Incumbent congressman calls House ‘100 times more incompetent and dysfunctional now’ as resignation reduces GOP majority to 1

The House of Representatives is a hundred times more dysfunctional, incompetent and chaotic compared to a decade ago, a former one-term congressman said.

Republicans regained their majority after the November 2022 elections and the 118^th Congress is mired in chaos.

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Republicans were left with a one-vote majority as Wisconsin lawmaker Mike Gallagher became the last GOP representative to resign before his term ended.

His resignation comes just weeks after Ken Buck, who represented Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, resigned.

That means Republicans now have a slim 217-to-213 advantage.

Joe Walsh, who represented Illinois’ 8th Congressional District between 2011 and 2013, told The US Sun that the House is more chaotic than during his tenure.

“It was divisive, quite dysfunctional and quite chaotic when I was there 10 years ago,” the former Republican lawmaker said.

“It’s a hundred times more dysfunctional, incompetent and chaotic now.”

Gallagher’s resignation and slim majority only added to the chaos that is synonymous with the Republican Party’s leadership in the House.

Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker of the House after 15 tries, before being dramatically ousted last October.

Republican Party leadership has presided over an impeachment inquiry investigating President Biden.

Three House committees are investigating allegations that Biden and his family profited while he was vice president, but the inquiry is stalled due to a lack of evidence.

And Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of Homeland Security, was impeached by the House in February.

Earlier this week, the two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas were nullified by the Senate.

Walsh said it was difficult to do business during his tenure — despite the Republican Party’s large majority following the 2010 midterm elections.

But now it is almost impossible to do any kind of business, according to the former deputy.

Walsh said lawmakers in the House are encouraged to be intransigent.

“We encourage members of Congress not to get along with the other side and not to find common ground,” he said.

“We encourage them to be like free agents, to be their own corporations and not work together as a team.”

But he said that the composition of the Chamber is representative of the country.

“Congress, especially the House, is a reflection of the American people,” he said.

“What’s happening in the House of Representatives right now is a microcosm of what’s happening in the country.”

Walsh criticized lawmakers who resigned before their terms expired and warned about how their resignations left a scathing mark on the House.

He also worried that the decision by relatively moderate lawmakers to resign would not improve the House’s perception.

“Congress becomes even more divisive and even more extremist because the people in the middle, who are reasonable, say, ‘Fuck it. This sucks, I’m out of here,'” he said.

“I don’t agree with that, but it’s an indictment of how bad things are in that body right now,” the former lawmaker added.

We encourage members of Congress not to get along with the other side and not to find common ground.

Joe Walshformer Illinois District 8 representative

Walsh doesn’t believe there will be any more layoffs, but he does believe there will be more chaos between now and the general election.

“It’s every man and woman for themselves,” he said.

Meanwhile, David Carlucci, a former Democratic senator from New York state, said lawmakers passionate about governance know that Congress, under current leadership, is not the place to be.

“It’s the place for theater and if you want to be a good actor or actress and you want to be an artist,” he told The US Sun.

“If we want to make a good argument about the problems that exist in the United States, then a good place is in the leadership of Congress.

“They can’t do anything unless it’s impeachment, blaming someone or just taking advantage of moments for pure political opportunism.

“Any compromise or ability to step into the middle and negotiate with people on the opposite side of the aisle will never happen.

“It will be seen as political weakness if they reach an agreement.”

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Gallagher, first elected in 2017, resigned less than two years after securing re-election in 2022.

He recently spoke out and said that his family did not accept the abuse and death threats to which he was subjected.

He was one of the few Republicans who voted against Mayorkas’ impeachment.

“I signed up for the death threats and the night scams, but they didn’t,” Gallagher told reporters earlier this week.

“And for a young family, I would say this job is very difficult.”

MAJORITY CUT

The Republican majority could increase after the special elections triggered by the resignations of Buck and McCarthy.

Buck was among the Republicans who voted against impeaching Mayorkas.

“This place keeps getting worse and I don’t need to spend any more time here,” he told reporters.

The districts represented by both former congressmen voted heavily for former President Trump in 2020.

Dozens of lawmakers in the House have already announced they are retiring or seeking alternative positions.

California Representatives Porter, Lee and Schiff ran in the Democratic primary for Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat.

Feinstein died at age 90 in September 2023.

Schiff prevailed in the primary contest, leaving Lee and Porter’s future in politics uncertain.

Meanwhile, Dean Phillips launched an ill-fated campaign to try to win the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

Moe Vela, a former Biden aide, said there is a sense of frustration and exhaustion in Congress.

“It’s like a stalemate,” he told The US Sun.

“They don’t feel like they’re being able to do what they were elected to do.

“They are burned. It’s like why are we doing all this?

“We couldn’t do anything. There is no one who wants to work with each other.

“Nobody is willing to make concessions, nobody wants to find bipartisanship and this is just an exodus of frustration.”

Vela admitted he wouldn’t be surprised if there were more layoffs between now and the election.

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