Paul Ryan’s governing caucus is dwindling.

A number of the speaker's closest comrades in the House have called it quits in recent weeks because they're tired of President Donald Trump's antics, depressed over the GOP's dearth of legislative accomplishments this year or have personal reasons. Whatever the causes, the departures are certain to make Ryan's job as House speaker harder, depriving him of loyal lieutenants in a conference already riven by ideological and stylistic divisions.


Rep. Pat Tiberi, a loyal ally of Ryan, is the latest departure. The Ohio Republican announced Thursday that he will resign by the end of January to take a job in the private sector. House GOP leaders had hoped the senior Ways and Means Committee member would lead the powerful tax panel in the coming years, House GOP sources told POLITICO. But Tiberi, a longtime tax reform proponent, made other plans just as tax talks are kicking off in earnest.

Tiberi will hardly be the last to leave, multiple House GOP sources say.

Lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump’s penchant for drama and inability to focus on the legislative agenda, numerous House GOP lawmakers and staffers said. While Trump and most Republican voters blame Congress for nothing substantial getting done, GOP lawmakers are privately exasperated that they don’t have a coherent leader who can help them deliver.

That’s part of what drove Republican Rep. Dave Trott to announce he'd head back to Michigan once his current term ends. Trott stood up at a late July House Republican Conference meeting to complain that the White House was so distracted by the scandal enveloping Anthony Scaramucci at the time that Trump failed to help the Senate pass its Obamacare repeal bill.

Six weeks later, after the health care repeal collapsed in the upper chamber, Trott announced his retirement.

Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The legislative letdowns under Trump have weighed heavily on House Republicans, said Pennsylvania Rep. Charlie Dent, another Republican who recently announced he won't seek reelection in 2018.

“It’s very difficult to achieve big-ticket items, not to mention just accomplish the basic items of governance — keeping the government open or not defaulting on our obligations — so that’s a source of frustration for me," said Dent, a leader of the faction of Republican moderates.

Dent added: “Congress should take a lot of the blame; but so should the president. The president doesn’t lay down his plans, his ideas, his policies, and he sure as hell didn’t try to sell it to the American people on health care — and that’s a function of leadership. Saying, ‘Send me a bill and I’ll sign it' — that’s not leadership.”

One recently departed House staffer had this to say about the challenges of legislating in the era of Trump: “The job isn't fun anymore. You get beat up in D.C. for everything Trump says or does, only to go home to get beat up for not defending Trump enough by the base. It's brutal.”

The flurry of retirements could create additional headaches for Ryan, who has to scramble for votes to get must-passed legislation over the finish line as it is. Conservatives often balk at bills to fund the government or raise the debt ceiling, forcing the speaker to turn to more moderate or pragmatic members for support.

If those lawmakers keep dropping, Ryan might have to twist more arms.

“It puts the pressure on us all to stick together when our closest allies are [running for] the exits," said one senior House Republican who requested anonymity to speak frankly.

The lawmaker argued that the spate of retirements and resignations has less to do with Trump than with personal circumstances and the lack of legislative achievements. “The sacrifice is worth it if we start getting stuff done," the person said.

Ryan has personally sought to halt the exodus. Last week, House Budget Chairwoman Diane Black was considering resigning to run full-time for Tennessee governor. But Ryan implored her to stay a little longer and help him hash out a budget agreement with the Senate, according to multiple people familiar with their conversation.

Ryan hasn’t had the same luck with others. So far, two Republicans have announced they are resigning and seven that they are retiring. Ten GOP lawmakers have said they're leaving the House to run for higher office.

One senior Republican argued that the turnover was roughly the same at this point in previous Congresses. But GOP House sources note that the type of members leaving — more seasoned lawmakers who "row with the team" as Ryan likes to say — is what makes the departures more notable.

Though some of the departing members are Trump critics, not everyone is leaving out of aggravation with the president. Some leadership allies are running for higher office. Aside from Black, Republican Policy Committee Chairman Luke Messer, who’s risen through the ranks in the House, and Rep. Todd Rokita, once pegged by Ryan to become the next Budget Committee chairman, are both running for a Senate seat, representing Indiana.

Reps. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) and Jim Renacci (R-Ohio), two other Ways and Means members, also are eyeing gubernatorial bids.

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) was recently driven out of Congress because of a sex scandal. But the resignation was a loss for Ryan, who used to work out with Murphy in the House gym. Murphy also wrote and helped Ryan steer passage of a landmark mental health bill that the speaker touted as recently as three weeks ago, after the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Tiberi, whose looming resignation was first reported by The New York Times, had reason beyond Trump for leaving. The congressman could not be reached for comment, but sources close to him say his mother died suddenly this fall and his father is dealing with serious health issues.

Ryan also passed over Tiberi for the Ways and Means chairmanship last year even though he was the preferred candidate of rank-and-file Republicans. Ryan wanted to honor seniority rules, which meant the post went to Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas.

Still, Tiberi has expressed frustration with the White House to his colleagues — even on the tax reform process, his pet issue. At one point he was flabbergasted that the administration questioned whether the package should be paid for, or if it's okay to add to the deficit. Most tax writers believed at the time that tax cuts should be offset.

The GOP staffer who recently departed said House members have grown discouraged because the Senate often fails to even take up legislation they send over. But more often, he said, the gripe is over Trump disrupting any legislative momentum with controversial comments that overtake the news.

Republicans then have to respond to the president's remarks. And while many of them personally abhor Trump's bombast, they feel they can't criticize him because their constituents still adore the president.

Republicans also live in constant fear that Trump will sell them out in a spur-of-the-moment deal with Democrats, as he did on the debt ceiling last month, or an off-the-cuff comment. Moderates took a tough vote for an Obamacare replacement bill only to hear the president call their proposal “mean” — a gift to liberal groups looking to pick off swing districts.

More traditional Republicans also worry that Trump will upend their carefully laid plans. The president keeps insisting, for instance, that he wants a bipartisan tax bill when GOP leaders have been writing a partisan one. He also ended Obamacare subsidy payments to insurance companies, injecting uncertainty into health care markets. And he cut off work permits for undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors.

Republicans hope that tax reform will succeed and blunt the GOP departures. If it falls through, though, they’ll be ready for more Republicans to follow Tiberi out the door.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated which office Messer and Rokita are seeking.