The House has miles to go before it sleeps

With the expulsion on December 1 of Representative George Santos, the Republican from Long Island, New York, the Republican Party’s majority in the U.S. House of Representatives contracted to three.

There are at present 434 members of the House, 221 Republican and 213 Democratic Party members, with one seat – former Rep. Santos’s – now vacant.

Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-California) announced this week that he will resign his House seat at the end of 2023. McCarthy, who was ousted from the House Speakership on October 3, 2023, has no plans following his departure. He is leaving out of bitterness at his unprecedented defenestration from power.

McCarthy’s departure will shrink the House Republican Majority further. Barring no further vacancies, in January 2024, 220 Republicans will face 213 Democrats in the lower chamber of Congress.

Yet a third House vacancy is expected with the upcoming resignation of Representative Brian Higgins (D-New York), who announced he would step down in February.[1]

The timing of Higgins departure creates an opportunity for New York Governor Kathy Hochul to schedule a pair of special elections to replace Santos and Higgins. This would keep the number of House Republicans at 220 until after the deadline for expiry of the Continuing Resolution engineered by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) on February 2, 2024.

Until then, Republicans can afford to lose no more than three votes from their side of the aisle if all Democratic members stand together, when Federal budget appropriation bills come before the House for passage.

Johnson has promised his party that he will not entertain another Continuing Resolution to fund the Federal government in 2024.

No appropriation bills have been approved by the House since the Commerce-Justice-Science H.R. 5893 was approved on July 14, 2023.

Five of the 12 2024 appropriation bills have yet to come before the House for a vote.

From the upper chamber of Congress, the Senate has as yet approved only three appropriation bills.

None of the bills have been reconciled in conference between the two chambers.

Mike Johnson might wish to recall the words of Robert Frost:

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep, ??

But I have promises to keep,???

And miles to go before I sleep,???

And miles to go before I sleep.”

— “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” from?The Poetry of Robert Frost (1923)

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[1] Haley?Talbot and Kristin Wilson (December 1, 2023) Now that Santos has been expelled, here's what is expected to happen next to his House seat. https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/george-santos-expulsion-vote-12-1-23/index.html