When GOP representative Ken Buck announced on Tuesday that he would be moving his retirement up from the end of the year to next week, he said he was doing so because he didn’t want to waste another second of his time with his Republican colleagues, who he apparently can’t stand. And according to a new report, he’s not the only one who feels that way!
CNN reports that “many Republicans plan to skip the [upcoming] House GOP retreat as they grumble about both the location and the idea of spending time with one another.” According to the outlet, fewer than 100 Republicans have said they will attend, meaning more than 119 either have previous engagements or would rather do literally anything else than breathe the same air as their fellow representatives. While some cited reelection races as the reason for their absence, and others have “complained about the venue choice” selected by Speaker Mike Johnson, a number of GOP lawmakers and aides “told CNN they were simply not enthusiastic about the idea of having to huddle with the rest of their party at a time when Republican infighting has prevented them from even passing procedural votes.”
Among those who have officially decided to skip the proceedings are representatives Mark Green of Tennessee, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma, and Dave Joyce of Ohio.
When he abruptly announced his decision yesterday to quit Congress early, Buck said, of the dysfunction on Capitol Hill: “It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I’ve been in Congress and having talked to former members, it’s the worst year in 40, 50 years to be in Congress.… This place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people.” Specifically calling out his fellow Republicans, he said: “We’ve taken impeachment, and we’ve made it a social media issue as opposed to a constitutional concept—this place keeps going downhill, and I don’t need to spend more time here.”