative, especially when it came to promoting government policies. This perhaps saw him become very popular and get re-elected a total of 12 times.
So, how rich is John Boehner? What is his net worth, as of early 2016? Sources point out that John Boehner is a wealthy man, with more than $5 million, as of early 2016. His average income when he was a congressman was approximately $255,658 and about $223,500 for the position of “House Speaker.” John also has business ventures in other areas, ranging from stocks to bonds and notes to mutual funds.
John Boehner Net Worth $5 Million
John Boehner was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the 12 children to Henry Boehner and Mary Anne. He was educated at Moeller High School, where he was one of the school’s football players. He left in 1968 during the time of the Vietnam War, and enlisted into the US Navy, however, after just eight weeks of training he was discharged and decided to attend college, where he spent 7 years before graduating. During this time, he worked different jobs in order to finance his school expenses, finally graduating in 1977 from Xavier University with a bachelor’s degree in the field of business administration. Out of all the members of his family, he was the first one to attend and get through college.
Before entering politics, Boehner started working in a plastic and packaging company, eventually rising to president by 1990. In 1982, he was selected to serve in the Union Township’s board of trustees in Butler County, being elected to Ohio’s House of representatives three years later. In 1990, he decided to run for the congress against such big names as Buz Lukens, which he won.
Being the youngest house member, John Boehner joined a group called the “Gang of Seven,” which consisted of freshmen Republicans with a common aim of bringing corruption cases to the attention of Congress. Together they exposed scandals such as the 1992 House Banking. Thanks to the group’s success, he became a rising star, opposing small-government and pro-business policies. He helped in passing a number of acts such as Freedom to Farm and No Child Left Behind, which was more controversial. He also helped in drafting the Pension Protection Act, and voted for a program to bail out struggling financial institutions during the economic recession in 2008. The program saw institutions being given part of $700 billion in relief.
John Boehner was voted to the House Speakership in January 2011, becoming the first from the state of Ohio to hold the position since 1931. As the speaker, he led the opposition to numerous policies by President Barack Obama, which included the withdrawal of the army from Iraq and the Affordable Care Act. He also continuously questioned the president’s leadership when it came to immigration policy, national debt and foreign affairs. In 2011, John became the center of efforts to end dept crisis, coming up with the ‘Boehner Plan’, meant to counter Harry Reid’s plan.
In summer 2015, the rivalry between John Boehner and Obama seemed to escalate, with Boehner announcing that he would sue him for abusing his powers. He cited that Obama’s many executive orders, negligent of immigration policy and changing the federal law were not constitutional. He filed the action after the House voted to allow the suit to continue. On 25 September 2015, he announced that he would resign as the speaker and leave congress in October. He passed the speaker’s gavel officially on 29 October 2015.
In his personal life, John Boehner met Debbie Boehner during college, when he was also working for a chemical company as a janitor, the same place where Debbie worked. The two married in September 1973, and have two daughters.
