For Boehner's birthday: Cake but no press conference

Washington (CNN) - It's John Boehner's birthday, and on his 61st he got quite a present from his House Republican colleagues – a vote electing him to be their leader and the next Speaker of the House.

But a planned afternoon press conference with Boehner to roll out his new GOP leadership team for the new Congress hit a snag on Wednesday. That's because Republicans are still trying to figure out procedures for electing new slots in the GOP leadership for freshmen.

Over 80 Republicans are in the freshman class, and GOP leaders decided to let them elect two of their own to add to the leadership lineup when they are sworn-in in January. But since freshmen have never had to elect their own representatives to leadership before, there are no clear rules for such an election. With such a large class, the process could take a long time, so Republicans postponed their planned 4 p.m. ET press conference until Thursday, according to several GOP aides.

South Dakota Rep-elect Kristi Noem and South Carolina Rep-elect Tim Scott have announced they are running for the two freshman spots, but other new members could also decide to run.

The incoming GOP class also elects a freshmen class president. GOP leaders also added three elected slots for freshmen to serve on the Steering Committee, which decides committee assignments, and a representative on the Policy Committee.

Even though he won't get a birthday press conference, Boehner did celebrate over lunch with his staff and a cake was delivered to the House Republicans meeting shortly before he was elected to be the next speaker.