Rep. Ken Buck’s Sudden Retirement Yet Another Setback for a Reeling GOP House Leadership
Ken Buck is fed up.
The Republican lawmaker from eastern Colorado already announced (last November) that he would retire from Congress at the end of his term. But now that apparently is not soon enough.
On Tuesday, he abruptly surprised many on Capitol Hill — particularly fellow Republicans — by speeding up his timetable. Now he’s retiring from Congress at the end of next week.
But, why the rush? In statements and interviews, the thoughtful Buck made it quite clear that he had grown weary of the dysfunction miring lawmakers in disputes over team loyalties rather than actually solving problems.
The gridlock is not new, he acknowledges, but it’s only getting worse.
“It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I’ve been in Congress,” he said in a sit-down with CNN’s Dana Bash, “and having talked to former members, it’s the worst year in 40, 50 years to be in Congress ….
“This place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people.”
Amen, congressman. Preach!
Pardon my excitement, but I couldn’t help but agree. By all accounts, Buck sounds like a liberated man, freed at last from the constraints of a political world that seems increasingly bent on feuds, factionalism and theater more than workable solutions.
The problems aren’t limited to only one party, he was quick to point out. But in the era of former President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, it has become increasingly difficult, especially for those who dare offend ever-shifting standards of loyalty generally emanating from Trump himself.
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