Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), long known for eccentric behavior, has decided she will not participate as a member of the House Republican caucus, narrowing an already perilously small GOP majority. Spartz said instead she would be spending her time supporting the non-existent Department Of Government Efficiency chaired by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, which has no actual authority to do anything.
“I will stay as a registered Republican but will not sit on committees or participate in the caucus until I see that Republican leadership in Congress is governing,” Spartz wrote in a post on X. “I would rather spend more of my time helping @DOGE and @RepThomasMassie to save our Republic, as was mandated by the American people.”
Spartz’s decision to not caucus with Republicans means the GOP majority has lost another vote at a time when their razor-thin margin already means they need essentially unanimous party support to achieve a majority on legislation. Spartz’s decision drops the GOP Majority to 219-215.
With the resignation of Matt Gaetz, and the likely appointments of Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Matt Waltz (R-FL) to Trump’s cabinet, that number will likely drop to 216-215, below a mathematical majority, until those seats can be filled by special elections.
Numbers that low mean even if a Republican member is out sick and misses a vote, Democrats could theoretically take the majority, which could make things interesting when it comes time to elect a speaker, or for any other number of major actions taken by the house this term.
