'GOP lawmakers want a redo of the 118th Congress': report

13 March 2024

The Washington Post reported earlier this week "that the 2023-2024 House Republican majority is the smallest of the 21st century," as the GOP hasn't seen "such a narrow lead since 2001, when they enjoyed a 10-seat advantage over Democrats."

With US Rep. Ken Buck's (R-CO) official exit next week following his Tuesday announcement, the Republicans will only have five members over Democrats in Congress.

Now, Axios reports a number of "GOP lawmakers want a redo of the 118th Congress — especially when it comes to the rules that handcuffed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and led to his ouster last fall."

Last month, MSNBC's Steve Benen referenced a Axios report that noted US Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) was "the fourth Republican committee chair to announce their retirement in 2024 and the second" in one week.

Benen wrote, "Traditionally, there have been large numbers of retirements when members were worried about losing. This year, there have been large numbers of retirements because members are worried about staying in an institution that appears incapable of working under Republican control."

As Benen noted, following McCarthy's ouster, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Republicans have been "mired in chaos and dysfunction," and Axios reports, "Several GOP members said that if their party remains in the majority by such a slim margin, the dysfunction is likely to continue."

The Louisiana lawmaker has faced criticism from some of his GOP colleagues, as Axios notes, "Moderates have taken aim at his inexperience and compromise-resistant conservatives arguing he isn't fighting hard enough for their priorities. But even some of Johnson's critics say McCarthy's concessions on rules that allowed a small minority of right-wingers to oust him — as well as deals made during the debt-ceiling talks last year — put Johnson in a series of no-win scenarios."

One GOP member told the news outlet, "You can't have a small group of nihilists hold the whole Congress hostage."

The news outlet reports Johnson said, "There's a desire on behalf of the vast majority of the members of the House to re-establish some of the norms with regard to rules on the floor and how legislation is handled."

He emphasized, "The motion to vacate (the speaker's position) is something that comes up a lot among members ... and I'm expecting probably a change to that as well."

Axios' full report is available at this link.

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