Despite congressional gridlock, House members can cite success in one area: driving their colleagues to resign. Currently, 45 members are set to retire at the end of their terms next January.
Further, some like former U.S. Rep Ken Buck (R-Colo.) are either unable or unwilling to serve out their terms.
“No rearview mirror,” said Buck, who first announced his retirement in November 2023, before declaring in mid-March he would not complete his term.
“Since this Congress started, there have been efforts to impeach the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the President, the Attorney General, the FBI Director, and in fact, they did impeach the Secretary of Homeland Security.” Buck continued. “We have a very tragic circumstance in Ukraine. We have a spiraling debt, all kinds of out-of-control problems, and we focus on messaging bills that get us nowhere.”
Buck is the second GOP-majority member of the House to resign in frustration. Rep, Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) will resign his seat on April 19, leaving Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a politically precarious position of having just one vote to spare on legislation.
According to National Public Radio, at the end of 2023, the first session of the 118th Congress, the House voted 729 times on legislative measures. However, only 27 bills became law, making “this Congress the least productive in years.”
Of those 27 bills signed into law, several were noncontroversial, such as renaming two Veteran Administration health clinics. Another commemorated the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Marines.
America deserves a better Congress. Washington, D.C., in particular, which is represented by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who can only vote in committee, but not on the floor of the House, deserves a better Congress.
The more than 700,000 D.C. residents who do not have full voting representation in the House, even though they are American citizens, pay federal taxes, and serve in the military, deserve a better Congress.
It’s time House Republicans fall out of line with the political instructions of former President Donald Trump and stop focusing on political nonstarters such as impeaching President Joe Biden, with the elections eight months away. The House GOP would better serve the citizens of Washington, D.C., by working with Norton, District Mayor Muriel Bowser, and the D.C. Council to find solutions to local issues including affordable housing, crime, and unemployment.
Those who live under “taxation without representation” certainly deserve better; so does America.