Delay Steps Down

House Majority Leader Tom Delay said in an interview that he will be resigning from Congress. Delay has been an embattled Texas Republican for the past six months because of claims that he "illegally used funds for state legislative races."

Delay says that he is innocent: "I have never broken the law, the spirit of the law or a House rule." Instead, he is instead resigning out of loyalty to the Republican party, saying "Any republican who replaces me on the ballot will win this seat." Delay has been a member of Congress since 1984.

Because of Delay's indictment, he was asked to temporarily step down from his position as House Majority Leader (a policy of the Republican party, not a policy of the House). He was replaced by John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio.