The House Republican majority will narrow even further following Congressman Ken Buck’s announcement that he will leave the chamber on March 22. 

“I will depart Congress at the end of next week. I look forward to staying involved in our political process, as well as spending more time in Colorado and with my family,” Mr. Buck said in a short statement Tuesday. 

When asked to explain his decision, Mr. Buck made it clear that he had little optimism that much else would get done in Congress by the end of this session. 

“We’ve taken impeachment and we’ve made it a social media issue as opposed to a constitutional concept,” Mr. Buck told reporters after announcing his retirement, referring to the impeachment efforts against both President Biden and the secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas. 

“This place keeps going downhill and I don’t need to spend more time here,” the five-term lawmaker continued. Mr. Buck told reporters that leadership shouldn’t be worried about his abrupt departure but rather the “next three people” who are considering early departures. 

During an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Mr. Buck said he had been speaking with members of Congress, some of whom have since left the chamber. “It is the worst year of the nine years and three months I’ve been in Congress,” Mr. Buck said of the current atmosphere. “Having talked to former members, it’s the worst year in 50 years to be in Congress.”

Mr. Buck’s retirement came as a surprise to many. He had already announced that he was not running for re-election this year, citing dysfunction in Congress. 

Speaker Johnson said he received no advance warning from Mr. Buck. “I did not know” about Mr. Buck’s retirement beforehand, Mr. Johnson told reporters. “I was surprised by Ken’s announcement. I look forward to talking to him about that.”

Mr. Buck has already made some enemies within his party after voting against the impeachment articles levied against Mr. Mayorkas, calling the effort just another step in the “tit-for-tat” of impeaching officials. 

“I’ve talked to constitutional experts on the outside. I’ve talked to former members about the impact that this would have in the future,” he told reporters before the Mayorkas impeachment vote. “The people I’m talking to agree that this just isn’t an impeachable offense.”

He has also called the impeachment effort against Mr. Biden nothing more than “theater.”

The House Republican majority will now fall to just two seats. Following Mr. Buck’s retirement next Friday, Republicans will have 218 seats, and Democrats will have 213, meaning Mr. Johnson can afford to lose just two members in order to pass party-line bills and resolutions — including the looming impeachment articles against Mr. Biden.