'We’ve got to get people here': House leaders spooked by GOP no-shows for crucial votes
House Speaker Mike Johnson's razor-thin majority faces a growing crisis as Republican lawmakers increasingly fail to show up for votes, leaving bills stranded and the Louisiana Republican scrambling to maintain legislative momentum.
According to reporting from The Hill, Johnson finds himself watching bill after bill collapse simply because the votes aren't there when it's time to tally results.
The problem was starkly evident this past week: 22 Republicans skipped votes entirely on Tuesday, followed by seven on Wednesday and five on Thursday. While Democratic absences were comparable—21 on Tuesday, six on Wednesday, and nine on Thursday—the impact is far more severe for the GOP given Johnson's razor-thin margins.
Weather disruptions at the beginning of the week complicated matters, and the absence of must-pass legislation helped mask the underlying problem. But Republican lawmakers are increasingly anxious about what happens when truly significant bills come to the floor—major legislation on housing affordability, surveillance powers, and government funding remain pending.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) acknowledged the threat when asked about GOP attendance concerns. "Absolutely. We've got to get people here," he said bluntly.
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) echoed the worry: "Given the slim majority, you're always going to have to have concern about attendance."
Burlison placed much of the blame on the political calendar. "It's like herding cats, and it's a hard problem. It's really the responsibility of the whip. But I think Tom Emmer does as good of a job as possible," he said. "The other thing is, take a look at the importance of some of those bills and significance. Members who are kind of having to weigh—it's campaign year—so they're having to weigh the opportunity costs of being in their district to some of these votes, and some of these votes are not exactly top priority."
For Johnson, the math is brutally simple: he can afford to lose only one Republican vote on party-line measures, assuming full Democratic attendance.
The precarious balance has already been tested repeatedly. In January, GOP leaders kept a war powers vote on Venezuela open for more than an hour, waiting for Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) to arrive and cast the deciding vote. Hunt, who was campaigning for a Texas Senate seat at the time, had been absent on other critical votes earlier that day. Without his opposition, the measure would have passed—a humiliating defeat for President Trump and the GOP.