For months, whenever Rep. Mike Gallagher was in the news, the Wisconsin Republican’s name was invariably in the same sentence as “rising star.” There was no great mystery as to why.
The congressman isn’t just a Princeton grad with a doctorate from Georgetown, he’s also a Marine veteran who served in Iraq. On Capitol Hill, GOP leaders tapped the conservative young congressman to chair a House select committee on China, and by most accounts, Gallagher has received positive reviews from members of both parties.
In terms of career prospects, GOP insiders believed the sky was the limit for the 39-year-old congressman — that is, until last month, when Gallagher said he’d retire at the end of his term.
As it turns out, the Republican isn’t waiting until January to exit Capitol Hill. NBC News reported:
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who announced last month he would not run for re-election, will resign from Congress early, he confirmed in a statement Friday. … Two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News of Gallagher’s plan to resign early on Friday. The Wisconsin Republican then released a statement announcing that he will depart on April 19.
It’s difficult to know where to start with news like this, but broadly speaking, there are three angles worth keeping in mind.
The first is that the number of resignations we’ve seen during this Congress is quite extraordinary. A Washington Post report recently labeled the circumstances the “Great Resignation,” noting that there have been more mid-term departures in the current Congress than any in at least four decades — and that was before Gallagher announced that he, too, is headed for the exits.
As we discussed soon after, there have been far more resignations in this Congress than there have been legislative breakthroughs, which is hardly ideal.
The second angle of interest is the looming legislative arithmetic. As things currently stand in the chamber, the House now has 219 Republicans, 213 Democrats, and three vacancies. In terms of the legislative arithmetic, that means that on any given floor vote, it takes 217 members to pass the legislation.
Today, however, Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado is resigning, which will lower the Republican majority to just 218 members. When Gallagher walks away, that total will drop to 217 members. On the floor, that means that GOP leaders will need Democratic votes if more than one of their own members balks in response to any bill.
Finally, it’s worth pausing to appreciate just how ridiculous conditions have become for the hapless, accomplishment-free House Republican majority.
As we discussed earlier, resignations in the GOP-led chamber have reached a generational high. Legislative progress has slowed to a pace unseen in nearly a century. Lawmakers are struggling mightily to complete basic tasks. Johnson organized a retreat focused on unifying his conference, and most of his members didn’t show up. A recent Punchbowl News report concluded, “This is the most chaotic, inefficient and ineffective majority we’ve seen in decades covering Congress.”
And did I mention that one of the conference’s most notorious extremists today launched an effort to oust her party’s speaker — six months after other radical GOP members successfully ousted his predecessor? Because that’s happened, too.
It’s against this backdrop that one of the party’s “rising stars” decided to join the growing number of members who’ve chosen to walk away in the middle of their term.
Every time it seems things can’t get worse in the Republican-led chamber, the House finds a way to reach a new floor.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
