(RepublicanJournal.org) – The Republican leader of a major House committee has announced that he’ll be retiring from Congress at the end of this session. Representative Mark Green (R-TN), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, was elected to Congress in 2018. Now, just six years later, he’s stepping down –- and he isn’t the first Republican committee boss to do so.
Green Says It’s Time To Leave
Mark Green was elected to represent Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District in November 2018 and took office on January 3, 2019, replacing long-serving conservative congresswoman Marsha Blackburn when she became the junior senator for Tennessee. Last January, Green, a former Army officer whose distinguished military career saw him command a company in the 82nd Airborne Division before going to medical school and becoming a special operations flight surgeon, was appointed as chairman of the powerful House Homeland Security Committee. Since then, his focus has been on holding Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to account for the collapse of our southern border.
On February 13, that goal was achieved when the House voted to impeach Mayorkas. The next day, Green released a statement announcing that he won’t be standing again in November and will leave Congress in January 2025. In his statement, Green said he’d now fulfilled his promises to pass new border security legislation and hold Mayorkas accountable, so “it is time for me to return home.” He went on to say that “Our country — and our Congress — is broken beyond most means of repair” and added, “Our fight is not here within Washington; our fight is with Washington.” He ended by adding that he plans to continue serving this country, as he has all his life.
Four Committee Chairs To Quit
It hasn’t escaped notice that Green isn’t the first Republican committee leader to announce his retirement from the House. In fact, he’s the fourth. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Financial Services chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), and Kay Granger (R-TX) of the House Appropriations Committee have also said they won’t be running again in November.
Why are conservative committee leaders stepping down? It’s hard to say. In Green’s case, it certainly isn’t because he’s worried about being re-elected; his seat is deep red, and in his three elections, he’s never fallen below 60% of the vote. His own statement suggests he’s given up on the federal government as a way to fix the country and sees the state level as the future. It’s unlikely he’s the only Republican who feels that way.
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