In the other party, regret

Boehner’s exit will make things worse, Democrats contend.

WASHINGTON — While House Republicans were still digesting the news that Speaker John Boehner would be stepping down at the end of October, House Democrats were quickly getting in on the action.

In official statements, news conferences and hallway interviews, members of the minority party could barely contain their schadenfreude.

“That resignation of the speaker is a stark indication of the disarray of the House Republicans,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said at her weekly news conference.

“There’s been an insurrection,” said Congressional Black Caucus Chairman G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C. “We have known there’s been an insurrection in the conference for a long time, and now the American people know it..”

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-Va., called the resignation “a head on the platter” for the House Freedom Caucus. He suggested members would “feel more emboldened, more empowered,” and make it harder to govern.

Another theme for Democrats on Friday was to call on Boehner to “go big” in his final month in office, unencumbered by anxieties.

“It cannot be easy for a decent man to be the head of what is becoming the new Know-Nothing Party of anti-immigrant policies and intolerance,” said Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, D-Ill.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., said he regretted Boehner “could not be the leader he sought to be: a leader who understood that strong governance comes with the responsibility to work for the greater good.

“Unfortunately, he was prevented from doing so because of a small group of tea party members in his conference who equate compromise with capitulation.”