House GOP vote counter herds cats with lit­tle leg­isla­tive cush­ion

House GOP vote counter herds cats with little legislative cushion

PITTSBURGH — House Repub­li­cans aren’t the most uni­fied polit­i­cal fam­i­ly, to put it mild­ly. This has kept Rep. Guy Reschen­thaler (R‑PA) plen­ty busy over the past 16 months as a chief vote counter.
As chief deputy whip, Reschen­thaler is effec­tive­ly an under­study to the House major­i­ty whip, Rep. Tom Emmer (R‑MN). Emmer chose Reschen­thaler, 41, for the role after Repub­li­cans cap­tured a nar­row House major­i­ty in the 2022 midterm elec­tions.
The pair are charged with man­ag­ing the leg­isla­tive plans of the House major­i­ty, which stands at 217 GOP mem­bers to 213 Democ­rats. That ultra-slim House Repub­li­can edge will grow a bit in the com­ing mem­bers with spe­cial elec­tions in most­ly red dis­tricts. But even then, the par­ty won’t be able to lose more than three or four seats on a leg­isla­tive pri­or­i­ty bill, assum­ing lit­tle or no Demo­c­ra­t­ic sup­port.

Howie Rep. Guy Reschen­thaler (R‑PA) speaks to reporters on Capi­tol Hill on Oct. 24. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The Hou …