House GOP Leaders Are Kindly Asking Their Slim Majority to Please Stop Jumping Out of Planes During Their Free Time: WSJ
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Republicans currently hold a majority in the House of Representatives, but it’s not a very big one — and the leadership would really like them to reconsider their extracurricular activities if it involves some kind of death-defying stunt.
The Wall Street Journal published a lightheartedly morbid story by Katy Stech Ferek on Monday that was all about GOP members of Congress who like to participate in activities that puts their lives at risk. However, GOP House leaders, like Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), have already taken their chaotic colleagues aside to give them a “talking-to” because if they, for some reason, do something that puts their votes at risk, that also puts their legislative agenda at risk.
So, who are these members of Congress fueled not just by grievance and power, but also adrenaline? Ferek names names, and what they’re doing to create calamity in the People’s House!
Here’s an anecdote about Rep. Rudy Yakym (R-IN), who went skydiving for his 40th birthday:
The first text message Rep. Rudy Yakym (R., Ind.) sent after skydiving in January was to House Majority Whip Tom Emmer to tell him that he was OK — and that Republicans’ ranks hadn’t been further diminished.
“Don’t worry, Tom. Your whip count is still safe,” he wrote.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) is a former Green Beret who plans to “[p]arachute from a World War II-era plane onto the beaches of Normandy this June” to celebrate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. He said, “Everything is vintage except the parachutes are new.” Very reassuring!
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Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA), who was once a contestant on American Gladiators and is still an avid skateboarder, is also a member of that ‘chute group.
But Ferek writes that some members go even further while they’re off the clock:
Some off-hours pursuits are more serious. Army combat veteran Rep. Cory Mills, 43, went to Haiti last month to rescue Americans he says were vulnerable to kidnapping and ransom. The Florida Republican says he took the usual safety precautions as he and several ex-military friends flew in by helicopter to complete the mission.
“I’ve never considered that if I die that I’m somehow going to toss the majority,” he says of party politics. He adds that his concern was for “the people who were over there and might not have another day.”
The Republican majority is slim, 217-213, and the absence of just a handful of them meant a failed first impeachment attempt against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. (The second attempt passed by one vote. The charges were dismissed in the Democratic-led Senate.)
But perhaps knowing you don’t have the votes for something anyway is reason enough to lean into a thrill-seeking hobby on the side, like Rep. James Comer (R-KY), whose effort to impeach President Joe Biden is all but finished:
Rep. Emmer, the Majority Whip, who is in charge of head count and corralling Republican House members for votes, says he did give Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) a talking to after the congressman took a spill on a Wyoming mountain biking trail.
Comer, 51, says a wrong turn onto an advanced trail sent him flying, leaving him with blood streaming down his cheeks from a cut above his eyebrow.
“I suggested that maybe you don’t want to do that kind of stuff,” Emmer told Comer.
“I agreed with him,” recalls Comer. He hasn’t been mountain biking since.
Read the full piece at WSJ.com to see who else from the Hill is taking spills.
