{"id":4858,"date":"2024-02-22T16:14:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-22T08:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=4858"},"modified":"2024-02-22T16:15:39","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T08:15:39","slug":"republican-dysfunction-drives-a-wave-of-house-retirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=4858","title":{"rendered":"Republican dysfunction drives a wave of House retirements"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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WASHINGTON \u2014 Some House lawmakers wait their entire political careers to reach one of the pinnacles of power on Capitol Hill: seizing a coveted committee gavel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why it sent shockwaves around Capitol Hill this month when not one, but three Republican committee chairmen \u2014 Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Mike Gallagher and Mark Green, members in their prime who had not yet hit party term limits for their posts \u2014 announced in rapid succession that they were calling it quits. McMorris Rodgers, of Washington, and Green, of Tennessee, are in their 50s, while Gallagher, of Wisconsin, is not yet 40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two other powerful GOP chairmen, Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry of North Carolina and Appropriations Chair Kay Granger of Texas, previously announced they’re leaving Congress. Both McHenry and Granger faced term limits as chairmen, and McHenry has had his eyes on the exits since his longtime ally Kevin McCarthy was ousted as speaker, briefly making McHenry the temporary House GOP leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The wave of GOP retirements comes in the middle of one of the most tumultuous congressional sessions in recent memory and after a year of nasty GOP infighting that forced out McCarthy, further slashed the party\u2019s paper-thin majority and ground the lower chamber to a halt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republican colleagues said mounting frustration with the paralysis and dysfunction in the House is driving out experienced, pragmatic dealmakers on Capitol Hill. And with Republicans now down to a three-seat majority, the prospect of voters sending them back to the minority next year may be exacerbating the brain drain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sentiment is: \u201cIf we are not successful in doing our work here and we wind up in the minority, who wants to finish out your career here in the minority?\u201d said House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chair Frank Lucas, R-Okla., who is close to many of the retiring members but will be seeking re-election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GOP\u2019s narrow majority has handed outsize influence to just a handful of far-right rabble-rousers who have blocked even conservative legislation from passing on the floor. It\u2019s meant that the only way to pass a bipartisan bill is under suspension, an expedited process that has a much higher threshold: two-thirds of the whole House. The last bill signed into law that did not pass through the House under suspension or by unanimous voice vote was the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which prevented a nearly unprecedented default on the U.S.’s debt, on May 31, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big money from K Street and private sector firms is also luring away powerful chairmen, Lucas said, especially since lawmakers haven\u2019t seen their $174,000 a year salary increase since the late 2000s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been no adjustment for the cost of living since [Denny] Hastert was speaker. \u2026 Most of these members are experienced people on really important, relevant committees and the outside world realizes their skill sets, and they\u2019re probably trying to pull on \u2019em,\u201d Lucas continued. \u201cIt\u2019s a combination of all those things \u2014 it\u2019s not one particular issue. \u2026 And if you want to throw on top of that just the nasty, shrill nature of the legislative process these days.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is kind of an unpleasant town and unpleasant process,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wild 118th Congress<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers are sick of the 118th Congress, even though it\u2019s just a little more than halfway over. It began with a 15-round floor fight over who should be speaker of the House. The year ended with New York Republicans successfully expelling one of their own, George Santos, and with Republicans voting to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. In between, there were showdowns over the debt ceiling and government shutdowns. After McCarthy brought up a vote to spare the country from a shutdown, Rep. Matt Gaetz, of Florida, led a group of eight GOP rebels in ousting him from power, triggering an all-out fight from ambitious Republicans to succeed him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little-known Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., emerged victorious but faces many of the same problems that afflicted his predecessor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the retirements during a visit to the Capitol last week, McCarthy laid blame at the feet of Gaetz and his allies: \u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate because you think of brain trust you\u2019re losing. Now I blame a lot of that on the Crazy Eight led by Matt Gaetz. They want to make this place dysfunctional to try to wear people out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wear out politicians? Maybe so,\u201d Gaetz responded. \u201cIt sure beats selling out the American people, which McCarthy did until I removed him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., who was elected a decade ago, said he\u2019s decided to run for re-election, in part, so he can continue his investigation into the Jan. 6 committee. But he said it\u2019s no secret why many of his colleagues are heading for the exits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a level of frustration being here right now, I think, that\u2019s unprecedented,\u201d Loudermilk said in an interview. \u201cEspecially when you\u2019re in the majority and we\u2019re still having this much struggle getting some things done that normally we would be able to push through our agenda and then go to fight with the Senate. There\u2019s some that are just like, \u2018Is it worth it being here, to go through this?