In a complete surprise, John Boehner (R-OH) last Friday announced his resignation as speaker of the House of Representatives and as a member of Congress effective the end of October.

Boehner’s announcement ends the Tea Party’s efforts to depose him as speaker. The question now will be who will take Boehner’s place and what other changes will there be in the House Republican leadership?

With Boehner stepping down, it removes the threat of a government shutdown this week. The Senate and House are expected to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government running until Dec. 11. However, the real test will be in December when Congress has to address a number of fiscal issues including the debt ceiling, fiscal year 2016 appropriation bills, highway bill, Export-Import, etc.

The new Republican House leadership can expect to feel a great amount of pressure from Tea Party members during this time.