House Representative Mark Green (R-TN) is quitting Congress to join the private sector, further shrinking Republicans' narrow majority.
Green, who represents Tennessee's 7th District, said he will resign after the House votes again on President Trump's reconciliation package, also known as the "Big, Beautiful Bill."
"It is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement from Congress. Recently, I was offered an opportunity in the private sector that was too exciting to pass up. As a result, today I notified the Speaker and the House of Representatives that I will resign from Congress as soon as the House votes once again on the reconciliation package," Green said.
An Army vet, Green initially said he would retire in February of 2024, but President Trump dissuaded him from stepping aside.
Green's retirement from his reliably Republican seat is not expected to impact the balance of power, although it will temporarily cost Republicans a vote.
“Though I planned to retire at the end of the previous Congress, I stayed to ensure that President Trump’s border security measures and priorities make it through Congress,” the congressman said Monday.
“By overseeing the border security portion of the reconciliation package, I have done that. After that, I will retire, and there will be a special election to replace me.”
The retirement comes after Green filed for divorce from his wife, Camilla, who accused him of having an affair in a September group text to lawmakers.
“I have offered reconciliation, and he wants nothing of it and has insisted on a divorce,” she wrote. "Satan has rewritten our marriage in his mind."
A woman later told Politico that she was involved with Green, whose wife had wrongly identified a different woman as his lover.
As chair of the Homeland Security Committee, Green led the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the Biden border crisis.
Green also shaped House Republicans' marquee border bill during the Biden era, HR2, or the Secure the Border Act.
The House passed Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," which includes billions in new spending on immigration enforcement, by only one vote last month.
The bill, the product of delicate negotiations between different factions in the party, is expected to face further changes in the Senate.
The House will need to vote again if the Senate makes revisions. Trump wants the bill on his desk by July 4th.