\u2019”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do get that from a lot of the people that are retiring before they would have normally done,\u201d Loudermilk added. \u201cEspecially when you\u2019ve got folks that have been here for less time than I have that are starting to bail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going out on top<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In total, 15 House Republicans who are not running for higher or other office have said they are not seeking re-election in 2024; 11 Democrats not running for another office have said they won’t be back next year. Among the 15 are senior Republicans like Reps. Drew Ferguson, of Georgia, who served in leadership as chief deputy whip and is chairman of the Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security; Michael Burgess, of Texas, who is the second-most senior Republican on Energy and Commerce; Blaine Luetkemeyer, of Missouri, who is the second-most senior GOP lawmaker on the Small Business Committee; Doug Lamborn, of Colorado, chair of the Armed Services subcommittee on Strategic Forces; and Brad Wenstrup, of Ohio, who heads the select committee on the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most unexpected retirement is McMorris Rodgers, who held leadership posts before making history as the first female chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee in 2021. Under House GOP rules, Republicans can serve no more than six consecutive years as either chairman or ranking member. McMorris Rodgers, 54, still had two years of eligibility leading the panel, which has jurisdiction over a range of issues from energy and the environment to health care and the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chairmen made no mention of GOP dysfunction or the risk of losing the majority in their statements announcing their departures. But by leaving now, CMR \u2014 as she is known in the Capitol \u2014 can go out on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green, 59, in his first term as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, agreed with that sentiment. He made his announcement just one day after managing the successful vote \u2014 on the second try \u2014 to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean, Michael Jordan should never play for the Wizards, right? You go out when you\u2019re on a high and I accomplished what I came here to do,\u201d Green told reporters. \u201cBorder security: We passed H.R. 2. And holding this administration accountable: We impeached the first sitting Cabinet secretary in the history of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked if he might run for Tennessee governor, Green coyly replied, \u201cI have learned from my time in Congress that the fight isn\u2019t in Washington. The fight is with Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Congress is no place to grow old’
Gallagher\u2019s fate also appeared to be intertwined with the Mayorkas votes. Chairman of the select committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Gallagher, a 39-year-old rising star in the party whose panel has shown rare bipartisanship this Congress, said he would not seek re-election after he faced conservative backlash for casting one of three GOP votes against impeachment. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., another no vote, also is retiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Marine veteran who served in the Iraq war, Gallagher said in his statement: “Electoral politics was never supposed to be a career and, trust me, Congress is no place to grow old.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here 15 years,” said Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., an appropriator who previously served on the Intelligence Committee with Gallagher. “The most common line I hear from people now, my colleagues, is: \u2018We can\u2019t get anything done and I hate being here.\u2019 That\u2019s the most common refrain. So it\u2019s a recipe for people leaving.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not supposed to come here just to fight, you\u2019re supposed to come here to get something done. I still believe the majority want to. I still believe I have a majority of Republicans who want to help Ukraine and help Israel,\u201d Quigley continued. \u201cThe farthest right has hijacked the Republican Party and controls far more than they should. It\u2019s the tip of the dog\u2019s tail wagging the body politic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One month before longtime Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the Dean of the House, suddenly died in 2022, he spotted a frustrated and disgruntled Lucas on the House floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s up yours?\u201d Young asked, according to Lucas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYoung looks me in the eye and says, \u2018Lucas, people like you and I who were here when this place still worked, we can\u2019t leave. Because if we leave before we get back to that point, all these underclassmen won\u2019t have a clue about how things are supposed to happen,\u2019\u201d Lucas recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf all of us leave \u2026 who understand how it should work and how it could work, and we leave behind the folks whose only experience is dysfunctionality, is the republic lost?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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