Overview
- On a recent day of seven roll calls, five ended with the same number of Republicans and Democrats voting, at times reflecting only 213 active voters per side.
- Republican leaders postponed a planned vote to loosen shower-head capacity rules after several GOP members signaled absences, averting a likely defeat.
- The GOP’s count has fallen after resignations by Mark Green, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, Mike Waltz’s move to the administration and U.N. post, and the death of Doug LaMalfa.
- The Constitution bars temporary House appointments and state-run special elections can take months, with a Jan. 31 Houston runoff expected to reduce the working GOP edge to 218-214 once the winner is seated.
- Leaders in both parties are intensifying attendance demands as narrow margins magnify absences, highlighted by a chaotic procedural vote that closed with dozens of members not recorded.