Civil and Human Rights Coalition Responds to Boehner Retirement

WASHINGTON – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after the announcement that Speaker John Boehner, R. Ohio, would step down from his leadership position and retire from Congress:

“If John Boehner’s tenure as Speaker of the House has taught us anything, it’s that rolling over for bullies is no way to establish a legacy. Instead of taking leadership and legislating on behalf of all Americans, Speaker Boehner cowered to extremists while millions of Americans suffered without voting rights, with a broken immigration system, and with a government that couldn’t even stay open. 

At the beginning of his speakership, civil rights groups were optimistic that we could find room for compromise with the new Republican leadership, but we—and the nation—were sorely disappointed. 

We urge the next speaker to work with all Americans to fix the most pressing economic and civil rights issues of the day, to help bring bipartisan compromise back to Washington, to ensure that the government stays open, and to listen to the millions of us who want restoration of the Voting Rights Act, passage of comprehensive immigration reform, policies that reduce wage inequality and income inequality, and desperately needed reforms to our discriminatory policing and criminal justice practices.”

Wade Henderson is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.