The narrowly divided house configuration changes again due to new vacant seats.

CNN
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Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is overseeing one of the smallest House majorities in history as Congress faces controversies over immigration, impeachment and government funding.

The narrowly divided House majority is shifting again as a result of new vacancies.

Republicans control 219 seats and Democrats control 212 seats after New York Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins resigned from Congress last week. The split is 219-212, meaning House Republicans can afford to lose just three votes to pass the bill if all members are present and vote.

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There are currently four vacancies in the House of Representatives. In addition to Higgins’ resignation, former Ohio Republican Rep. Bill Johnson resigned last month, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy resigned late last year, and former New York Republican Rep. George Santos was also expelled last year.

The partisan makeup will soon change again. A special election will be held on February 13 to fill the seat previously held by Santos. The race is expected to be fiercely competitive, presenting a potential opportunity for Democrats.

In addition to close margins, there is always the possibility that absenteeism could further impact the vote count.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s office announced that he will work remotely until he returns to Washington in February to recover from a stem cell transplant.

Republican Representative Hal Rogers of Kentucky was hospitalized last month after a car accident. His office then announced that he had progressed to physical rehabilitation to aid his recovery.

A razor-thin majority poses a huge challenge for the Speaker, leaving Mr Johnson with little margin for error in dealing with demands from competing sections of the party.

Conservative hardliners have already shown they can maintain significant influence in the chamber with such a slim majority, most notably last year’s historic vote in which a group of hardliners moved to unseat McCarthy as speaker. It’s time.

The exact size of the far-right wing of the House Republican Conference may vary from issue to issue. Last month, a group of about a dozen hardliners staged an insurrection on the House floor, overriding a procedural vote expressing opposition to a spending deal that Johnson had agreed to with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Prime Minister Johnson’s right wing is increasingly tanking rules votes on the floor as a gesture of protest, forcing some bills directly to the floor under a procedure known as suspending rules as margins continue to shrink. are forced to submit.

But that strategy would require a two-thirds majority to pass the bill, requiring significant support from Democrats and further alienating Mr. Johnson and the right wing of his chamber.

In addition to facing pressure from conservatives, Mr Johnson will also have to balance the interests of moderate MPs in battleground districts who are at the forefront of the majority and will be under intense scrutiny this election season.

There were 18 Republicans in the congressional district won by President Joe Biden in 2020, but that number has now dropped to 17 after Santos’ ouster. The fate of these politically vulnerable members will be key to whether Republicans can maintain their majority.