House Speaker Boehner on smoking: 'I am who I am'

WASHINGTON (AP) — The newly installed speaker of the House admits he's a smoker and that he sometimes gets emotional, and he isn't apologizing for either.

Rep. John Boehner (BAY'-nur) tells NBC in an interview, "It's who I am."

The veteran Ohio Republican, who was sworn in this week to succeed Democrat Nancy Pelosi, was asked about talk that he's too inclined to tear up on occasion. Asked about this by interviewer Brian Williams, Boehner replied, "There are some things I feel really strongly about."

Boehner confirms he smokes cigarettes, saying "it's a bad habit." He says a lot of people tell him to quit, but "I am who I am."

He declined to say what federal programs in the realm of defense and national security should be the first to be cut in the interest of slashing the deficit.