Speaker of the House John Boehner has announced his retirement, effective Oct. 30, 2015. The National Corn Growers Association thanked Boehner for being a friend to agriculture, with NCGA President Chip Bowling saying:

“We are grateful for Speaker Boehner’s leadership in so many areas, including service on the House Agriculture Committee, and his work for a more transparent and productive Congress. We note this announcement comes the day after Pope Francis addressed a Joint Session of Congress, at the speaker’s invitation, calling politics ‘an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life.’ Speaker Boehner has always striven to live up to these words, and we hope Congress will also take this message to heart. We ask Congress to set aside partisan interests and work together to solve important issues such as the federal budget, tax reform, and investing in our roads and bridges. Let’s come to the table with constructive solutions to move our country forward.”