The unexpected primary loss by Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) Tuesday could send a chill down the spines of other conservative Republicans who face competitive primaries and are worried that they aren't conservative enough.

That means they could abandon House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)  and other House leaders in droves on important bills. You thought it was hard for Boehner to guide crucial bills through the House before?

The House GOP leadership has lost anywhere from 40-90 Republican votes on major pieces of legislation over the past 15 months. After seeing Schmidt's loss, that number could well experience an upward trend as Republicans begin to fret about their respective primaries and begin taking fire from their right flank.

Many will view the Schmidt loss as a wakeup call.

While she was in the House, Schmidt voted against shutting down the government on April 9, 2011.

She then joined 59 Republicans to vote against a bill to avoid another government shutdown on April 14, 2011. Many Republicans argued the bill didn't make cuts that were deep enough.

Schmidt voted to raise the debt ceiling on August 1, 2011.

Schmidt then voted in favor of avoiding another government shutdown on a measure that failed on September 21, 2011.

Perhaps sensing trouble, Schmidt voted against extending the payroll tax cut on February 17, 2012.

It is "an option" for the House to take up the Senate version of the troubled transportation bill.

House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday that Republican leaders are "continuing to talk to our members, trying to find common ground in order to move our energy and infrastructure bill."

Funding for these programs expires at the end of the month. The transportation bill is Boehner's baby in the House, but has had a rough go of it. The lack of earmarks is one of the barriers to greasing the skids for this bill.

-- Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

New England Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocinco found out something he didn’t catch during his 10 years in Cincinnati Tuesday night -- Washington-style theater.

Tweeting his way through a bout of insomnia, the three time all-pro stumbled upon the State of the Union address, watching the yearly event for the first time.

The player, who famously changed his last name to the Spanish-style pronunciation of his jersey number, asked his more than 3 million followers a host of questions about the event: its length (varies), how the president remembers the entire speech (TOTUS, ask any Republican to explain) and who "the guy over Obama’s left shoulder" was (House Speaker John Boehner, an avid Cincinnati Bengals fan).

That guy "doesn’t seem very happy," Ochocinco tweeted of the stone-faced speaker, who earlier in the week told "Fox News Sunday" he was going to get through President Obama's speech by staring at the back of Obama's head.

After learning Boehner’s identity, Ochocinco turned up the compassion, asking via Twitter if the speaker, who is known to wear his emotions on his sleeve, was "ok." (read more)

House Speaker John Boehner told a group of journalists Tuesday morning that he and President Obama have a good, cordial relationship, although admitted the two haven't spoken since December 23.

"We just come from two different planets," Boehner said. "We speak a different language."

As for the State of the Union address, in which Boehner will be sitting behind President Obama, the Speaker set the bar low. "The White House made clear by Labor Day that it was in full campaign mode. The President wants this to be a year one address... he's taking on the role of Rip Van Winkle... like he slept through the two years where Democrats controlled both chambers."

The Speaker is hoping the President will address the automatic defense cuts due to kick in as a result of the Congressional Super Committee's failure.

Boehner called the defense cuts "entirely unacceptable", and said they would "weaken our defense significantly... putting America in a very precarious situation."

Boehner used the debt talks last summer to describe the difficulty of their working relationship. "It was like negotiating with someone who has never negotiated with anyone before," said Boehner. (read more)

The House of Representatives passed Speaker John Boehner's bill Friday by a razor thin margin, 218-210. In other words, if the GOP lost one more vote, the measure would have failed.

An interesting note, a number of GOPers who ultimately voted no sat on the sidelines; Reps. Tim Scott (R-SC), Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Tom Latham (R-IA) Boehner's best friend in the House.

These were "in case of emergency, break glass votes." Scott and Gowdy were seen sitting on the Democratic side of the aisle, looking at the board and not voting until the R's were sure they had enough. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-SC) stood right next to them.

Latham was the final GOP no, casting his ballot right before the end. Latham would have been hard pressed to vote against Boehner, his frequent dinner partner, had push come to shove.

Under the shadow of a potential financial doomsday, House Speaker John Boehner kept his debt plan off the floor on Thursday night. Instead, he turned legislators to the important business of renaming post offices.

