Boehner: Mine asked me to give out a half dozen checks quickly before we got to the end of the month and I complied. I did it on the House floor which I regret and I should not have done, it's not a violation of the House rules, but it's a practice that's gone on here for a long time.

Q: Were the checks from tobacco companies?

Boehner: Ahh, I think if my memory serves me correctly, I think it was a tobacco company, yes.

Here's what he had to say today:

Boehner said after taking the speaker's gavel. "Hard work and tough decisions will be required of the 112th Congress. No longer can we fall short. No longer can we kick the can down the road. The people voted to end business as usual, and today we begin carrying out their instructions."

Riiiiigght.