A growing number of House members and senators are choosing to forgo reelection in 2024. These pending Capitol Hill departures aren’t the largest bunch in recent memory, but concerns are mounting about how public policy will be affected, particularly on healthcare.
That’s because these congressional retirements have little to do with quantity and much more to do with quality. The term "brain drain" pops up when influential members decide to leave and create vacancies, especially within House “A list” committees, where members used to spend decades building seniority. At least 18 seats on the House Appropriations, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Rules, and Ways and Means committees will open up after the 2024 elections due to departing lawmakers.
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The absurdities of Capitol Hill life were enough for some. A senator challenging a committee witness to a fight and two House colleagues exchanging accusations about thrown elbows were part of it.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) has his own reasons not to seek reelection in the eastern Colorado and Denver exurbs 4th Congressional District, which he was elected to represent in 2014.
“Unconstitutional impeachments and censors that don’t make any sense,” Buck told reporters of his many frustrations. “The big driver was we can’t admit that Republicans lost an election in 2020, which is crazy! And we can’t work on significant legislation because politically, it hurts to say, ‘We need to reform Medicare,’ ‘We need to reform Social Security,’ ‘We need to get spending under control.'”
With some House and Senate Republicans more focused on settling scores and urging impeachment proceedings, some on the Democratic side, particularly within the far-left progressive wing, want more government services for “free” while telling constituents it would be easy if they levied more taxes against billionaires.
Buck brought up Medicare. Other healthcare challenges are also significant. Healthcare premiums will rise faster than inflation in 2024. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic that killed nearly 1.7 million Americans, Congress hasn't done anything to prepare for another pandemic. Veteran healthcare is also a major topic that Congress must address.
Two House members who announced their retirement will leave a hole in healthcare policy. Reps. Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) have had significant influence on healthcare policy. Burgess sits on the House Budget Committee. He is the second-highest-ranking Republican on the Rules and Energy and Commerce committees. During the 115th and 116th Congresses, he was the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. In 2002, Burgess defeated then-House Majority Leader Dick Armey’s son Scott in a Republican primary upset and will finish out his 11th term in 2024.
Eshoo, who represents California’s solidly blue Silicon Valley 16th District and is a close personal friend of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), is considered an ally of the pharmaceutical and health products industries. Many of her donations during a House career that began in 1993 came from those industries. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) in late November, before the start of a hearing on the House Energy and Commerce’s Health Subcommittee, said Eshoo would be “sorely missed” when she leaves Congress on Jan. 3, 2025.
Burgess made Medicare payments one of his signature topics and, in 2015, helped to enact the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act. The law reformed the way physicians get reimbursed under Medicare, focusing on value and quality of care instead of volume. Eshoo played a significant role in the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health within the National Institutes of Health, which is “high-impact biomedical and health research that cannot be readily accomplished through traditional research or commercial activity.”
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The capability to get any healthcare-related legislation enacted faces challenges without members with experience in the sector and a growing attitude that bipartisanship equals “losing.” Former President Donald Trump began beating the “Repeal and replace Obamacare” drum again in recent weeks, but after the failed attempts in 2017, there isn't much appetite on the Hill to try again. Despite its flaws, Obamacare crossed into positive approval territory in early 2017 and only increased since, with nearly 60% of the public now viewing it favorably.
A current House member told the Washington Examiner, “Despite Burgess and Eshoo being ideologues, they do the work and will reach across the aisle when necessary. The concern is, since they are in heavily Republican and Democratic districts, the House will get two people more interested in building their social media following than legislating.”