Boehner used the seemingly inconsequential suspension bills to buy time as he tried to drum up much-needed votes to pass his debt plan. But if anyone is critical of the House's penchant for renaming post offices, it's the speaker himself.

"With all the challenges facing our nation, it is absurd that Congress spends so much time on naming post offices, congratulating sports teams, and celebrating the birthdays of historical figures," Boehner said in a September 2010 speech in Washington.

Promising reform, the newly-minted Republican majority established rules preventing resolutions that commend, congratulate, or celebrate an "entity, event, group, individual, institution, team, or government program."

"We're pretty well committed to the House doing substantive work," Boehner said in May. "All of the commemorative resolutions that used to be brought to the floor of the House, some of them, I thought were quite meaningless."

Missing from that list of once-common suspension bills is a ban against renaming post offices. (read more)

As the House inches closer to a vote on House Speaker John Boehner's controversial debt ceiling plan, a group of business associations is urging lawmakers to support the bill or face losing more private sector jobs.

"This legislation is necessary to extend the debt limit and avoid a default on the obligations of the United States," reads the letter sent to members of Congress on the eve of the vote.

The group behind the letter, which includes a wide swath of industry associations and chambers of commerce, warns that default could trigger "immediately higher" interest rates, stock market woes, higher oil prices, and a "loss of economic growth and jobs."

It's the second time this week the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce has thrown its weight behind an appeal to pass Boehner's "Budget Control Act of 2011."

"While this legislation is not a solution for all of America's debt and deficit problems, it is a necessary first step in the right direction," wrote R. Bruce Josten, the second-ranking officer at the trade association, in a Tuesday letter to lawmakers.

The endorsement counters arguments against the bill from conservative economic policy think tanks like Americans for Prosperity and the Club for Growth. Americans for Prosperity sent its own letter to Congress calling the bill's "paltry" spending cuts "unacceptable." (read more)

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, seems very confident in his golf swing as he prepares for a different kind of battle with President Obama - a round of golf.

Boehner said as he was watching one of the cable programs over the weekend, they were discussing the much talked about match the two will play June 18th.

"[S]omebody said, well you know if the president wants strokes from Boehner, Boehner ought to say to the president 'Mr. President, you can have all the strokes you want, it'll just cost you a trillion dollars a stroke.'"

"I thought it was a very good idea" Boehner said.

When asked about the outing, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president and the speaker will have a lot to talk about but not to expect the two to resolve all of their differences.

"[T]his is more of a social outing," said Carney. "They will not resolve the budget negotiations on the back nine. At least I don't expect that." (read more)

Lawmakers will return to Washington this week under pressure to reach a deal on federal spending levels by Friday, or face a government shutdown. But Speaker of the House John Boehner on Sunday night will stress that a shutdown will not be necessary.

"We have a moral responsibility to address the problems we face," the Ohio Republican will say in a speech to religious broadcasters, according to text released by his office. "That means working together to cut spending and rein in government - NOT shutting it down."

House Republicans on Friday proposed a temporary plan to keep the government running for two weeks after the March 4 deadline, with more modest spending cuts than their long-term proposal. The short-term plan will allow the Senate additional time to consider a full-length spending bill of its own.

"This is very simple: Americans want the government to stay open, and they want it to spend less money. We don't need to shut down the government to accomplish that," Boehner will say of the plan, which is bound for the House floor Tuesday. "We just need to do what the American people are asking of us."

Some Senate Democrats have signaled they may be willing to work with Republicans on the short-term plan, but Boehner on Sunday night will stress that the potential compromise doesn't mean Republicans are finished calling for wide-ranging spending cuts. (read more)

Zero, none, zilch. That's the level of outreach Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, says he's fielded from the White House in advance of Tuesday's State of the Union address, in which the president is expected to call for bipartisan cooperation.

Boehner, speaking at a breakfast for reporters on the morning of the address, held up his hand and signaled the number zero when asked how much the White House has reached out to his office. Asked if the gesture was an O.K. sign, the Ohio Republican replied, "No...it's zero...none...zilch," reports Fox News' Bret Baier.

"Of course there will be outreach, we have all kinds of plans coming up," White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett said on ABC's Good Morning America when asked if the president has reached across the aisle. "Tonight's speech is all about winning for the future. That's a bipartisan message; it's something everyone can get around." (read more)