Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) offered a grim outlook on the shrinking GOP majority after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced his plans to resign by the end of the month Wednesday.
“Now in 2024, we will have a 1 seat majority in the House of Representatives,” Greene wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Congratulations Freedom Caucus for one and 105 Rep who expel our own for the other. I can assure you Republican voters didn’t give us the majority to crash the ship.”
“Hopefully no one dies,” she added.
Greene was referring to the House Freedom Caucus’s push to remove McCarthy from his role earlier this year and to the 105 Republicans joining almost all Democrats to expel former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from the House last week.
McCarthy, who became the first Speaker to be ousted from the position in October, announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Wednesday that he would be departing from the House by the end of the year. He wrote he was leaving “to serve America in new ways. I know my work is only getting started.”
After McCarthy was booted from the Speakership, speculation grew over whether the California Republican would remain in Congress. His removal as Speaker also launched nearly a month of Republican infighting as the GOP scrambled to unite behind a candidate.
A growing number of lawmakers have announced in recent months that they will not be seeking reelection, that they will be stepping down from their jobs or that they will be seeking a different office.
McCarthy’s resignation means that the GOP majority in the House continues to slim down, especially after the House voted to expel Santos from the lower chamber last week.
After McCarthy steps down, Republicans will only be able to afford three GOP defections to pass any party-line legislation. In addition, Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) also plans to step down in the first quarter of next year to become president of Youngstown State University.