After Bill Defeat, Mike Johnson Tells GOP, 'Take Your Vitamins'

Republican leaders are bluntly telling lawmakers that unless there's a genuine emergency, they better be ready to vote. GOP chiefs have warned members in meetings and private talks that only "life-and-death" situations justify an absence now that their margin is down to 218-213 following the death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa and the surprise resignation of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, reports NBC News. The guidance, confirmed by Majority Whip Tom Emmer's office, specifically rules out skipping votes for campaign events—a notable point with 17 House Republicans seeking higher office.

The policy has already created friction. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas, running for the Senate, has missed several votes while on the trail, including on Tuesday when a Republican labor measure failed and two other bills had to be pulled amid defections and no-shows. Leadership figures including Speaker Mike Johnson have reportedly pressed Hunt directly on his attendance; Hunt tells NBC he will fly back when called, as he did for a key procedural vote last week. Still, his absences have irked senior Republicans considering that Rep. Jim Baird of Indiana showed up in a neck brace to vote this week, days after he was injured in a car crash.

Johnson suddenly sounds like a health coach. He says he's told members, "No adventure sports, no risk taking, take your vitamins, and stay healthy and be here." As Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee put it: "We're one flu season away from losing the majority." On some recent days, more Democrats than Republicans have been voting, leaving the majority functionally evaporated and limiting the GOP to modest wins such as a bill easing federal showerhead efficiency rules. Democrats—about to add a seat in Texas, with special elections to follow, per CNN—are openly enjoying the turmoil and hinting at a bigger majority after the midterms. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries mocked Republicans as unable to "organize a two-car funeral."