As more members leave, House GOP will be left with just one vote to spare

Republicans in Congress continue to sprint for the exit.

Rep. Mike Gallagher, Republican of Wisconsin, announced Friday afternoon that he would resign from Congress months earlier than expected on April 19, bringing the already minuscule Republican majority to one vote.

After his departure next month, Republicans will hold 217 seats in the House of Representatives compared to Democrats’ 213, meaning the Republican Party can afford only a single deviation from the party line when it comes to voting when all members are present .

Mr. Gallagher, the four-term lawmaker who chairs the Special Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, gave no reason for his early departure in the brief statement announcing his plans. He simply said that “after discussions with my family, I have made the decision to resign from my position,” and that he has “worked closely with the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives on this timeline.”

But the leaders did not expect this. It came on a day that highlighted Republican disarray and division, as Speaker Mike Johnson pushed through a $1.2 trillion spending bill that sparked an uprising on his right flank and at least one of its members to begin the process of declaring of a vote to impeach him.

After Representative Ken Buck, Republican of Colorado, surprised Mr. Johnson this month with the announcement that he would soon resign, the speaker said he did not expect more members to follow suit.

“I think, I hope and believe that this is the end of exits for the time being,” he said less than two weeks ago.

Mr. Gallagher, one of three Republicans who voted against the ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, announced after that vote that he did not intend to seek another term — already an unusual move for a young committee chairman. It reflected the frustration many Republicans in the House of Representatives felt in what they described as a dysfunctional governing body.

Mr. Gallagher’s early departure will make it even more difficult for Mr. Johnson to pursue legislation that cannot deliver Democratic votes, and will give any Republican more leverage as the chairman tries to guide his uncontrollable majority through an election year.

On Friday, for example, with a majority of Republicans opposed to the spending measure, Mr. Johnson was forced to rely primarily on Democratic votes to pass it.

The current makeup of the House of Representatives leaves Republicans with virtually no buffer to deal with the inevitable absences caused by illness, travel delays, weddings, funerals and unforeseen events that could keep their members away from voting.

Next month, Democrats are likely to fill a safe seat occupied by Rep. Brian Higgins of New York, who left Congress to become president of Shea’s Performing Arts Center. In late spring and early summer, Republicans are likely to fill two solidly Republican seats vacated by Reps. Bill Johnson of Ohio, who left Congress to become president of Youngstown State University, and Kevin McCarthy, who resigned from his post. seat in California. late last year after he was removed from the speakership.

Mr. Gallagher’s announcement came on the same day that Mr. Buck was packing up the last of his belongings in his bare office on his last day in the House of Representatives, following his recent announcement that he too would shorten his final term.