The Day (Conn.), Sept. 25:

House Republicans won’t be shutting down the government again. The last time they did so it was a failed-from-the-start attempt to block Obamacare funding. This time it would have involved a symbolic move to defund Planned Parenthood. The results would have been the same as last time; outrage from the vast majority of Americans and damage to the Republican brand.

The reason that will definitely not happen is because U.S. House Speaker John Boehner made his surprise announcement Friday that he will step down and leave Congress at the end of October.

Unburdened by any need to kowtow to fiscally conservative zealots in the Republican House caucus, the speaker can bypass their shutdown efforts and pick up as many Democratic votes as necessary to get a spending bill passed next week.

What happens next is unclear. Protocol would suggest House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is next in line for speaker, but tea party conservatives could put up a fight for a stronger fiscal conservative.

Rep. Boehner reportedly expected to face another move from the right to strip him of his leadership position. While he expected to survive, again, Rep. Boehner also knew the fight would be long and nasty.

“The speaker believes putting members through prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution,” a Boehner aide told Politico.

Rep. Boehner, 65, was first elected to the House from his Ohio district in 1990. One reason he rose through the ranks is that he knew how to put together voting blocs and make deals. When he finally landed the top position, he found himself in charge of a Republican caucus that had shifted hard to the fiscal right because of the tea party gains in the 2010 election.

Members of this House Freedom Caucus are ideologues not interested in compromising, even if it means they can’t get anything done. They view any concession to Democrats and President Obama as an apostasy, finding the speaker guilty multiple times.

One of the great disappointments is that twice in the last several years, in July 2011 and again after President Obama’s re-election in November 2012, the president and the speaker came very close to a grand compromise that could have led to genuine spending and tax reform with significant long-term budgetary benefits.

Rep. Boehner could not deliver the votes because the deal was with President Obama.

The speaker exits on a high note, having brought Pope Francis to the Capitol. Fortunately, he didn’t need any votes to do that.